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Subtopic: Origins and Evolution of the Universe

Change grade range

Resource	Grade Level	Media Type
Above the Clouds: Telescopes on Mauna Kea This video segment adapted from First Light explains why the highest peak in the Pacific, Mauna Kea, is an ideal site for astronomical observations. Featured are new telescope technologies that allow astronomers to explore the universe in more depth.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Accidental Discoveries This segment from Swift: Eyes through Time traces the history military officers and engineers discovering a strange phenomenon in the sky that astronomers now know are gamma-ray bursts.	5-8	QuickTime Video
Accidental Discoveries This lesson will help the students understand that science theories change in the face of new evidence, but those changes can be slow in coming.	5-8	Lesson Plan
Astronomical Images in Different Wavelengths Visible light is just one portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that a telescope may detect. This collection of images produced for Teachers' Domain features radio wave, infrared, visible light, and X-ray images of distant stars and galaxies as well as images of the telescopes designed to detect the various wavelengths of radiation.	6-12	Flash Interactive
Astronomy Theories This video segment from Swift: Eyes through Time deals with the advancement of science through changing existing ideas, refuting outdated theories, and incorporating new findings.	5-8	QuickTime Video
Birth of a Supernova, Type Ia In this interactive activity from NOVA Online, learn about a type of exploding star — a Type Ia supernova — that is so bright that astronomers can measure the distance to the galaxy in which it resides, and even learn which elements make up the star.	6-12	Flash Interactive
Birth of a Supernova, Type II In this interactive activity from NOVA Online, learn about a type of exploding star — a Type II supernova — that is so large it has a mass 10 times greater than the mass of our Sun.	6-12	Flash Interactive
Earth, the Universe, and Culture The following lesson will help the students understand the cultural nature of scientific research.	5-8	Lesson Plan
Einstein: How Smart Was He? This essay from the NOVA Web site explores the impact Einstein made on physics and most everything we know about the cosmos.	6-12	HTML Document
The Elements: Forged in Stars The story of how elements from lithium to uranium are created by stars is illustrated through animation and a hands-on periodic table in this video segment adapted from NOVA.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Gravity and the Expanding Universe This video segment, adapted from NOVA, traces the evolving history of theories about gravity and a force that may oppose it, along with our understanding of the impact of both of these forces on our expanding universe.	6-12	QuickTime Video
How Big Is Our Universe? This interactive resource from Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics uses images and activities to understand the scope and scale of our universe. Featured are technologies used by generations of explorers.	3-12	HTML Interactive
Hubble's Expanding Universe This adapted video segment, using footage from NOVA and NASA, examines Edwin Hubble's work and how his findings laid the foundation for the Big Bang theory.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Hubble Telescope: Looking Deep This video segment adapted from the Space Telescope Science Institute shows what the Hubble telescope found when it stared at a single, nearly empty spot in the sky for 10 days in 1995. The unexpected result was a picture of a multitude of galaxies stretching into the distance.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Infrared Search for Origins This interactive resource from NASA illustrates how infrared technology has advanced space exploration and can offer insight into questions about star formation, planetary systems, brown dwarfs, and the origins of the universe.	6-12	Flash Interactive
Ingredients for Life: Carbon This video segment adapted from NOVA illustrates why carbon is at the center of life on Earth. It also asks whether carbon-based life might exist on other planets.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Looking Back in Time This video segment of Swift: Eyes through Time provides concrete examples to explain the concept that distance in space equals distance in time.	5-8	QuickTime Video
Looking Back in Time This lesson plan will provide a concrete way for the students to understand the concept of “distance in space equals distance in time.”	5-8	Lesson Plan
Monster Black Hole in Galaxy M84 This animation by Thomas Goertel of the Space Telescope Science Institute is an artist's conception of a spiral galaxy harboring a super-massive black hole. Observe how the material rotates faster the closer it is to the nucleus.	6-12	QuickTime Video
The Origin of the Elements This video segment adapted from NOVA explains the origin of the elements and how scientists use unique element profiles to identify supernova types.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Our Knowledge of the Universe Students investigate the history of astronomy to see how major conceptual and technological advances have sculpted the current view of the universe.	9-12	Lesson Plan
Pulsars: Little Green Men The story behind Jocelyn Bell's role in the discovery of pulsars is told in this colorful, comic-book-style resource from A Science Odyssey Web site.	6-12	HTML Document
Spin a Spiral Galaxy This interactive activity from NOVA Online lets you spin a spiral galaxy, including our own Milky Way. It demonstrates that what you can learn from visible light observations of a galaxy is largely determined by the angle from which you are observing it.	6-12	QuickTime Interactive
Swift: Gamma-Ray Bursts In this video segment adapted from Penn State Public Broadcasting's Swift: Eyes Through Time, learn about the Swift satellite — a NASA mission with international participation — and how it is collecting data about gamma-ray bursts that may yield important discoveries about the Universe.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Theories This lesson will help the students understand that science theories change in the face of new evidence, but those changes can be slow in coming.	5-8	Lesson Plan
Universe Origins This video segment from Swift: Eyes through Time covers gamma ray bursts; geocentric and heliocentric models; and, cultural interpretations of scientific data.	5-8	QuickTime Video
The Wall of Time This illustrated timeline from the Lunar and Planetary Institute provides a journey through four-and-a-half billion years of time from the birth of our solar system to its current existence today.	6-12	JPEG Image
What Is Astrobiology? In this video from the Science and Technology Chat series, learn about astrobiology, an interdisciplinary field that uses biology, astronomy, and geology to study the origins of life on Earth and to search for possible life on other planets.	3-12	QuickTime Video
WMAP: "Baby Picture" of the Universe View the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) image from NASA to see the first detailed map of the oldest light in the universe, from 379,000 years after the Big Bang, over 13 billion years ago. A second image offers a visual timeline to put the WMAP image in perspective.	9-12	JPEG Image