U.S. ASTRONOMY EDUCATION CLEARINGHOUSE
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(Hosted by the U.S. National Astronomy Education Coordination Team [US-NAEC]
for the IAU's Office of Astronomy for Education)
Astronomy Education Resources in the United States
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Andy Fraknoi's One-page Guide to Resources in Astronomy:
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Big Ideas and Educational Standards Relating to Astronomy:
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IAU's Big Ideas in Astronomy
https://www.iau.org/static/archives/announcements/pdf/ann19029a.pdf
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Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) for the Earth & Space Sciences -- Core Ideas
https://ngss.nsta.org/DisciplinaryCoreIdeasMid.aspx?id=3
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NGSS Earth & Space Sciences -- Conceptual Framework
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RtXnBUfRdSCU1yP1MHPaX1Dj-2Z1rmEsEHqgvLetyfM/edit?usp=sharing
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NGSS Earth & Space Sciences -- Performance Expectations in Middle School
https://www.nextgenscience.org/sites/default/files/MS%20ESS%20DCI%20combined%206.13.13.pdf
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NGSS Earth & Space Sciences -- Performance Expectations in High School
https://www.nextgenscience.org/sites/default/files/HS%20ESS%20DCI%20combined%206.13.13.pdf
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Free Online Astronomy Textbooks:
Astronomy by A. Fraknoi, D. Morrison, S. C. Wolf and other contributors (grades 11-14): https://openstax.org/details/books/astronomy
AstronomyNotes by Nick Strobel (grades 11-14) -- the first of its kind:
https://www.astronomynotes.com/
Astronomy and Cosmology by the Khan Academy (grades 11-14):
https://www.khanacademy.org/science/cosmology-and-astronomy
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Big History Project by David Christian and other contributors (grades 11-14):
https://www.bighistoryproject.com/home
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Certificate and Degree Programs:
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American Museum of Natural History – Seminars on Science (with graduate credit available):
https://www.amnh.org/learn-teach/seminars-on-science
Arizona State University – Bachelor’s program in Secondary Earth & Space Science Education:
Purdue University – Bachelor’s program in Earth/Space Science Education:
https://www.eaps.purdue.edu/for_students/undergraduate/earth-space-science-ed/index.html
St. Cloud State University – Bachelor’s program in Earth and Space Science Education:
https://www.stcloudstate.edu/programs/earth-space-education/default.aspx
University of Washington – Secondary Teaching Endorsement in Earth and Space Sciences:
https://www.ess.washington.edu/education/undergrad/teaching_endorsement.php
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Civil Air Patrol -- Aerospace/STEM Education Program:
https://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/programs/aerospace-education/for-educators
Teacher Guides:
Astronomy for Educators by Daniel Barth, ScholarWorks@UARK, 2019 (grades K-12): Free for download at https://scholarworks.uark.edu/oer/2/?fbclid=IwAR0KxKms-dmPAqOoJPMYcDkQlCjY1FsbUOfHLkj9Jv0mhN-Sn54rfugAcE0
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Great Ideas for Teaching Astronomy – 3rd Edition by Stephen M. Pompea. Cengage Learning, 2000 (grades K-12): https://www.amazon.com/Great-Teaching-Astronomy-Stephen-Pompea/dp/0534373011
Uncovering Student Ideas in Astronomy by Page Keeley and Cary Sneider, NSTA Press, 2012 (grades K-12): https://my.nsta.org/resource/2197
Teaching and Learning Astronomy: Effective Strategies for Educators Worldwide by Jay Pasachoff and John Percy, Cambridge University Press, 2006 (K-12 grades): https://www.cambridge.org/tk/academic/subjects/physics/astronomy-general/teaching-and-learning-astronomy-effective-strategies-educators-worldwide?format=HB&isbn=9780521842624
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Resource Guides for Astronomy and Astronomy Education by Andy Fraknoi, https://www.fraknoi.com/resource-guides-on-astronomy-education/
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Handbook for Astronomy Educators – A Course Planning Guide by T. Michael Flick et al., Astronomical League, 2004 (K-12 grades): https://store.astroleague.org/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=31
Learning Astronomy by Doing Astronomy – 2nd Edition by S. Palen and A. Larson, W.W. Norton, 2020 (grades 11-14): https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393419849
Astronomy – Activity and Laboratory Manual – 2nd Edition by Alan W. Hirshfeld, Jones and Bartlett, 2020 (grades 11-14): https://www.jblearning.com/science-technology/biological-physical-science/astronomy/productdetails/9781284113747
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Astronomy Education Journals and Selected Papers:
