In this paper we present the "Sky on Earth" project funded in 2008 by the Italian Ministry of Instruction, Research and University, inside its annual public outreach education program. The project's goal was to realise a stable and open-access astronomical garden, where children, teachers and citizens could be engaged in investigations…

Creative and Tactile Astronomy is an educational project developed by English and Portuguese teachers. Isabel Borges and Lina Canas from Portugal and Alison Alexander and Ruth Wiltsher from the United Kingdom met for the first time at the 2013 Science on Stage Festival in Slubice-Oder, on the border between Germany and Poland. As a consequence of…

An innate advantage for astronomy teachers is having numerous breathtaking images of the cosmos available to capture students' curiosity, imagination, and wonder. Internet-based astronomy image libraries are numerous and easy to navigate. The Astronomy Picture of the Day, the Hubble Space Telescope image archive, and the NASA Planetary…

Computer-generated simulations and visualizations in digital planetariums have the potential to bridge the comprehension gap in astronomy education. Concepts involving three-dimensional spatial relationships can be difficult for the layperson to understand, since much of the traditional teaching materials used in astronomy education remain…

To capture students' excitement and engage their interest in rocketships and visiting planets in the solar system, the author designed lessons that give students the opportunity to experience the joys and challenges of developing straw rockets, and then observing which design can travel the longest distance. The lessons are appropriate for…

Scientists and teachers have worked together to produce teaching materials for the Very Small Radio Telescope (VSRT), an easy-to-use, low-cost apparatus that can be used in multiple laboratory experiments in high school and university physics and astronomy classes. In this article, we describe the motivation for the VSRT and several of the…

NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Engineers at Marshall Space Flight Center along with their partners at other NASA centers, and in private industry, are designing and beginning to develop the next generation of spacecraft to transport cargo, equipment, and human explorers to space. These vehicles are part of the Constellation…