A Universe of Galaxies

This fun hands-on astronomy activity lets learners explore models of the Milky Way and other galaxies to get a sense of relative distances to other galaxies. Part of the activity involves learners moving certain distances from each other to represent distances in the universe. Telescopes and night viewing are recommended but not required. This activity can be used with the general public at a star party, as well as with school-aged learners in a classroom. The PDF contains step-by-step instructions, photos, helpful hints, background information, and ready-to-print handouts. This is the English unit version; see related URLs for a link to the Metric unit version.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Data Set, Diagram/Illustration

Author: Astronomical Society of the Pacific

Black Holes

This fun and simple hands-on astronomy activity lets learners experiment with marbles and weights to discover some basics about gravity and black holes. A key message of the activity is that space is curved completely around black holes--we cannot escape. Participants will explore the relationship between mass, distance, and gravitational attraction. The PDF contains step-by-step instructions, photos, presentation tips, and links to background information.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Data Set, Diagram/Illustration, Simulation

Author: Astronomical Society of the Pacific

MN STEM Teacher Center

MN STEM Teacher Center resources developed to help teachers translate the Minnesota state standards into classroom practice and assist in student achievement of those standards.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Simulation

Using Geometry to Design Simple Machines

This video is meant to be a fun, hands-on session that gets students to think hard about how machines work. It teaches them the connection between the geometry that they study and the kinematics that engineers use -- explaining that kinematics is simply geometry in motion. In this lesson, geometry will be used in a way that students are not used to. Materials necessary for the hands-on activities include two options: pegboard, nails/screws and a small saw; or colored construction paper, thumbtacks and scissors. Some in-class activities for the breaks between the video segments include: exploring the role of geometry in a slider-crank mechanism; determining at which point to locate a joint or bearing in a mechanism; recognizing useful mechanisms in the students' communities that employ the same guided motion they have been studying.

Material Type: Lecture

Authors: Daniel D. Frey, MIT BLOSSOMS

The Flaws of Averages

This learning video presents an introduction to the Flaws of Averages using three exciting examples: the ''crossing of the river'' example, the ''cookie'' example, and the ''dance class'' example. Averages are often worthwhile representations of a set of data by a single descriptive number. The objective of this module, however, is to simply point out a few pitfalls that could arise if one is not attentive to details when calculating and interpreting averages. The essential prerequisite knowledge for this video lesson is the ability to calculate an average from a set of numbers. During this video lesson, students will learn about three flaws of averages: (1) The average is not always a good description of the actual situation, (2) The function of the average is not always the same as the average of the function, and (3) The average depends on your perspective. To convey these concepts, the students are presented with the three real world examples mentioned above.

Material Type: Lecture

Authors: Daniel Livengood, MIT BLOSSOMS, Rhonda Jordan

Persuasion Across Time and Space

This unit shows instructional approaches that are likely to help ELLs meet new standards in English Language Arts. Built around a set of famous persuasive speeches, the unit supports students in reading a range of complex texts. It invites them to write and speak in a variety of ways and for different audiences and purposes. Students engage in close reading of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, Martin Luther King, Jr.'s I Have a Dream speech, Aristotleí˘ä‰ĺ䋢s Three Appeals, Robert Kennedyí˘ä‰ĺ䋢s On the Assassination of Martin Luther King, and George Wallaceí˘ä‰ĺ䋢s The Civil Rights Movement: Fraud, Sham, and Hoax, Barbara Jordaní˘ä‰ĺ䋢s All Together Now. The five lesson culminate with student's constructing their own persuasive texts.

Material Type: Unit of Study

Media Construction of Peace

This kit provides teachers, college faculty and other educators with the materials needed to engage students in a dynamic and constructivist process of learning how antiwar movements have been perceived by the people in the United States and how the U.S. media has constructed that public perception. The subject areas covered include U.S. history, African-American studies, labor studies, Latino studies, media studies, Native American studies, peace studies, sociology and womenŒ_ΏŁ_ studies among many others.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Diagram/Illustration, Homework/Assignment, Lesson Plan, Reading, Teaching/Learning Strategy, Unit of Study

Author: Sox Sperry

Media Construction of the Middle East

This kit covers stereotyping of Arab people, the Arab/Israeli conflict, the war in Iraq and militant Muslim movements. Students will learn core information and vocabulary about the historical and contemporary Middle East issues that challenge stereotypical, simplistic and uninformed thinking, and political and ethical issues involving the role of media in constructing knowledge, evaluating historical truths, and objectivity and subjectivity in journalism.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Homework/Assignment, Lesson Plan, Reading, Teaching/Learning Strategy, Unit of Study

Author: Sox Sperry & Chris Sperry