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Astronomy Education Journal (AEJ) -- hosted by the IAU's Division of Astronomy Education and Development: https://www.astroedjournal.org/index.php/ijae
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Journal of Astronomy & Earth Science Education (JAESE) -- by subscription, hosted by the Clute Institute Journals:
https://clutejournals.com/index.php/JAESE
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Astronomy Education Review (AER) -- archived papers (2001-2013) hosted by the American Astronomical Society:
https://aas.org/teach/subject-index-papers-astronomy-education-review-2001-2013
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Mercury Magazine -- by subscription, hosted by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific:
https://astrosociety.org/news-publications/mercury-magazine/overview.html
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Stephen M. Pompea and Pedro Russo (2020), "Astronomers Engaging with the Education Ecosystem: A Best-Evidence Synthesis," Annual Reviews of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Vol. 58, pp. 313-361, See https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UaVjkY1mEhZ05MzxY0SfH_kG6d2FFRoW/view?usp=sharing
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Saeed Salimpour et al. (2021), "The Gateway Science: a Review of Astronomy in the OECD School Curricula, Including China and South Africa," Research in Sciencc Education, Vol. 51, pp. 975-996, See https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KLmiMyxb2aZL_TMZwYek-A0s96siFLHP/view?usp=sharing
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William H. Waller and Timothy F. Slater (2011), "Improving Introductory Astronomy Education in American Colleges and Universities – A Review of Recent Progress,” Journal of Geoscience Education, vol. 59, p. 176. See http://sites.google.com/site/sciencegazette/resources.
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William H. Waller (2020), “The Case for Coordinating Earth & Space Science Education Worldwide,” in Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union, Vol. 15, Symposium S367: Education and Heritage in the era of Big Data in Astronomy, eds. R.M. Ros, B. Garcia, S. Gullberg, J. Moldon & P. Rojo, pp. 415-416. See https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yKeTABNfyucZ9X5FFlrkdXA75ErZKSvA/view?usp=sharing
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William H. Waller (2021), “Integrating Earth & Space Science Education in our Schools,” in Proceedings for the 3rd Shaw-IAU Workshop on Astronomy for Education, See https://drive.google.com/file/d/1h_8EoURSkzMbNzODug4lauVmy6I2wpM5/view?usp=sharing, p. 24.
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William H. Waller, Christine Hirst-Bernhardt, David Lockett, Michelle Peterson, and Denise Wright (2021), "The Future of Astronomy Education in our Schools – A Listening and Discussing Session," in Proceedings of the 2021 Annual Meeting of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific: Sharing Best Practices: Astronomy Teaching and Public Engagement, See https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FQhL1aKXPxD6icCzxcZPJRgXQeI74MMz/view?usp=sharing
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Online Astronomy Education Activities:
​NASA’s Space Place (grades K-8):
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NASA's and Arizona State University's Infiniscope -- Sparking Curiosity through Earth & Space Exploration
(K-13+ digital learning resources):
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JPL's Education portal with loads of hands-on activities (grades K-12):
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/teach/
NSF’s compendium of astronomy classroom resources such as Amazing Space (grades K-12):
https://www.nsf.gov/news/classroom/astronomy.jsp
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IAU’s portal for peer-reviewed astronomy activities (grades K-14):
NESTA’s Windows to the Universe (grades K-14):
https://www.windows2universe.org/
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NSTA's classroom-tested lesson plans covering all sciences -- requires membership (grades K-12):
https://www.nsta.org/lesson-plans
Project Astro’s book The Universe at your Fingertips (DVD) (grades K-12): https://myasp.astrosociety.org/product/DV122/the-universe-at-your-fingertips-20-dvd-rom
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Selected Simulations, Websites, and other Astronomy Education Resources by Denise Wright (grades K-12):
https://wakelet.com/wake/lUFL18YABu_0MaNjIaDO2
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Teachable Moments in Astronomy and Astrophysics by William H. Waller (grades K-14): https://sites.google.com/site/sciencegazette/home/teachable-moments-in-astronomy-astrophysics
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Community Cosmos -- Place-based Forums for Empowering Educators in Earth & Space Exploration
Laboratory Activities for Astro-101 -- Andrew Fraknoi’s listing of astronomy education activities (grades 11-14):
http://www.fraknoi.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Laboratory-Activities-for-Astro-101.docx
