StarDate Online | Classroom Activities

	Contact StarDate \| About StarDate \| Friends of McDonald \| Sign up for Sky Tips



	Activities StarDate in the Classroom National Science Education Standards Links

Classroom Activities
Hands-on activities encourage children to explore astronomy concepts in a way that is fun, yet meaningful, and to broaden their awareness of astronomy as they develop and apply new skills in other subject areas.

Teachers, parents, scout leaders, and others may copy and distribute these materials for classroom instruction or related educational purposes. The material may not be sold or published in any other form without written permission from The University of Texas McDonald Observatory.

Grades K-4 (Ages 5-9)
	Shadow Play \| 183K pdf Everyone and everything has a shadow. Shadows illustrate how three-dimensional objects can be viewed in two dimensions. Modeling the Night Sky \| 387K pdf Use an entire class to model motions of objects in the solar system with respect to the stars. Download large images of the constellations (3.2 MB pdf) that are used in this activity. Observing the Moon \| 276K pdf Does the Moon always look the same? Does its surface look different at different times?
Grades 5-8 (Ages 10-13)
	Planet Tours Planning to take a vacation soon? Visit Phobos! Try this creative activity to help your students explore the solar system in an imaginative manner. Solar System Science \| 95K pdf Each student becomes the "ambassador" for a planet and prepares by researching their planet, then meets with other ambassadors to form new mini-solar systems. Rock Cycle After learning about Earth's rock cycle and the basic characteristics of objects in the solar system, students can consider how to extend this concept to other objects. Equatorial Sundial \| 156K pdf One of astronomy's first tools to measure the flow of time, a sundial is simply a stick that casts a shadow on a face marked with units of time. Scale Models \| 111K pdf What are the relative sizes and distances of objects in the solar system? Students create two 'mystery objects' to learn about scale models. Reflective Solar Cooker Use the Sun’s energy to cook marshmallows.
Grades 9-12 (Ages 14-17)
	Sunspots Sunspots are some of the most noticeable features of the Sun. Spectroscope \| 95K pdf Just as a geologist collects rocks or minerals and a botanist collects plants, an astronomer collects light. When an astronomer looks at a star through a spectroscope, he or she sees a colorful spectrum that is full of information. The Milky Way Stretching across the dark night sky, not easily visible when the Moon is in the sky, is a faint irregular glowing strip of light. For thousands of years peoples of various cultures tried to explain what they saw, sometimes using stories. Stars and Galaxies \| 107K pdf Galaxies contain billions of stars. Do galaxies collide? Do the stars within them collide? Coma Cluster of Galaxies Students learn the basics of galaxy classification and grouping, then use Hubble Space Telescope images to discover the 'morphology-density effect' and make hypotheses about its causes.

Copyright ©1995-2006 The University of Texas McDonald Observatory. Material on this site may be linked to, quoted or reproduced for educational or personal purposes without prior permission, provided appropriate credit is given. Teachers, scout leaders, and others may distribute the material for classroom instruction or related educational purposes. The materials may not be sold or published in any other form without written permission from The University of Texas McDonald Observatory.