galaxy – iLearn Technology

Moon Zoo: Contributing to science with lunar mapping

May 3, 2011Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2576 views

What it is: The Endeavour Shuttle launch has been delayed but don’t let that keep your students from exploring space, there are some incredible interactive sites that will make your students feel like they get to suit up as astronauts. Moon Zoo gives students the chance to study the lunar surface while contributing to real science. Students can get an up close and personal view of the moon viewing images from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Moon Zoo’s mission is to provide detailed crater counts for as much of the moon’s surface as possible. Your students can take part in actually helping to count and map out craters and features of the lunar surface. Students can identify craters with boulders around the rim to help map the regolith across the surface of the moon. To take part in Moon Zoo, students are shown an image of the lunar surface, the first task is identifying craters in the surface. Students can click on the “Crater” button and click the center of each crater they see. Next, students adjust the ellipse to stretch and move their marks so that they are the same size as the crater. Students search for boulders around the craters, if there are any boulders students can note that by selecting “blocky crater” and marking the most appropriate description. When finished, students can submit their work to the Moon Zoo database.

How to integrate Moon Zoo into the classroom: I love that Moon Zoo actually lets your students take part in science. They are contributing to actual lunar research in real and meaningful ways while learning about the moon. Moon Zoo would be a great activity to complete as a whole class in the elementary classroom. Tell your students that they are going to be astronauts and complete a “launch” to the moon. If you have time, students can create official astronaut badges to wear for the big launch. Using a projector-connected computer or an interactive whiteboard, launch one of the shuttles here. When you “land” on the moon, let students explore the surface together by hunting for craters in Moon Zoo. Help students mark craters, look for boulders and map the lunar surface. Each student should have a chance to make a discovery. While students wait for their turn, they can track the crater/boulder count on a table to create a graph. Categories can be small, medium, and large craters found and number of boulders.

Older students can sign up for their own Moon Zoo account, each studying and identifying craters on their own images. Older students can dig into the science behind mapping craters and learn about how craters can be used to date the moon.

Want to involve your students in more contributing science? Check out Galaxy Zoo (the hunt for supernovas), Galaxy Zoo Hubble, Planet Hunters, or the Milky Way Project. This is such a neat way for students to contribute to the scientific community while learning more about space and the universe.

Tips: Registration for Moon Zoo does require an email address. If your students don’t have an email address of their own, they can use a mailinator or tempinbox address.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Moon Zoo in your classroom!

Extreme Planet Makeover: make a planet

January 28, 2011Kelly Tenkely2 Comments2399 views

What it is: NASA has some really fantastic resources and activities for use in the classroom. This week I am creating a customized integrated technology plan for a local elementary/middle school. One of the subjects we are integrating tech into is astronomy. NASA was, of course, my first stop for finding some resources we could use. While I was there I came across Extreme Planet Makeover where students can try their hand at making their very own planet. In this fun interactive, students can control the look and habitability of their own world. Students use the controls available to adjust the planetary attributes. They can change things like size, distance from star, star type, planet age, and even start their planet based on different presets. As students are adjusting their extreme planet, they will start to understand the differences between earth and the other planets in our solar system. When students are finished, they can download a picture of their custom world.

How to integrate Extreme Planet Makeover into the classroom: Extreme Planet Makeover is a neat simulation where students can design a custom planet. As they create their own custom planet, they will begin to notice what makes a planet habitable or not, and the unique features that must be in place for life. Extreme Planet Makeover can be used with the whole class using a projector-connected computer or interactive whiteboard. Invite each student to make an adjustment to the planet. With each adjustment, students can describe the ways that the planet has changed. The finished class planet can be used as the base for a creative writing prompt.

Set up Extreme Planet Makeover as a center activity where students can create a planet and download to save. The finished planets can be shared on a class photo stream, website, or blog where students can compare and contrast the features of each planet.

In a one to one or computer lab setting, students can each create a planet that they use for a compare/contrast to an actual planet in the solar system and as a creative writing prompt. Who lives on this planet? What galaxy is their planet in? How do you get there?

