This project acquaints students with the sky and celestial objects.Provide students with access to a high-powered telescope and specify the ascension, declination, apparent magnitude and distance from Earth of several celestial bodies. Clearly viewable examples include Andromeda, the Eagle Nebula and the Hercules cluster. With this information, students can use the telescope to identify these objects. Have students identify whether each object is a bright nebula, a global cluster, an open cluster or a spiral galaxy.
Role-playing games allow students to socialize with each other as they tackle a project. For one assignment, divide the class into small groups that represent world leaders. Based on the material they have learned in astronomy class, each group must create an argument for the existence of extraterrestrial life. The goal is to learn the basics of the Drake equation.
After students have been taught the fundamentals of celestial movement, assign a project that allows them to learn the precise trajectory of the stars. Ask them to evaluate the path of the stars and the moon over one year. Taking the students to the planetarium gives them an opportunity to view these patterns. Students should create star maps that detail the course of various stars across the night sky.
After students learn the fundamentals of gravity and acceleration and the mathematical formulas behind them, an in-class experiment can demonstrate these phenomena. Bring a standard bowling ball and a solid steel ball to class. Students apply these formulas to a hypothesis that predicts which ball will hit the ground first. Students apply gravity and acceleration math equations to make this determination. Then they climb a ladder and drop the balls simultaneously. Give the students a lab homework assignment to describe their predictions and the outcome.