Volunteer experts are a key ingredient to many successful public engagement efforts. Volunteer networks focused on astronomy and space include: 1) Solar System Ambassadors Program, 2) Night Sky Network of astronomy clubs, and 3) AAS Astronomy Ambassadors 1) The Solar...
"Exploring the Solar System: Hide and Seek Moon" is an engaging way for early childhood learners to experiment with some of the tools scientists use to study objects that are very, very far away, and to learn about how cultures...
"Exploring Size - Powers of Ten" is a card game exploring the relative sizes of various objects. Visitors compete to organize their hand of cards into lists of objects from largest to smallest. "Explore Science - Zoom into Nano Powers...
This online presentation and discussion covered the science behind three of the 2017 Explore Science: Earth & Space toolkit activities - Rising Seas, Investigating Clouds, and Orbiting Objects. After a brief overview of each activity and associated materials, Laura Peticolas,...
It can be challenging to know what ideas and experiences learners already have when they visit an informal education venue. What facilitation approaches will help them build productive and deep conceptual learning about Earth and space science? When educators anticipate...
"Exploring the Universe: Objects in Motion" encourages participants to explore the complex but predictable ways objects in the universe interact with each other. Stars, planets, moons, and other objects in space orbit around each other because of gravity, and NASA...
"Exploring the Solar System: Solar Eclipse" is a hands-on activity demonstrating how the particular alignment of the Sun, Earth, and Moon can cause an eclipse. Visitors investigate the positions of these objects to create shadows and learn about the total...
Welcome to your Explore Science: Earth & Space toolkit! This section contains everything you will need to begin planning and promoting your Earth & Space event. The downloadable planning and promotion guide will walk you through your event. Also included...
With the August 21st total solar eclipse just around the corner, a high-quality online stream of this rare event can add content and context for your visitors. Robyn Higdon from the Exploratorium, with help from Frank Kusiak at the Lawrence...
"Exploring the Solar System: Craters" is an active, hands-on activity that demonstrates how craters form, and what they can teach us about the history and composition of planets and moons. By dropping objects of various sizes and shapes into a...
Amateur astronomers, research scientists, and other experts, are often enthusiastic volunteers and eager to share their excitement for astronomy with the public. In this workshop, presenters shared info on how to find local experts and effectively collaborate with them to...
Included here are digital copies of promotional materials for your Explore Science: Earth & Space toolkit. In addition to ready-to-print materials, you will find design files and images for customizing existing materials or creating your own! For customizable materials, be...
"Exploring the Universe: Filtered Light" demonstrates how scientists can use telescopes and other tools to capture and filter different energies of light to study the universe. Most objects in the universe are so distant from us that we can only...
"Exploring the Solar System: Big Sun, Small Moon" is a hands-on activity that explores the concept of apparent size and allows visitors to experience this phenomena using familiar objects—a tennis ball and a beach ball. Participants learn that the Sun...
This online presentation and discussion covers the science behind three of the 2018 Explore Science: Earth & Space toolkit activities - Pack a Space Telescope, Exoplanet Transits, and Objects in Motion. After a brief overview of each activity and its...
This online workshop gives an introduction to the new Space & Earth Informal STEM Education (SEISE) project; focussing primarily on an overview of what’s in the new Explore Science: Earth & Space toolkits, including information about how to apply and...
Planning for the August 21st, 2017 Total Solar Eclipse? This recorded online presentation and discussion covers the science behind the 2017 total solar eclipse that will cross the continental United States from Oregon to South Carolina, and provides suggestions for...
This is a simple reference sheet, offering basic tips for leading the hands-on activities in your toolkit. It includes suggestions for engaging and encouraging visitors, as well as for handling difficult concepts and misconceptions. PDF and DOC formats included.
In "Exploring the Solar System: Stomp Rockets," participants learn about how some rockets carry science tools—not scientists—into space, and how a special kind of rocket called "sounding rockets" can be used for quick, low-flying scientific missions into space. Participants will...
"Exploring the Solar System: Pocket Solar System" is a hands-on activity in which visitors make a scale model of the distances between objects in our solar system. They learn that there is a lot of space between planets, and that...
This online presentation covered strategies for finding and connecting additional NASA and Earth and space science related resources. NISE Net Earth & Space Content Expert, Lindsay Bartolone, one of the leaders behind NASAWavelength.org, guided participants through NASA'S Science Mission Directorate's...
This online workshop provided an overview of the hands-on STEM activities in the Explore Science: Earth and Space toolkit, tips for using training materials and forming local collaborations, and suggestions for marketing your events and programs. Presenters in this workshop...
"Exploring the Universe: Orbiting Objects" is a hands-on activity that invites visitors to experiment with different sized and weighted balls on a stretchy fabric gravity well. The activity models gravitational attraction in space. Participants investigate how changing conditions can cause...
Visitors bring different experiences and knowledge to the activity table, which sometimes helps and sometimes adds confusion to their learning. In this online workshop, participants learned how to identify common patterns of thinking (including misconceptions, preconceived notions and vernacular issues)...
This slideshow presentation (with accompanying notes) acts as a quick overview of your Explore Science: Earth & Space toolkit and the individual activities contained within.