Tips: One of the features I really appreciate about the Extreme Planet Makeover is the explanations that pop up over each planet attribute. Students learn about how atmosphere, size, different stars, the distance from the star, and the age effect a planet.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Extreme Planet Makeover in your classroom.

Tag Galaxy: Visual Word Relationships

January 4, 2011Kelly Tenkely9 Comments5494 views

What it is: Tag Galaxy is a neat little tool that helps students to explore relationships between words and ideas as well as view pictures related to that word. Type in a word to search and immediately you are transferred to a galaxy with the original word at the center and the associated ideas orbiting around it. When you click on the word in the center, a globe populates with pictures from Flickr that are tagged with that word. Click on one of the orbiting words and tags related to that word start to orbit. Tag Galaxy is a very neat way to view information!

How to integrate Tag Galaxy into the classroom: Tag Galaxy is a brilliant way to visually explore word relationships. Students can use it to type in spelling or vocabulary words and discuss the relationship the related tags have to the original word. Students can click on the original idea to get a visual understanding of the word in the form of a picture globe. The connection with Flickr helps students to visualize words, ideas, and concepts by providing a variety of pictures that match the tag. Tag Galaxy would make for a fun story starter. Students can type in a word tag to get them started, view related words, and then click on the globe of pictures to spark creative writing ideas. Tag Galaxy can be set up on classroom computers as a creative writing centers, or used for whole class inspiration with a projector-connected computer or interactive whiteboard.

Check out science, math, art, or geography vocabulary on Tag Galaxy, the resulting collection of images will help your students attach meaning to those tricky science concepts like my photosynthesis example above.

As a side note, Tag Galaxy also offers a pretty good visual aid for learning about orbit 🙂

Tips: ***Very important*** Whenever you are using tools that pull from other sites to populate, it is important to test out the words prior to using with students. You never know how people will tag an image and the image might not be appropriate for all age groups. When using Tag Galaxy with elementary students, have them suggest words that you test before using with the class. In my classroom, whenever students wanted to do an image search, I had them fill out an “image wish list” first. On the wish list students write down words they would like to search. I would do a quick test of the words and sign off on them. This worked well as there were a lot of similar requests (i.e. animals!) 🙂

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Tag Galaxy in your classroom.

Google Sky

July 10, 2008July 10, 2008Kelly Tenkely1 Comment8489 views

What it is: Google comes out with some really incredible tools and Google Sky is definitely one of them. Think Google Earth for the Sky and you will get a pretty accurate picture of what Google Sky entails. Students can get up close and personal with the Solar System, Constellations, the Hubble Telescope Showcase, Backyard Astronomy, Chandra X-Ray Showcase, GALEX Ultraviolet Showcase, and the Spitzer Infared Showcase. Google Sky also provides students with podcasts about the Earth and Sky. How cool is that? Like Google Earth, students can “zoom in” to a location and pan around. They can also view the sky in different views which include infared, microwave, and historical. Unlike Google Earth, Google Sky can be viewed right from your web browser without a download which makes it very handy for the classroom.

How to integrate Google Sky into the classroom: I think you would be hard pressed to find a school who didn’t have space units woven through curriculum at nearly every grade level. Google Sky is the perfect way to bring that curriculum to life for your students. You can take a virtual field trip to space right from your web browser! The different views and options in Google Sky make it appropriate for kindergarten through college age groups. Your students will enjoy exploring the solar system and learning about galixies with this up close and personal look. This site is perfect for use with an interactive whiteboard or projector for whole class instruction, but would be equally enjoyable on individual student computers where they can explore the universe at their own pace. When students zoom in on an object, they can “hover” over the object with their mouse for some stats. So neat!

Tips: As a side note this would be a great site to couple with the Discovery Series “When We Left Earth.” If you haven’t had a chance to catch the series, they are wonderful!

Leave a comment and share how you are using Google Sky in your classroom.