HARVARD-SMITHSONIAN CENTER FOR ASTROPHYSICS (CfA) runs an education page on their site. The following is an overview of CfA Resources for Educators and Students from this site.
- Their Science and Education Department section is all about buying their books, etc but I found the ‘fun things to make and do’ section to be interesting but basic and it is aimed exclusively at children.
- The section on the Chandra X-ray Observatory was VERY interesting and is for teachers/adults, rather than children, as it is slightly complicated.
- The MicroObservatory Online Telescopes, is more trouble than it’s worth, with lots of downloading and installing, etc. involved.
- The Worldwide Telescope Ambassadors is an interesting program to view the universe and also gives you the option to go on interactive tours of the cosmos. However, if you are using it to just view planets, etc. yourself, it is not as good as some of the other programs out there such as Stellarium.
- In Project Astro, to access any useful teaching resources, you have to purchase materials and catalogues. However, these materials look as if they would be useful to teachers.
- The Everyday Classroom tools is very good and provides a wealth of information on educating children (both primary and lower second level) on science, astronomy, astrophysics, etc.
- The Universe Forum is very educational and explains complicated topics in an easy to understand way. I think it’s aimed at older children and teenagers. It also has beneficial resources and links for educators.
- From the Ground Up is about exploring the solar system, by using online telescopes to take still photographs.
reviewed by Aaron Spriggs & Andrew Crowley, TY Work Placement students.