Online Resources and Tools
Some of the resources I would love to use with the pupils would be the Stellarium web site and Astronomy picture of the day. As an introduction I would show an astronomy picture each day and encourage discussion about the details of each picture. I think with older pupils it would instill a sense of wonder and curiosity. I would follow up by using the Stellarium web to give them a platform to investigate the night time sky by clicking on an image in the sky which will bring up instant information and identify on what they are seeing at that moment. They can zoom into the landscape to identify objects or focus on the constellations. As a follow up activity, I would use drawings to assess understanding from the EU Universe awareness programme using the pre-activity template before observing the night-time sky and using the post activity template after observing the sky. Another follow up activity from the EU universe awareness programme I would use are the Astro card game for identification and classification of planets, star clusters or galaxies. I also like the feature that they can keep a record of their observations using the log book, they can use their own location or view from any other location and they have the option to change the time and date. I am looking forward to using this fantastic resource in the classroom.