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There is an on-going thread on the list serve focusing on resources for teaching about Stars and Galaxies. Here is a list of some of the suggested links Journey to the Stars [video] (I saw this at the planetarium in Washington D.C. and have used it in class...engaging stuff!) http://vimeo.com/8679190 '' target="_blank"> http://vimeo.com/8679190 ' target="_blank"> http://vimeo.com/8679190 The American Museum of Natural History http://www.amnh.org/rose/ '' target="_blank"> http://www.amnh.org/rose/ ' target="_blank"> http://www.amnh.org/rose/ MIRA's Field Trips to the Stars Internet Education Program http://www.mira.org/fts0/text/txt001z.htm '' target="_blank"> http://www.mira.org/fts0/text/txt001z.htm ' target="_blank"> http://www.mira.org/fts0/text/txt001z.htm Universe Today: Life Cycle of Stars http://www.universetoday.com/24629/life-cycle-of-stars/ '' target="_blank"> http://www.universetoday.com/24629/life-cycle-of-stars/ ' target="_blank"> http://www.universetoday.com/24629/life-cycle-of-stars/ Stellar Evolution - Cycles of Formation and Destruction http://chandra.harvard.edu/edu/formal/stellar_ev/story/index3.html '' target="_blank"> http://chandra.harvard.edu/edu/formal/stellar_ev/story/index3.html ' target="_blank"> http://chandra.harvard.edu/edu/formal/stellar_ev/story/index3.html Stellar Evolution, the lives of stars http://www.astronomytoday.com/cosmology/evol.html '' target="_blank"> http://www.astronomytoday.com/cosmology/evol.html ' target="_blank"> http://www.astronomytoday.com/cosmology/evol.html

In this activity from understanding science students in grades 5-8, the class construct a scale model of the solar system. In the process, students discuss the use of models in science and how models are used to visualize and understand things we cannot see. http://undsci.berkeley.edu/lessons/scaling_solar_system.html

Wow, those look like great resources, Pam. Thank you! Your talk of models to help students understand things too vast or things that our technology can't measure because they are too small, reminds me of the video 'Powers of 10'. It is free online now and was the first time I (as a teacher) really felt like I had some understanding of just how enormous the universe is - as we can understand it with today's technology.

When I taught about stars and galaxies to my eighth graders, I included these websites:
Windows to the Universe
Imagine the Universe
and
Amazing Space
Carolyn

Amazing link's Pamela, thank you. Today's technology offers so many great resources for teachers and students. "Journey to the Stars" is a fascinating and extremely engaging video. As a new teachers it is great to find wonderful sources like this to add to my collection of teaching materials.

Pamela, Thanks for the great links!!! I have been searching for some.

Ricki Luster: Watching Journey to the Stars by Yvette Wojciechowski brought back a lot of memories for me. Growing up in new York, I was fortunate enough to go to the American Museum of Natural History on numerous occasions. This video was very easy to understand. Whoopi Goldberg's voice was so inviting. The visuals were amazing! We were planning on taking our students on a field trip to our local planetarium. What would you suggest, should we go first and then share this video with them, or share the video first and then go? Your feedback is greatly appreciated.

Thank you for sharing the resources. I was watching "Journey to the Stars" and it got me thinking about different ways I can incorporate Space science into my curriculum this year. I was excited to hear information on elements, energy transformations, new technologies, and forces mentioned within the video. My students will be learning all of these things and this video may be a great resource to use to bring together many of these topics and make science more real and relevant to them. So many of my students have an interest in Space, however, it is not in our 6th grade benchmards. I can see ways to incorporate it after viewing this video and look forward to checking out the other resources. Thank you!

Ricki Luster: I cannot wait to share this video with my students. I was not sure how to review some of your replies, however the more I thought about it I decided to talk with my class about this video but let them view it after our trip to the local planetarium. It is very interesting to read other people's comment. I will keep trying to view your replies to me.

Thank you for the wonderful information. I teach Kindergarten and I would definitely like to try teaching a lesson about starts and constellations in my class. The basic point that we make in Kindergarten is getting the children to realize that stars are always in the sky, no matter what time of the day it is. Whether or not you can see the stars depends on the sunlight, moonlight, and weather conditions. Also, many of my students seem to go to sleep rather early, making it difficult to stay up to see the stars. I wouldn't mind teaching them about the constellations too.

Thanks for sharing Journey to the Stars - I've been wondering if the "Power of 10" video had been updated given capabilities of present day technology. This is a perfect companion to that video. Now we just need a video zooming in at the DNA scale.

Great posts! I'm new to posting on the NSTA forums and was looking at resources to use for elementary classrooms. I will check out the sites, they look great.

Wow! What a wealth of information! I knew about the Hertzsprung - Russel diagram, but it wasn't clear tome what this graph refers to. Thanks!

Wow, that's a lot of resource you just shared. I will definitely be using "Journey to the Stars" either in class or as an assignment for the students. It is very informative and using it as a unit primer would definitely get the students interested in the subject. The animations were flashy and the information was easy to follow. Thank you for the link, I already bookmarked it for future reference.

A great way to introduce constellations is to print a pdf of a star map and have students make their own constellation by connecting the dots (stars) and have the students write their own constellation mythology. The period ends with a class share. Each student puts their constellation on the overhead projector and reads their story.

Pamela, Thank you for the resources. I've been having fun playing the games on the natural history site and think the students would love it. I do need to check out if it is true that our sun is one of the larger stars out there-one of the games says it's larger than about 90% of other stars. I'm not sure if they're talking about larger than other yellow stars or larger than all stars in the universe. It's got me checking out my understanding of stars and size! And the video Journey to the Stars is definitely entertaining with fantastic graphics. It would be nice to show in segments and discuss because there is so much information packed into it. Sincerely, Barbara

Thanks for the great resources! I recently became interested in teaching heavily on the solar system and these links are definitely helpful especially one of the lesson I plan to teach is about constellations.

I just took a field trip today to the Bishop Museum on Oahu with one of the Science classes I teach. We went to the planitarium and watched the 40 minute show on navigation using the stars. If you live in Hawaii and plan to teach about the constellations, planets, or ancient Polynesian navigation by the stars, the Bishop Museum is a great place to visit with your students. It is also a great place to deepen your own knowledge base prior to teaching your students! We had about 30 students in 4-6 grades who were thrilled by the presentation.

Thank you for the resources. When I was working on a unit plan dealing with stars I was able to gather a lot of information from the NASA website. Also, I was introduced to a program called Starry Night Back Yard, you could compare it to Google Earth in the space setting. However, this program allows for more interaction and exploration opportunities for the students.

This information is definitely very interesting and useful! I really like learning about space, it really is a fascinating subject. Random fact for everyone; If the human eye could see all the way through the Universe, the sky would look white because of how many stars exist. Try imagining THAT next time you look at the stars at night ;)