All resources in OpenStax Astronomy

Guide for Debunking Pseudo-Science Connected with Astronomy

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In this guide, you will find books, articles, and websites that help teachers of astronomy address some of the weird topics on the fringes of science that students sometimes hear about and want to have clarification for. Included are astrology, UFOs as alien spaceships, crop circles, denial of evolution and the big bang, the “face” on Mars, claims that NASA never landed astronauts on the Moon, and others.

Material Type: Homework/Assignment, Student Guide, Syllabus

Author: Andrew Fraknoi

Some Useful Websites to Obtain Astronomical Images

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This updated resource suggests some of the best places on the web for astronomy instructors to obtain high-quality images for showing in class (and gives the direct URL for obtaining the photos). It includes general sources, such as the Hubble image gallery and NASA’s Planetary Photojournal, as well as more specific sources for a particular observatory or wavelength range.

Material Type: Reading

Author: Andrew Fraknoi

Distant Nature: Astronomy Exercises

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“Distant Nature: Astronomy Exercises” is a basic set of Open Educational Resource based astronomy exercises designed to be used as instructional aids in conjunction with textbooks and/or live observational exercises. These Exercises utilize the free planetarium software Stellarium.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Homework/Assignment

Author: Stephen Tuttle

Astronomy Star Project

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This is a project I assign my students in an introductory, non-science major astronomy class. Each student is assigned one of the 25 brightest stars in the sky and they are asked to research and apply concepts they have been learning in the class to their particular star. I leave it up to them to decide the format of their final project - most do PowerPoint but some have done videos or podcasts. One student actually landed a part time job at a radio station after they heard her recording her star project! Many students tell me this is a highlight of the course!

Material Type: Assessment

Author: Erik Christensen

Current Event in Astronomy

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In an effort to raise awareness of astronomical developments, I have students search newspapers or online for any recent astronomical-related story and provide a photo and a short summary of the article including why they think it is important and I ask them to identify specially which chapter of the textbook deals with their story. I do this early in the semester as a way of getting students to become more familiar with the textbook and to try to get them to become lifelong learners and be in the habit of looking for current events related to astronomy.

Material Type: Homework/Assignment, Teaching/Learning Strategy

Author: Erik Christensen

Astropedia

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Intended for all audiences, this textbook is an introduction to the nature of the universe. Use it to research or review our solar system, stars, galaxies, and the history of the universe. Each chapter has a set of corresponding homework questions.

Material Type: Full Course, Textbook

Author: Chris Impey

OpenStax Lecture Slides

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These are a set of lecture slide that I have created for the OpenStax astronomy textbook. For each chapter, there are between 2 and 4 sets of slides broken down into topics following the flow of the chapter. In each case, the slides come in three formats: Keynote, PowerPoint and pdf. Note that the slides were created using Keynote so there may be some minor formatting issues in the PowerPoint versions. Please feel free to use/modify any of these as you find useful for your classes.

Material Type: Lecture Notes

Author: Robert Wagner

Some Plays (and Films) about Astronomers

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This is a first attempt at making an annotated list of plays and films that are specifically about astronomers. No claim is made for completeness and additional suggestions are most welcome. I don't list operas here. A list of astronomy operas is included in my topical listing of music inspired by astronomy at: http://bit.ly/astronomymusic

Material Type: Homework/Assignment, Reading, Student Guide, Teaching/Learning Strategy

Author: Andrew Fraknoi

A Catalog of 250+ Pieces of Music Inspired by Serious Astronomy

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This new annotated guide (part of a series devoted to resources for enjoying or teaching astronomy) features over 250 pieces of music inspired by serious astronomy, including both classical and popular music examples. YouTube links are given for the vast majority, so you (or your students) can listen to them. Among the pieces included is: 1) a Hubble Space Telescope cantata, 2) eight rock songs about black holes with reasonable science, 3) a supernova piano sonata, 4) a musical exploration of the Messier catalog of nebulae, clusters, and galaxies, 5) a moving song about Stephen Hawking, 6) Moon songs by the Grateful Dead, George Harrison, and the Police, 7) piano pieces “for children with small hands” named after the constellations, 8) operas about Galileo, Kepler, and Einstein, and many more.

