Exploring Space: Interactive Tools for Your Homeschool

367: Exploring Space: Interactive Tools for Your Homeschool

The Artemis 2 mission has four astronauts circling the moon right now, and it’s a perfect time to bring space exploration into your homeschool. In this episode, learn about free (and nearly free) tools organized into four categories: learn and explore, games and interactives, simulations, and citizen science.

Track the Artemis Mission (timely links)

• NASA’s website (www.nasa.gov/trackartemis)
• The NASA app (www.nasa.gov/nasa-app)

Learn & Explore

• Eyes on the Solar System, Asteroids, Earth & Exoplanets — interactive 3D exploration
• Moon Trek — explore the lunar surface with layered data (do the tutorial)
• Stellarium Web — shows your night sky based on your location
• Crash Course Astronomy on YouTube — great for middle and high school
• Khan Academy: Cosmology and Astronomy — pick and choose topics

Games & Interactives

• NASA Interactives — includes Name That Nebula, NASA Kids Club, Hooray for SLS (read-aloud book for younger kids), and more

Simulations

• PhET Simulations — gravity, Kepler’s laws, black body spectrum, and more
• The Concord Consortium — filter by Space for science simulations

Citizen Science

• Zooniverse — help real scientists classify data; space projects include:
  • Magnetosphere Sheath Classifications
  • Cold Ion Population
  • Sunspot counting (historic photos)
  • Gravity Wave Zoo, Redshift Wrangler, Active Asteroids, Planet Hunters, Disk Detective, and more

Sponsor: FundaFunda Academy Astronomy Bundle

• Searching the Solar System — overview of astronomy, space math, the sun & moon, inner and outer planets; videos, games, interactives, and a final project per module
• Searching the Night Sky — astronomical history, stargazing tools, constellations, deep sky objects
• Individual units $20 each; bundle $34
• Limited-time offer: $10 (no code needed) through the end of the Artemis 2 mission (April 10)
• Aimed at grades 4–8

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If you use any of these resources, come join the conversation in the Homeschooling with Technology Community on Facebook and let us know which ones your family enjoyed most!

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