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If the Moon Were Only 1 Pixel -- a tediously accurate (but rather amusing) scale model of the Solar System by Josh Worth (grades 6-12): https://joshworth.com/dev/pixelspace/pixelspace_solarsystem.html
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Space Race -- an interactive by the BBC for understanding how big space is (grades 6-12): http://www.bbc.com/future/bespoke/20140304-how-big-is-space-interactive/
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Scale of the Universe -- a graphic interactive (available in multiple languages) that enables you to scroll from sub-atomic to galactic scalings (grades 6-12): https://htwins.net/scale2/
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Citizen Science Programs in Astronomy:
The Zooniverse (grades 8-14):
https://www.zooniverse.org/projects?discipline=astronomy&page=1&status=live
NASA Citizen Science (grades 8-14):
https://science.nasa.gov/citizenscience
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Sky & Telescope's listing of citizen science programs (grades 8-14):
https://skyandtelescope.org/get-involved/list-citizen-science-projects/
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Remote Observing:
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Observing with NASA (OWN) (grades 8-14):
https://mo-www.cfa.harvard.edu/OWN/
Los Cumbres Telescope Network (grades 11-14):
Slooh Robotic Telescopes (grades 11-14):
https://www.slooh.com/landingPage
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Physically-accessible Observatories:
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Inquire to determine availabilities --
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Listing by the IAU's US National Outreach Coordinator:
https://carmenpantoja14cdb.myportfolio.com/planetariums
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Online Planetariums:
Stellarium (grades 8-14):
The Sky Live (grades 8-14):
https://theskylive.com/planetarium
In-The-Sky.org (grades 8-14):
https://in-the-sky.org/skymap.php
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Microsoft/AAS's Worldwide Telescope (grades 10-14):
A multi-wavelength resource for exploring and making presentations.
https://www.worldwidetelescope.org
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Physically-accessible Planetariums:
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Inquire to determine availabilities --
Listing by the IAU’s US National Outreach Coordinator:
https://carmenpantoja14cdb.myportfolio.com/astronomical-observatories
Listing by the International Planetarium Society:
https://www.ips-planetarium.org/page/planetariumfinder
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Accessibility and Inclusion:
You Can Do Astronomy – for vision challenged:
https://www.youcandoastronomy.com/
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Two-eyed Seeing -- NASA and Indigenous Astronomy -- For the Benefit of All
NASA collaborated with Native American sky watchers to implement an 8-month-long
educational program that blends Indigenous and Western ways of knowing ...
https://www.nativeskywatchers.com/two-eyed-seeing-nasa.html
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Professional Development Community:
American Astronomical Society Education Blog – resources and opportunities:
Astronomical Society of the Pacific Education and Outreach – programs and newsletter:
https://astrosociety.org/education-outreach/
ASP Teacher Learning Center – hosts online Astronomy Institutes and other K-12 programs:
https://asppublications.org/education/k12-educators/
Teaching Astronomy Facebook Group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/teachastronomy
Astronomy Education Facebook Group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/astronomyeducation
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U.S. National Astronomy Education Coordinator Team Facebook Group:
https://www.facebook.com/USNAEC
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Astronomical News and Information:
Portal to the Universe – IAU’s clearinghouse of astronomy blogs and press releases:
https://www.portaltotheuniverse.org/
Astronomy Picture of the Day – the perfect browser homepage!
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
AAS Nova – research highlights from the journals of the American Astronomical Society:
Sky & Telescope Magazine:
Astronomy Magazine:
NASA Science – online hub for NASA research and education in the Earth & space sciences:
Space.com – online magazine:
Bad Astronomy – blog hosted by Phil Plait:
http://www.badastronomy.com/index.html
Universe Today – blog hosted by Fraser Cain:
https://www.universetoday.com/
Doc Waller’s Earth & Space Reports – video presentations:
Earth & Space Reports - YouTube
Ask an Astrobiologist – video interviews:
https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/ask-an-astrobiologist/
Cosmic Coffee – video presentations and other events at Lowell Observatory:
https://lowell.edu/visit/special-events/
The Galactic Inquirer – online journal hosted by William Waller and Michael Deneen:
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