The Cosmic Times Gallery Walk and Cosmic Times Jigsaw lessons serve as extensions to the Cosmic Times suite of curriculum support materials. They are intended to provide an introduction to Cosmic Times as a whole, giving students the larger picture... (View More) of how our understanding of the universe has changed over the last century. During the Gallery Walk lesson, students peruse the Cosmic Times posters to answer open-ended questions. During the Jigsaw lesson, students work in cooperative teams to understand the primary scientific advances over the past century that have contributed to our current understanding of the universe. (View Less)

This lithograph features an image from the Hubble Space Telescope, showcasing the well-known features of NGC 3982, a face-on spiral galaxy. The accompanying activity, In Search Of...Spiral Galaxies, is a curriculum support tool designed for use as... (View More) an introductory inquiry activity. In this activity, students will use the lithograph image and text to generate questions about spiral galaxies, and then research the answers to those questions. Students will then create a presentation to demonstrate their understanding of the material. (View Less)

This lithograph features an image from the Hubble Space Telescope, showcasing the distinctive shape of the Ring Nebula, NGC 6720. The accompanying classroom activity, In Search of…Planetary Nebula Shapes, is a curriculum support tool designed as... (View More) an introductory inquiry activity. In this activity, students will use the lithograph image and text to generate questions about planetary nebulas shapes, and then research the answers to those questions. Students will then create a presentation to demonstrate their understanding of the material. (View Less)

This lithograph features an image from the Hubble Space Telescope, showcasing a colorful view of the star-forming nebula N90, located in the Small Magellanic Cloud. The accompanying activity, In Search of...the Electromagnetic Spectrum, is a... (View More) curriculum support tool designed for use as an introductory inquiry activity. In this activity, students will use the lithograph image and text to generate questions about the electromagnetic spectrum, and then research the answers to those questions. Students will then create a presentation to demonstrate their understanding of the material. (View Less)

The H-R diagram is a scatter graph of stars, a plot of stellar absolute magnitude or luminosity versus temperature or stellar classification. It is an important astronomical tool for understanding how stars evolve over time. Stellar evolution cannot... (View More) be studied by observing individual stars as most changes occur over millions and billions of years. Astrophysicists observe numerous stars at various stages in their evolutionary history to determine their changing properties and probable evolutionary tracks across the H-R diagram. In this activity, students plot both maxima and minima with corresponding stellar classifications for several variables, and then identify the type of variability: Cepheid, RR Lyrae, Mira or Semiregular. This activity includes background information, a teacher guide, a student activity, and accompanying worksheets. The American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) and The Chandra X-Ray mission have collaborated to develop this activity. (View Less)

In this hands-on activity, students learn about the different realms of the Universe and explore their sizes and relative scales. They will be guided through a process that uncovers the immense sizes of the Sun, Solar System, Solar Neighborhood,... (View More) Milky Way, Local Group, Supercluster, and the observable Universe. The full version of this activity involves students doing simple math computations, however it can also be done without the math. There are some inexpensive materials involved, as well as a powerpoint presentation. It is intended for grades 8-12, but can be adapted down for lower grade levels. (View Less)

In this activity, students are introduced to light and colored gels (filters). Students make and test predictions about light and color using gels; learn about the importance of gels (filters) to astronomers; then analyze images taken with regular... (View More) and infrared cameras to see that objects opaque to light at one wavelength, may be transparent to light of a different wavelength. Section 1 of the activity guide includes teacher notes, information on materials and preparation, student misconceptions, and a student pre-test. Each activity section also includes teacher notes, student activity sheets, and answer keys. This activity is the first of four activities in Active Astronomy, which are designed to complement instruction on the electromagnetic spectrum, focusing on infrared light. (View Less)

In this activity, students build a photocell detector, and use it to detect different colors of light in a spectrum. Then they place the detector just outside the red region of the visible light spectrum and see that the detector detects the... (View More) presence of light there, even though there is no color visible. Students learn that invisible light exists and that we can detect this light with instruments other than our eyes. In a final part of the activity, students investigate the infrared signals emitted by TV and VCR remote controls. The activities build upon each other and are best taught in order. Section 1 of the activity guide includes teacher notes, information on materials and preparation, student misconceptions and a student pre-test. Each activity section also includes teacher notes, student activity sheets, and answer keys. This activity requires some special materials (e.g. a small solar cell, alligator clip leads, plus common classroom materials (e.g., overhead or slide projector). This activity is the second of four activities in Active Astronomy, which are designed to complement instruction on the electromagnetic spectrum, focusing on infrared light. (View Less)