Solar System
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http://www.kidsastronomy.com/solar_system.htm Name: KidsAstronomy.com This beautiful website contains lots of information on the Sun, every planet in the solar system, the moons of each planet, asteroids, and comets. Users are not required to go through the site in any particular order, but the sections are arranged from closest to farthest from the sun. Users would most likely begin with the first section that appears...the Sun. Subsequent sections examine each of the 9 planets. Every section contains an interactive image of the planet which can be clicked on to reveal its core. Every section presents interesting information on each planet, including the planet’s name’s mythological significance, its gravitational effects, its moons, and other fun facts and trivia. The next sections following the planets examine the moons of each planet. These are also nice sections containing actual satellite images of the moons. The remaining sections examine asteroids and comets, again with actual satellite images. This is a beautiful website suitable for all ages. It’s colourful and interactive. Fonts are large and bright, making for an easy read. The text explanations are easy to understand and never use big words. All material is written in a way that students of all ages can grasp and enjoy. Younger students will appreciate the simple explanations while older students will like the slightly more advanced facts and trivia. There are lots of images, satellite photographs, and animations...all perfect for project work. The always-present menu makes it easy to navigate to any section at anytime. This is a very good site for both teachers and all students to use. |
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Name: The Nine Planets for Kids This beautiful website contains good information on the solar system using lots of images, satellite photographs, movies, and trivia. The site begins with a brief introduction describing the layout of the solar system. The second section provides a size comparison of the planets and presents 2 ways to categorize the planets, by composition and by size. Subsequent sections can be visited in no particular order, but they are arranged from closest to farthest from the sun, including the Asteroid Belt separating the inner planets from the outer planets. Within each section, each planet’s mythological significance, astronomical symbol, position in solar system, and composition are examined. A sidebar within each section also provides more notes, fun facts, and trivia. This is a beautiful website suitable for all ages. Fonts are large and bright, making for an easy read. All material is written in a way that students of all ages can grasp and enjoy. Younger students will appreciate the simple explanations while older students will like the slightly more advanced facts and trivia. All users will appreciate the site’s tips on viewing some of the planets with the naked eye or with telescopes. There are lots of images, satellite photographs, animations, and videos...all perfect for project work. The always-present menu makes it easy to navigate to any section at anytime. The Planet Pit Stop section contains links to other useful resources devoted to the solar system. This is a very good site for both teachers and all students to use. |
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http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/solarsys/solarsys.html Name: Solar
System This site is actually a smaller portion of a larger site that was apparently built for an Astronomy class. Consequently, if you surf around on this site you will stumble upon many other concepts, including Modern Astronomy, time & timekeeping, the individual planets, and comets. But I will describe only the section on the solar system because it’s actually quite detailed. This section is contained within 7 linked pages. The first page starts with a very quick introduction. The second page describes and compares the sizes, masses, and densities of objects in the solar system. The third page examines the revolution and rotation of the planets. The fourth page examines how the solar system exhibits conservation of angular momentum. The fifth page examines the origins of the solar system using the Nebular Hypothesis, which was first proposed in the 18th century. At the end of this page, some evidence is presented in support of this hypothesis. The sixth page describes some possible solar systems in the process of being born. The final seventh section discusses an alternative to the Nebular Hypothesis, which leads to the formation of binary star systems. This site is relatively plain, but the absolutely large images make up for this. All the images are colourful and link well with the text explanations. Some images can be clicked on to view full-screen versions, which are perfect for cut and paste work. The explanations themselves are straight to the point with minimal elaboration. The vocabulary is clearly geared towards older students. Younger students probably won’t get much from this site. The always-present menu is strangely located at the bottom of all the pages and is too simplistic, offering only Next, Back, Top, and Home. However, clicking on Home takes users to a very detailed table of contents where any section of the whole website can be accessed. Don’t let this site’s plainness fool you. The information is good and the images are amazing. This is a very nice site for both teachers and older students to use. |
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Name:
DiscoverySchool.com This site contains complete lesson plans for studying Earth Sciences at any level from K-12, including objectives and suggestions for evaluation in each lesson plan. Teachers can look forward to lesson plans on Earth’s surface, geological phenomena, oceans, weather, and tectonic plates, but this is by no means a complete list of lesson plans that can be found on this site. If that wasn’t good enough, many of the lesson plans even contain suggestions for adapting the lesson for different grade levels. This is hands-down one of the best resources for all teachers, and not just Science teachers. The site is colourful and well laid out. All sections of the site are accessible from the always-present menu. Some of the important concepts even have sound files attached to them so that you can listen to its pronunciation. This site is mainly geared towards teachers. |
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Name:
The
Geological Society of America This site contains complete lesson plans for studying Earth Sciences at any level from K-12, including any required worksheets. Lesson plans are organized by specific topics in Earth Sciences. The section on rocks and minerals is impressive on its own. Lessons for each topic are also further subdivided by grade level. Most lessons appear to be lab-based and very hands-on. Finally, there are literally tons of links to other educational resources within each topic. This is another amazing resource for teachers, but definitely geared towards Science teachers only. The site is colourful and well laid out. There are so many lesson plans and resources that are listed that the site even provides a handy function to sort by topic or age group. If that wasn’t enough, the site also provides suggestions for readings and class discussions of critical issues. This site is mainly geared towards teachers. |