Download 6362-Useful Websites For Teachers

The hyperlinked websites listed below are highly recommended to teachers to assist them in
preparing notes, worksheets, presentations etc. They may also be useful to pupils during
research and independent learning sessions. All the websites are up-to-date and active at the
time of publication, and we welcome any additions or deletions that you may wish to suggest
(please e-mail us: [email protected]). Press CTRL and the link.
Topic 1 Earth, Sun and Moon
1. To enhance the teaching of how Eratosthenes determined the circumference of the Earth,
there are some excellent video extracts from TV programmes such as Carl Sagan’s Cosmos
series. You could try to locate these via YouTube or Teachers TV.
2. NASA’s Telescopes From The Ground Up gives a detailed and comprehensive exploration of
terrestrial and orbiting satellites.
The URL is: http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/resources/explorations//groundup/ and
the site contains lots of information and diagrams on how telescopes work, with links to
other telescope sites.
© Mickledore Publishing 2011
Teacher Toolbox for GCSE Astronomy
3. There are excellent accounts of the Moon’s geology and its likely formation (in addition to
lots of other astronomical topics) on Howstuffworks’ Giant Impactor Hypothesis page.
4. Spaceweather.com gives you all the latest information on forthcoming meteor showers,
sunspot activity and visiting comets. In addition to providing lots of information about
sunspot activity, solar flares, eclipses, Near-Earth Asteroids, fireballs and comets, it is
possible to register yourself (and your students) to receive alarm calls should aurorae be
visible where you live! 10/10
5. Direct links to the home pages of the three major robotic telescopes that you and your
students can use free of charge are:
www.telescope.org – the Bradford Telescope
www.faulkes-telescope.com – the Faulkes Telescopes
www.schoolsobservatory.org.uk – the NSO’s Liverpool Telescope
6. Concerned about light pollution? The BAA’s Campaign for Dark Skies is on your side!
7. You can borrow samples of Moon rocks and meteorites from the Science & Technology
Facilities Council (STFC). An informative website allows you to download a PDF that tells
shows you how easy this is.
8. The Sun section of University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR)’s Windows to
the Universe website is excellent. Concise, factual information, with lots of informative
images and links to other solar websites, is available at Beginner, Intermediate and
Advanced levels.
© Mickledore Publishing 2011
Teacher Toolbox for GCSE Astronomy
9. Lastly in this section, a very pupil-orientated educational website dealing with the Sun and
its influences on Earth is the developing Sun|trek (sic) site. There are classroom
resources and links to ‘Solar Guides’, young professional astronomers (mostly from the
UK) who study the Sun - good role models! In addition, the Gallery is particularly
impressive and provides teachers with plenty of spectacular images and movies of the Sun
in different wavelength regions of the EM spectrum.
© Mickledore Publishing 2011
Teacher Toolbox for GCSE Astronomy
Topic 2 Planetary Systems
1. The Spaced Out Project’s website www.spacedout-uk.com gives access to what is poised
to be the world’s largest scale model of our Solar System. There are also free resources
for GCSE Astronomy (and KS2 – 4 Science) to download.
2. An excellent up-to-date website covering all aspects of the search for, and identification
of exoplanets is CCPS’s Exoplanets. You might find a French website dealing with
Exoplanets and the possibilities of life elsewhere in the Universe equally useful.
Navigating this site also gives you a useful Glossary of astronomical terms.
3. The Down2Earth website provides lots of information and a mixture of resources on
meteorites and other extra-terrestrial material. There is also an excellent Impact
Calculator in which students can create a virtual impact of a meteoroid or comet with
Earth – great fun!
© Mickledore Publishing 2011
Teacher Toolbox for GCSE Astronomy
Topic 3 Stars
1. To help you and your students to plan observing sessions, select equipment and discover
what astronomical objects make good observational targets, David Haworth’s
Observational Astronomy site is extremely helpful.
2. A good introduction to stars and constellations, including maps and useful links to Nine
Planets, APOD etc. is: http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/. In addition,
Richard Dibbon-Smith’s Constellations website lets you view all the constellations and
gives detailed historical (mythical) and astronomical information about each.
3. The Messier Catalogue – ideal for helping you to choose nebulae, clusters and/or galaxies
to observe.
4. If you are planning to do some observing, the Met Office will not only give you the latest
weather forecasts for the days (and nights) ahead, but advise you of the times of sunrise
and sunset in your location.
5. If you don’t have access to star charts in newspapers or magazines, there are numerous
ones available on free download - try the University of Bristol’s Monthly Skyguide from
where you can obtain basic and full charts, with observing notes.
6. For an in-depth account of constellations’ names and the myths and legends associated
with them, Ian Ridpath’s Star Tales website is an excellent starting point.
7. One of the best pieces of planetarium software for free download is Stellarium. A
tremendous resource for both pupils and teachers.
© Mickledore Publishing 2011
Teacher Toolbox for GCSE Astronomy
Topic 4 Galaxies and Cosmology
1. A series of visual lectures published by the University of Oregon covering a wealth of
astronomical topics (particularly good for star formation, Cepheid variables, Hubble’s
‘Tuning Fork’ classification, the Local Group and quasars - in a somewhat random order)
is: http://abyss.uoregon.edu/~js/cosmo/lectures/lec12.html.
2. The discovery and implications of CMB radiation is covered comprehensively on ESA’s
Space Science page dedicated to the CMB. There are lots of links to explore other
astronomical and space-related topics.
3. Galaxy Zoo was launched in 2007. This web-based project has invited members of the
public to access images from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey telescope in New Mexico in
order to classify galaxies. The URL is: http://www.galaxyzoo.org/
4. Wallcharts, posters and PDFs on a range of cosmological topics are available free of charge
from STFC. Press CTRL and click any of the images!
© Mickledore Publishing 2011
Teacher Toolbox for GCSE Astronomy