Astronomy Interactives for Online Learning

Through a partnership with GBH, NASA's Universe of Learning, and funding from NASA, we have created three exciting new web-based interactives to support middle school and high school learning in space science, covering the solar system, the life cycle of stars, and evidence for the Big Bang and expansion of the universe.

Each online interactive comes with an instructor lesson plan and student activity sheets, which can be adapted for use at other levels.

Photo of Saturn with its RingsSolar System Explorer 
This web-based interactive allows students explore an accurate, dynamic model of our solar system that is based on NASA imagery and other real data. Lesson plan and activity sheets are geared to MS level but can be adapted for broader use.  More
 

Photo of a GalaxyLife Cycle of Stars
In this web-based interactive about the life cycle of stars, students learn how stars form, live, and die through virtual observations of their different stages in our night “sky.” Lesson plan and activity sheets are geared to HS level but can be adapted for broader use.  More

 

galaxies_and_the_history_of_the_universe_screen_shot.pngHubble’s Evidence for the Big Bang
How do we know that our universe resulted from a Big Bang? In this web-based interactive, students collect and interpret their own galaxy data to answer this question. Lesson plan and activity sheets are geared to HS level but can be adapted for broader use.  More

       
These interactives are powered by the open-source WWT web-engine. Source code can be accessed at: http://github.com/wwt-ambassadors/

These lesson activities were created in collaboration with WGBH and NASA's Universe of Learning.  The material contained in this product is based upon work supported by NASA under cooperative agreement award No. NNX16AD71A. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.