Star Date
Astronomy Day from McDonald Observatory Solar System Scale Activity
Add a visual aid to your solar system lessons. Enthusiastic astronomers create a model depicting the nine planets and their distance from the sun.
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Astro-Madness
Students study the different telescopes and instruments used in the Observatory. In this engineering and research lesson students explore telescopes using a website and build data tables about them.
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Telescope Allocation Committee
Students create a research proposal and write letters to researchers to explain why their proposals were rejected. In this astronomy lesson students use the Internet to help them to write a proposal on what they observed through a...
Space Awareness
Coma Cluster of Galaxies
Scientists classify everything from the smallest cells to the largest galaxies, but how do they decide on a classification system? Scholars use 40 pictures of galaxies taken by the Hubble Space Telescope to sort and try creating their...
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Colors of Stars
Students observe the colors found in the flame of a burning candle and examine the basic concepts of matter and energy. Students apply this information to the color's of starts and the temperature of the stars photosphere. Students...
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Super Gelatin
Students investigate the refraction properties of gelatin to calculate its index of refraction. They discover that as the light travels through the gelatin, its speed and wavelength also change. Students find th indes of refraction of an...
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Super Gelatin
Students measure angles of refraction as the light travels through gelatin. For this experimental lesson students complete a refraction lab and plot their data.
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Hot Air
Young scholars conduct an experiment to determine how hot air affect the path of laser. In this physics lesson, students explain why stars appear to twinkle at night. They discuss how light travels from space to Earth.
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Spectroscope
Students examine how to apply conservation of energy and properties of matter to a spectroscope. In this energy lesson students build their own spectroscope and observe three kinds of spectra.