YouTube: Carl Sagan "A Glorious Dawn" music video

Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking make an appearance in a YouTube music video from the film Cosmos.

Evidence of the Big Bang

Evidence of the Big Bang is still present in the universe. This video helps students learn about what evidence there are for the Big Bang.

The Drake Equation

The Drake Equation: Estimating the Number of Civilizations in the Milky Way

Overview
Students estimate the number of civilizations in the galaxy by first estimating the number of craters on the Moon and then by performing estimates of multiple-variable systems culminating in the use of the Drake Equation. In this three-part activity, students use estimation techniques to describe complex situations.

Life Outside Earth

How special are the circumstances that have allowed complex life, like animals and plants, to develop on Earth? In this activity students systematically investigate the time frame for complex life to develop on Earth.

Life Cycle of Stars

Students analyze characteristics that indicate human life cycles, and then apply these observational principles to various NASA pictures of stars to synthesize patterns of stellar life cycles.

Classifying Galaxies - Compare & Contrast

Students view NASA images of galaxies and develop a galaxy classification scheme.  Students then compare and contrast their classification scheme with that developed by Edwin Hubble.

Earth's Atomosphere

Living in an ocean of air is a web site focused on air quality.

The Large Hadron Collider Explained

The Newshour on PBS produced a video with a physicist discussing the purpose and importance of the Large Hadron Collider. The video will allow students to better understand the LHC.

Here are some questions that can be used with your students to focus their viewing:

1. Why are scientists doing this?
2. What do you hope they see? Why?
3. Were you satisfied with Greene's answer about black holes? Are you concerned that new science experiments could be more trouble than they are worth, or do you think scientists mostly know what they are doing?
4. How does the public learn about the latest scientific discoveries? How much information should the general public have about scientific experiments? Should we know the details, or just the general goals?
5. Do you want to be a scientist? Why or why not? What kind of education do you think the scientists working on this project have?
6. What do you think about the Big Bang theory? What about the dark matter theory? Is it important for people to understand these theories? Why or why not?

The Formation of the First Atoms/Elements

Here are a couple websites that describe the model of the atom. We were thinking of having the students create models of a hydrogen atom and the taking notes on how these were formed after the Big Bang started to cool down. First the quarks and electrons were formed, then the protons and neutrons were formed out of the quarks, and then the hydrogen, helium, and lithium atoms were formed. Hydrogen was formed with just one proton and one electron (the only element with no neutron), while helium has two protons, two neutrons, and two electrons.

Structure of Matter (from etacude.com)

Structure of Matter (from U. of Toronto)

Astronomy Webquest

Here's a webquest I modified to use today and Monday. I think I might go this route when researching the LHC. What do you think?

Earth Science Webquest Assignment

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Individuals or pairs are to explore the following websites and answer the following questions.

2. Note: Remember to write down or copy/paste the URL of the file you take the passage from so you can quickly go back to it if you need to to prove your point.

Solar System - Use the website below to answer these questions specifically related to Planets:

1. What is the order of the planets, starting with the sun? Write their distance form the Sun in order. ( Write the astronomical units)
2. What are Near Earth Asteroids? How many are there
3. How are they classified?

http://www.nasm.si.edu/research/ceps/etp/ss/

Stars and Constellations - Use the website below to answer these questions specifically related to Constellations:

1. What star (besides the sun) is the brightest? The closest?
2. Where did constellations come from?
3. Name 5 constellations and draw/describe their shapes.

http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/

Milky Way Galaxy - Use the website below to answer these questions specifically related to Milky Way Galaxy:

1. Describe the three general components of the Milky Way.
2. Where is the earth in the Milky Way Galaxy?

http://cassfos02.ucsd.edu/public/tutorial/MW.html

The Moon - Use the website below to answer these questions specifically related to The Sun and The Moon:

1. What are the four phases of the moon?
2. What is a solar eclipse?
3. Which planet has the biggest moons?
4. Under cyclopedia, take a lunar tour of the moon and describe what you learned and saw.

http://www.inconstantmoon.com/inconstant.htm