Astronomy Star Project

This is a project I assign my students in an introductory, non-science major astronomy class. Each student is assigned one of the 25 brightest stars in the sky and they are asked to research and apply concepts they have been learning in the class to their particular star. I leave it up to them to decide the format of their final project - most do PowerPoint but some have done videos or podcasts. One student actually landed a part time job at a radio station after they heard her recording her star project! Many students tell me this is a highlight of the course!

Material Type: Assessment

Author: Erik Christensen

Introduction to Celestial Globes

This OER explores the basic operations of a Celestial Globe. It contains both an activity as well as resources for further exploration. It is a product of the OU Academy of the Lynx, developed in conjunction with the Galileo's World Exhibition at the University of Oklahoma.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Authors: Brent Purkaple, Kerry Magruder

Gravity and Orbits

Move the sun, earth, moon and space station to see how it affects their gravitational forces and orbital paths. Visualize the sizes and distances between different heavenly bodies, and turn off gravity to see what would happen without it!

Material Type: Simulation

Authors: Chris Malley, Emily Moore, John Blanco, Jon Olson, Kathy Perkins, Noah Podolefsky, Sam Reid, Trish Loeblein

Cheat Sheet for Using the Free Planetarium Software ' Stellarium' - from David Bruning

Cheat sheet on using the free planetarium software ‘Stellarium’ for instructors and students.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: Sonya Bennett-Brandt

OpenStax Astronomy Slide Presentations in pdf form

The slideshows that go with OpenStax Astronomy are PowerPoint, which is great for editing and improving, but a bit awkward for instructors who need to load MS PowerPoint in order to present. I used the cc-by license to place them on Wikiversity. I also invite others to collaborate on developing OpenStax materials on Wikiversity and/or Miraheze.

Material Type: Lecture, Lecture Notes, Student Guide

Author: The authors of OpenStax Astronomy

YouTube: Understanding Powers of Ten

A short video that briefly explains the concept of powers of ten and scientific notation using money as an analogy.

Material Type: Lesson

Author: Christian Ready

Astropedia

Intended for all audiences, this textbook is an introduction to the nature of the universe. Use it to research or review our solar system, stars, galaxies, and the history of the universe. Each chapter has a set of corresponding homework questions.

Material Type: Full Course, Textbook

Author: Chris Impey

Introduction To Astronomy (ASTR 101)

This course provides an introduction to the universe beyond the Earth. We begin with a study of the night sky and the history of the science of astronomy. We then explore the various objects seen in the cosmos including the solar system, stars, galaxies, and the evolution of the universe itself. As an online course, it is equivalent to 6 lecture hours, and satisfies science requirements for the AA and AS degree. It is designed to be thorough enough to prepare you for more advanced work, while presenting the concepts to non-majors in a way that is meaningful and not overwhelming. We will consider the course a success if you have learned how to think about the universe critically in an organized, logical way, and to have enhanced your appreciation of the sky around us.

Material Type: Assessment, Full Course, Reading, Syllabus

OpenStax Lecture Slides

These are a set of lecture slide that I have created for the OpenStax astronomy textbook. For each chapter, there are between 2 and 4 sets of slides broken down into topics following the flow of the chapter. In each case, the slides come in three formats: Keynote, PowerPoint and pdf. Note that the slides were created using Keynote so there may be some minor formatting issues in the PowerPoint versions. Please feel free to use/modify any of these as you find useful for your classes.

Material Type: Lecture Notes

Author: Robert Wagner

Some Plays (and Films) about Astronomers

This is a first attempt at making an annotated list of plays and films that are specifically about astronomers. No claim is made for completeness and additional suggestions are most welcome. I don't list operas here. A list of astronomy operas is included in my topical listing of music inspired by astronomy at: http://bit.ly/astronomymusic

Material Type: Homework/Assignment, Reading, Student Guide, Teaching/Learning Strategy

Author: Andrew Fraknoi

A Catalog of 250+ Pieces of Music Inspired by Serious Astronomy

This new annotated guide (part of a series devoted to resources for enjoying or teaching astronomy) features over 250 pieces of music inspired by serious astronomy, including both classical and popular music examples. YouTube links are given for the vast majority, so you (or your students) can listen to them. Among the pieces included is: 1) a Hubble Space Telescope cantata, 2) eight rock songs about black holes with reasonable science, 3) a supernova piano sonata, 4) a musical exploration of the Messier catalog of nebulae, clusters, and galaxies, 5) a moving song about Stephen Hawking, 6) Moon songs by the Grateful Dead, George Harrison, and the Police, 7) piano pieces “for children with small hands” named after the constellations, 8) operas about Galileo, Kepler, and Einstein, and many more.

