Astronomy Education Resources

Rob Knop's

A model of a Uniform Expansion – like what galaxies are doing in our Universe – made with paperclips and rubber bands. From some very simple measurements, you make a Hubble Diagram. Includes instructions and some printed materials, as well as a set of slides (in OpenDocument and PDF format) used in a presentation I've used to go with the actvitiy.

Slides on Science and Religion

I've used this with the previous activity, although I probably got myself into a lot of trouble in so doing. This set of slides tries to describe what a "theory" is in science. It uses the theory of Stellar Evolution as an example, leading to the knowledge that the Unviverse must be at least 13 billion years old. From there, I talk about some other theories, and then about my view of why science and religion do not need to be in conflict... although science does conflict with some specific claims of some religions.

Astronomy Movies

Astronomy animations, intended for use in introductory astronomy courses (although I've used some of them in advanced Physics courses and in public lectures). Created for the most part using the open source 3d rendering program Blender. Free for all educational and non-commercial use.

Talk Slides

Openoffice.org presentations, and PDF exports, that I've used to give various public outreach, journal club, and class talks.

What Are Spiral Arms?

A Java applet and discussion that demonstrates how you might expect spiral galaxy arms to be wrapping up. Yet, we still see them, so spiral galaxy arms are different from what you might think that they are.

Elsewhere

astronomycenter.org: Part of the Compadre project, this is a central clearinghouse for astronomy education materials. Has links to and descriptions of resources available across the web.