Material Type: Module

Author: Andrew Fraknoi

Foothill College AstroSims

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The Foothill College AstroSims project is ensuring continued access to astro-education simulations past the deprecation of Java and Flash. This site includes: * re-implementations in HTML5/Javascript of existing astro-education simulations, * new simulations of previously unaddressed topics, and * a frequently updated list of astro-education simulations.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Interactive, Simulation

Authors: Andrew Tran, Baba Kofi Weusijana, Chris Achenbach, Geoffrey Mathews, Safi Mohammed

Star Concept Connection Cards

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These concept connection cards can be used in small groups or for self study. They help students build an understanding of three core topics in astronomy -- the HR diagram, light, and fusion. The file includes instructions for usage, as well as cards in multiple formats. They were created by Kaisa Young from Nicholls State University.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: OpenStax, Rice University

OpenStax Astronomy Video Lecture List

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This is a list of video lectures that I have created for an online class that I teach. These are lectures from each of the 30 chapters in the OpenStax textbook. The lectures generally run between 10 and 20 minutes and I have created 2-4 per chapter. The links are all to videos loaded to YouTube and are all captioned (edited by me, not YouTube auto captioning). Images were obtained from Wikimedia Commons and were limited to those in the public domain or under a CC license and are credited in the footer of each slide. Feel free to use any that you find useful or provide the list to students who may want to review the materials. For anyone interested, I can provide access to the lecture slides as well so that they could be modified to fit your specific requirements. You can contact me directly at: rmwagner@hacc.edu This resource has been updated to a full list of 99 lectures covering all 30 chapters in the book.

Material Type: Lecture

Author: Robert Wagner

Free On-line Lab Activities for Astro 101

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This annotated index includes a wide range of free, online labs appropriate for Astro 101 courses, organized by chapter of the OpenStax Astronomy textbook. So, you can look up free labs on Kepler's Laws, H-R diagram, the Drake Equation, and many other topics in introductory astronomy. These lab activities have been put on line by universities, NASA and NSF sponsored projects, and instructors who want to share their labs with colleagues. If we have missed any labs that are available free online, please suggest additions by emailing fraknoi@fhda.edu

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan, Module, Unit of Study

Author: Andrew Fraknoi

Activities for Solar System Astronomy

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These activities cover topics in Solar System Astronomy, aligned with the OpenStax Astronomy textbook. Topics cover chapters 1-5, 6-13, and sections of 14 and 21 covering exoplanets. All activities are designed to be done in small groups in the classroom, but most can be adapted for use as homework or projects. Quantitative and Hands-on activities may be used as labs. This is one part of an astronomy resource collection by Lane Community College. This collection was built by Andrea Goering (goeringa@lanecc.edu) and Richard Wagner (wagnerr@lanecc.edu), instructors of physics and astronomy at Lane Community College in Eugene, Oregon, USA. Development of these resources was funded through LCC's OER Initiative (https://inside.lanecc.edu/oer). We'd love to hear about your use of these resources! Let us know what you're using, sign up for updates, and submit corrections, suggestions, or comments here: https://forms.gle/un49RUNs55GU3ZNF6

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Full Course, Homework/Assignment

Authors: Andrea Goering, Richard Wagner

Activities for Galaxies and Cosmology

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These activities cover topics in Galaxies and Cosmology, aligned with the OpenStax Astronomy textbook. Topics cover chapters 1, 5, 6, 24-30, and sections of chapter 17 and 19 concerning distance. All activities are designed to be done in small groups in the classroom, but most can be adapted for use as homework or projects. Quantitative and Hands-on activities may be used as labs. This is one part of an astronomy resource collection by Lane Community College. This collection was built by Andrea Goering (goeringa@lanecc.edu) and Richard Wagner (wagnerr@lanecc.edu), instructors of physics and astronomy at Lane Community College in Eugene, Oregon, USA. Development of these resources was funded through LCC's OER Initiative (https://inside.lanecc.edu/oer). We'd love to hear about your use of these resources! Let us know what you're using, sign up for updates, and submit corrections, suggestions, or comments here: https://forms.gle/un49RUNs55GU3ZNF6 Find the full collection here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/142FgVMDHZ7bu53gihe3kJ_-5PzsnuzfMklJ1ZLMFk2E/edit#gid=315930953

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Full Course, Homework/Assignment

Authors: Andrea Goering, Richard Wagner