Material Type: Module

Author: Andrew Fraknoi

Foothill College AstroSims

The Foothill College AstroSims project is ensuring continued access to astro-education simulations past the deprecation of Java and Flash. This site includes: * re-implementations in HTML5/Javascript of existing astro-education simulations, * new simulations of previously unaddressed topics, and * a frequently updated list of astro-education simulations.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Interactive, Simulation

Authors: Andrew Tran, Baba Kofi Weusijana, Chris Achenbach, Geoffrey Mathews, Safi Mohammed

Short Astronomy Videos to Use with Each Chapter of OpenStax Astronomy

This listing includes a wide range of short videos (15 minutes or less) that can be used in introductory astronomy courses.  It is organized by the chapter topics in the OpenStax Astronomy textbook.  We don’t include simulations.  To suggest other video that you have found particularly useful for Astro 101 courses, please drop a line to the compiler at: fraknoi@fhda.edu

Material Type: Lesson, Teaching/Learning Strategy

Author: Andrew Fraknoi

OpenStax Astronomy Video Lecture List

This is a list of video lectures that I have created for an online class that I teach. These are lectures from each of the 30 chapters in the OpenStax textbook. The lectures generally run between 10 and 20 minutes and I have created 2-4 per chapter. The links are all to videos loaded to YouTube and are all captioned (edited by me, not YouTube auto captioning). Images were obtained from Wikimedia Commons and were limited to those in the public domain or under a CC license and are credited in the footer of each slide. Feel free to use any that you find useful or provide the list to students who may want to review the materials. For anyone interested, I can provide access to the lecture slides as well so that they could be modified to fit your specific requirements. You can contact me directly at: rmwagner@hacc.edu This resource has been updated to a full list of 99 lectures covering all 30 chapters in the book.

Material Type: Lecture

Author: Robert Wagner

A Guide To Smartphone Astrophotography

This free, illustrated book features instructions and information for how to use your smartphone to take photographs of the night sky and numerous astronomical objects. .

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: OpenStax, Rice University

Teaching Your First Astro 101 Course

 A simple zero-based course design process enables you to better organize your Astro 101 course and make it more understandable to students. This process covers establishing teaching goals, developing core ideas, determining student outcomes, and assessing learning.

Material Type: Teaching/Learning Strategy

Author: David Bruning

Javascript projects and powerpoint slides for ASTR two-semester course using OpenStax Astronomy textbook

The source files for the javasript project for studentspowerpoint slides CCBY license - use, modify etc, for attribution please include Clayton State University and ALG https://www.affordablelearninggeorgia.org/

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lecture

Author: Dmitriy Beznosko

Free On-line Lab Activities for Astro 101

This annotated index includes a wide range of free, online labs appropriate for Astro 101 courses, organized by chapter of the OpenStax Astronomy textbook. So, you can look up free labs on Kepler's Laws, H-R diagram, the Drake Equation, and many other topics in introductory astronomy. These lab activities have been put on line by universities, NASA and NSF sponsored projects, and instructors who want to share their labs with colleagues. If we have missed any labs that are available free online, please suggest additions by emailing fraknoi@fhda.edu

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan, Module, Unit of Study

Author: Andrew Fraknoi

Activities for Solar System Astronomy

These activities cover topics in Solar System Astronomy, aligned with the OpenStax Astronomy textbook. Topics cover chapters 1-5, 6-13, and sections of 14 and 21 covering exoplanets. All activities are designed to be done in small groups in the classroom, but most can be adapted for use as homework or projects. Quantitative and Hands-on activities may be used as labs. This is one part of an astronomy resource collection by Lane Community College. This collection was built by Andrea Goering (goeringa@lanecc.edu) and Richard Wagner (wagnerr@lanecc.edu), instructors of physics and astronomy at Lane Community College in Eugene, Oregon, USA. Development of these resources was funded through LCC's OER Initiative (https://inside.lanecc.edu/oer). We'd love to hear about your use of these resources! Let us know what you're using, sign up for updates, and submit corrections, suggestions, or comments here: https://forms.gle/un49RUNs55GU3ZNF6

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Full Course, Homework/Assignment

Authors: Andrea Goering, Richard Wagner

Activities for Galaxies and Cosmology

These activities cover topics in Galaxies and Cosmology, aligned with the OpenStax Astronomy textbook. Topics cover chapters 1, 5, 6, 24-30, and sections of chapter 17 and 19 concerning distance. All activities are designed to be done in small groups in the classroom, but most can be adapted for use as homework or projects. Quantitative and Hands-on activities may be used as labs. This is one part of an astronomy resource collection by Lane Community College. This collection was built by Andrea Goering (goeringa@lanecc.edu) and Richard Wagner (wagnerr@lanecc.edu), instructors of physics and astronomy at Lane Community College in Eugene, Oregon, USA. Development of these resources was funded through LCC's OER Initiative (https://inside.lanecc.edu/oer). We'd love to hear about your use of these resources! Let us know what you're using, sign up for updates, and submit corrections, suggestions, or comments here: https://forms.gle/un49RUNs55GU3ZNF6 Find the full collection here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/142FgVMDHZ7bu53gihe3kJ_-5PzsnuzfMklJ1ZLMFk2E/edit#gid=315930953

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Full Course, Homework/Assignment

Authors: Andrea Goering, Richard Wagner