• Educator events and development opps
• Teacher background web resources
• Laptop Space Explorer Unit from NASA

Education is not the filling of a bucket, but the lighting of a fire. W.B. Yeats

Inquiries

Some of the more popular issues in astronomy.

(More are included in our Discovery area.)

• How are stars created?
• Why do stars twinkle at night?
• Do all stars explode?
• Will the Sun ever explode?
• What are black holes?
• What are sun spots?
• How are planets created?
• How old is the universe?
• How does a telescope work?
• How do radio telescopes work?
• How was the moon formed?
• Why does the Earth circle the Sun?
• Do stars move?
• How hot is the sun?
• What is the Great Red Spot on Jupiter?

Additional educator web resources are listed below and the list keeps growing....

Cosmic Classroom Guides

For each of our programs these educator guides can to help prepare students to learn more about the subject.

The Cosmic Classroom series of educator guides includes a variety of resources and information.They should be usable with either individuals or groups, and they conform to many of the State of Maine Learning Results.

Here are the program titles for all of the guides available online right now:

Black Holes
Follow the Drinking Gourd
Destination Pluto
Earth's Wild Ride
Hubble Vision II
In the Maine Sky
Season of Light
Mars Invasion
Moon Shadows
Our Place in Space
Our Sky Family
Ring World
Space Odyssey
Wilbear's Adventure
Worlds in Motion
Worlds of Wonder
Xtra-Terrestrial Files
Zubenelgenubi's Magical Sky

Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to read these files.
Hard copy versions of these and other guides are mailed to teachers when they arrange field trip showings at the Planetarium. The hard copies include all of the classroom activities that are not included in these online documents.

FITS Liberator for making astronomical images

A group at the European Space Agency of the NASA Hubble Space Telescope program has developed and released a new program plug-in allowing anyone using Adobe Photoshop to assemble three-color astronomical images. The web site contains the plug-in software for FREE download and sample images from the HST Institute.

Based on the complexity of the process, this is recommended for advanced classwork and high school students, or for teachers to learn and use. The educator introduction and guide are excellent and are highly recommend for everyone to examine. Perhaps the professional process willl become a little less mystifying for you too!

"Fingertips"

One favorite additional resource is the massive publication, The Universe at your Fingertips, published by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. It is a compendium of most of the best astronomy teaching/learning activities developed to date. Our staff has compiled a table of activities found in “Fingertips” that we recommend for this program, and keyed them to the Learning Results. In order to make this book available to as many Maine teachers as possible, the Jordan Planetarium gift shop offers “Fingertips” at a low discounted price (about $25, please call for current pricing). The 400 pages of “Fingertips” are pre-punched for three ring binders, and a 3-inch binder is required to fit the entire contents.

Content Background Web Resources

Maine Math and Science Alliance : The State of Maine program for improving math and science instruction in public educational institutions. Several programs found here can benefit the elementary and secondary instructor. Be sure to sign up for the Maine Science list serve while here!

Astronomy Education Review : A "Lively Compendium of Research, News, Resources and Opinion" in the field of astronomy education with a very distinguished editorial board. Complete articles online!

NASA's Solar System Simulator : Generate unique images of the solar system on a given date and time using the Solar System Simulator

Hubble Space Telescope Science Institute PUBLIC TALKS and archive. A variety of subjects presented by astronomers and space scientists.

Physical and Astronomical Constants : A useful chart of constants used in astronomy and converstion factors

The Nine Planets : A multimedia tour of the solar system by Bill Arnett

The Search for Xtra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute : SETI's homepage

Earth Science Resources: Missions and programs which use space studies to understand our own planet Earth

Teacher Resources for Teaching Astronomy

Astronomy Resources from STScI: The Space Telescope Science Institute's astronomy resources for high school teachers.

Education Index's Astronomy Links: Always adding new sites and resources. Good for all ages.

Duke University's Astronomy Resources: Resources for upper level students which include software, movies, books, lectures and more.

Websites for College Astronomy Instructors: Resources for teaching college level astronomy including syllabi, textbook sites, suggestions for teaching approaches, and more.

Canadian Astronomy Education: A site with tips on how to teach astronomy well.

Teacher's Lab, A Private Universe Project: A site designed to help teachers recognize when students have inaccurate beliefs about astronomy and how to help correct the student.

DATA: Demonstrations and Animations for Teaching Astronomy

Astronomy Teaching Module: An Astronomy teaching module which has been designed to 1. to show how multimedia materials, including CD-ROMs and the WWW, can be combined with traditional resources; and 2. to provide a self-contained teaching module, appropriate to both Southern and Northern Hemisphere teachers and students.

Let Us know...

We intend to be a resource for educators, so if there are additions or changes that you think would improve the Cosmic Classroom, please let us know. Thank you, and may the stars light your way.

The Maynard F. Jordan Planetarium Staff

I have never met a man so ignorant that I could not learn something from him. Galileo