WebBased Astronomy Curriculum in the Elementary Classroom

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Web-Based Astronomy Curriculum in the Elementary
Classroom

• Travis Whyte
• University of Alberta/Educational Media
  Technologies

Imperial Oil National Center for Mathematics,
Science, and Technology Education University of
Alberta Edmonton, Alberta www.ioncmaste.ca
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IONCMASTE (Imperial Oil National Center for
Mathematics, Science and Technology Education)

• A centre for the promotion of teaching, research
  and curriculum excellence in school science,
  mathematics, and technology education
• Provide leadership in disseminating current
  research
• Working closely with teachers locally and in
  developing countries
• None profit organization supported by generous
  donations from Imperial Oil

http//www.ioncmaste.ca
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Web-Based Astronomy Curriculum Development Project

• Approached by the CSA in fall 2001
• Develop astronomy curriculum resources for sixth
  grade Pan-Canadian curriculum expectations
• Web-based Text based
• Teacher/student friendly
• Use highly visual technology elements (images,
  flash, QuickTime and JavaScript ) to teach
  astronomy

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Astronomy Education Assessment

• Problem
• Challenging subject for many elementary
  school teachers
• Subject complexity
• Shortage of quality resources
• Outcome
• Students left with
• Misleading information
• A feeling that astronomy as a science is
  unimportant
• A missed opportunity to learn of the wonders of
  the Universe

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Goals of the Project

• Develop a curriculum resource tool for teachers
  and students including
• appropriate astronomy information to first teach
  the teachers
• information relating key concepts to curriculum
• extensive visuals to demonstrate difficult
  concepts and to spark further interest and
  intrigue
• wide range of appropriate lesson plans and
  activities
• evaluation strategies

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Curriculum Resources Included
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Content Modules

• Introduction to the Day and Night Sky
• The Sun and Stars
• The Earth and the Moon
• The Planets
• Comets, Meteors and Asteroids
• The Milky Way and Beyond
• Astronomers and Their Tools

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What are Interactive Applets?

• An applet is an interactive learning tool that
  acts like a mini-program running within a web
  browser (Flash, QuickTime, JavaScript).
• Users will interact with the applet through
  different means, including movie controller
  buttons and other labeled buttons and input
  windows.
• The applets used in this website have been
  designed as teaching and learning tools to be
  used by both teachers and students in an attempt
  to augment the curriculum

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Some of the Applets Titles

• Tracking Sun Spots
• Phases of the Moon
• Reasons for the Seasons
• Solar and Lunar Eclipses
• The Solar System
• Our Home in the Milky Way

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Applet Tracking Sunspots

• Using actual solar images students will track and
  measure sunspot displacements in an attempt to
  determine solar rotation rates and identifying
  differential rotation.
• Students also have the option of determining the
  size of the sunspot after which a comparison to
  Earth is made.

Click image to load
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Applet Phases of the Moon

• This applet demonstrates the interactions between
  the Sun, Moon and Earth which help to produce the
  phases of the Moon.
• The animation clearly shows the orbital position
  of the Moon and the corresponding phase as
  observed from Earth.

Click image to load
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Applet Reasons for the Seasons

• This applet demonstrates the interactions between
  the Sun, Moon and Earth which help to produce the
  seasonal effects on Earth.
• The animation clearly shows the orbital position
  of the Earth and the Earths axial tilt which
  together affect how the Suns rays impact the
  Earth.
• Direct rays summer
• Indirect rays winter

Click image to load
Northern Hemisphere
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Applet Solar and Lunar Eclipses

• This applet demonstrates the interactions between
  the Sun, Moon and Earth which help to produce
  solar and lunar eclipses.
• Beginning with an analysis of the orientation of
  the Sun, Moon and Earth, the applet allows users
  to further investigate the alignments necessary
  to produce the different kinds of eclipses.

Click image to load
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Applet The Solar System

• This applet is designed to help students
  visualize the structure of the solar system while
  gaining an appreciation for the orbital speeds
  (ie. The length of a year).
• Students will learn that the planets closest to
  the Sun rotate significantly faster than the
  outer planets.

Click image to load
Show applet
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Applet Our Home in the Milky Way

• This applet is designed to give students an
  appreciation for the vast size of the Milky Way
  Galaxy.
• Beginning with a view of the entire galaxy, the
  perspective zooms in to a view of the solar
  system, then to the Earth and Moon and ultimately
  to a view of only the Earth.
• An approximate field size is shown

Click image to load
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About the Lesson Plans

• The lesson plans included in this website have
  been designed to be used sequentially or as part
  of a complete unit.
• Teachers are encouraged to use as much or as
  little of the content as they require for their
  particular classroom needs.
• Many of the lessons include cross-curricular
  elements including (Art, Language Arts, and
  Mathematics)
• Evaluation rubrics are included with all lessons

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Some of the Lesson Plan Titles

• Building and using a sundial
• Illustrating the constellations
• Tracking and tracing sunspots
• Observing and sketching the lunar surface
• An explorative journey of the solar system
• Your weight on other planets
• Plan a mission to a recently discovered planet
• Timeline of astronomy events and discoveries

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Student Access Site

• The website has been designed to be accessible by
  both teachers and students.
• The student version of the website contains
• content material
• astronomy glossary
• interactive applets questions
• The interactive applets are followed by multiple
  choice javascript questions derived directly from
  the applet.

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Summing it up

• The elements and format used for organizing the
  content modules will serve both the teachers and
  students well.
• Teaching the teachers the content
• Offer suggestions for presenting and teaching the
  materials
• Provide a wide variety of lesson plans
• Offer hands-on and technology-assisted learning
  experiences
• Reinforce the content with appropriate evaluation
  rubrics and strategies

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What are Teachers Saying?

• I find the curriculum resources extremely
  informative and user friendly.
• The information and applets are wonderful. I
  will definitely use them when teaching my Grade 6
  Sky Science unit.
• The student section of the Web-Based Astronomy
  Curriculum is helpful and will be enjoyed by the
  students.
• This is an excellent reinforcement tool that
  makes the students think about what they have
  learned.

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The Next Step

• Currently the content materials are limited to
  the sixth grade curriculum.
• Follow up projects are currently being developed
  for both the ninth and twelfth grade curricula.
• French language translations are also in the
  development stages for the sixth, ninth, and
  twelfth grade .

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Where is the Website?

• The website is temporarily being hosted by the
  University of Alberta
• http//www.ioncmaste.ca/astronomy
• The webiste will soon be moved onto the Canadian
  Space Agencys website
• http//www.space.gc.ca/

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Thanks

• If you would like more information or require
  assistance using the website, please contact me
• Travis Whyte
• tgwhyte_at_telusplanet.net