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The date was May 25, 1961.Blazing into space, NASA's Apollo 11 craft had its viewers glued to the televisions and radios, waiting with baited breath. Three heroic astronauts were aboard the craft that was headed for the moon. The world had its hopes pinned on them. It was going to be a gigantic leap for mankind.What seemed like infinity later, the craft landed on the dusty surface of the magic orb, the moon. As the astronauts mouthed “The Eagle has landed”, the world erupted into an ear-splitting rejoice.That day marked a new dawn for the world. And we never looked back from there.It's fascinating how the planets, satellites, stars and comets of the geography book can transport you to another world if you look at them hard enough. And if you close your eyes, you can almost reach out and land on them.The outer space has a magic of its own. My belief became concrete the day I saw the same wonder that I used to feel in school in my nephew's eyes. As soon as I pointed out the Milky Way on the computer screen, he was immediately hooked.Kids love the outer space. They are absolutely fascinated by it. It is the mystery of the unknown and the intangible that pulls them like magnet. This is also your chance to reel them right into your lessons and impart some interesting space education to them.While you are at it, you must check out the incredible apps that have been rolled out into the market to aid in teaching astronomy to your students. Here's a look at those.
The Starmap HD app is a sky atlas that brings information on 2,500,000 stars to your fingertips. It makes smart usage of the iPad's GPS and compass features to know where you are, what you are looking at and the elevation at which you are gazing. If camping is on the cards for your class, then this app is going to be a fun learning experience.
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With the Starmap HD app, you can pan your iPad left, right, up and down to receive information on the stars that you are viewing. If you have a certain constellation or a planet in mind and you would like to know when and where that will be visible, this app can help you out with that. This app also allows you to set alarms, keep track of your findings, control cameras and telescopes, and view a complete moon map with 9000 features and more.
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The Starmap HD app is exclusive to the iPad. A similarly effective version is available for the iPhone, which goes by the name of Starmap Pro.
The NASA app brings to you a horde of astronomy data on the go. Students can go through:
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Every bit of information is presented in a way that would invite student-attention. The main screen comprises a solar system. As soon as you tap on a planet, a comprehensive overview of it will appear accompanied by images, interesting facts and a descriptive explainer. This helps in the learning process immensely.If you are looking for specific information, you can search the app by keyword, category or feature. This app is updated every day; therefore, you are guaranteed to receive the latest information.
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With such an information-heavy app, your students would need your guidance to help them find their ways through it.
The 'Britannica Kids: Solar System' app is the perfect tool to teach your students about the solar system. This app makes learning fun and engaging by including games, fantastic images, incredible videos and a wealth of information to impart valuable education about the solar system. Some of these games include:
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Students can also read articles or watch videos on various subjects.
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In addition, this app also provides information on space exploration programs, talks about reputed astronomers and so on.This app is more like an interactive encyclopedia of the outer space with a visually-appealing interface that would get your students hooked as soon as they start using it.
This solar-system app deserves a mention in this list because of the sunning 3D feature that it brings to the table. You can zoom in to view details of each planet in the solar system and zoom out to view and rotate the entire galaxy. How cool is that!There's more.
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This app brings to you a remarkable experience of flying through space. The breathtaking visuals, graphics and animations portray close-up views of the planets, moon and stars along with their information. Some of its amazing features are:
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The 3D mode of the app works best with a pair of cyan-red 3D glasses. So you need to make an appropriate arrangement to get the best out this app.
This incredible stargazing app comes with remarkable recommendations. This app displays extensive details about stars in the sky and the planets as well at any point of time. Once you allow it to use your phone's location, this app will show you an in-depth detail of the stars above you.
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Two features that really caught my eyes among others are as follows:
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In addition, you can tap on anything you see to learn more about it. You can also zoom in for a better view. Check out the wealth of mind-blowing pictures that the app contains. It can be an amazing teaching tool.
They say, “Men are from Mars”. Doesn't that make you curious about Mars? We all know that it is the fourth planet from the Sun, comes with two moons and is red in color. But there's more to Mars than what meets the eye. Even though mankind has not landed on Mars yet, technology has reached far enough to bring details of the planet to our mobile devices. One such app is the Mars Globe.
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This app helps you with a guided tour of the planet right from your iPad. It comes with a high-resolution satellite map of the planet along with advanced topographical lighting and laser altimeter data. This gives you a feel of looking at the planet from the top.
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There is a possibility of getting dazed with the enormity of this app; this is where the guided tour comes to the rescue. It brings to you a thrilling experience of viewing the planet and it’s amazing features. If you feel too restricted with the tour, you can easily opt out of it and explore the planet yourself.
Did you know that planets exist beyond the solar system? They are called exoplanets. This app gives you a stunning 3D view of the Milky Way. You can explore the solar system, the cosmic microwave background and many other attributes of our universe.
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The primary features of this app include the following:
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This app has been developed and is managed by a professional astronomer. Whenever a new discovery is made, the app is immediately updated within an hour so that you always receive the latest information.
The Spacebook app contains over 6000 high resolution images of nebulae, meteors, comets, moons, satellites, eclipses, stars and so on. You can browse thousands of breathtaking photos of the Milky Way, marvelous panoramas from Mars rovers, the beautiful moons of Saturn and many more. You can share these images as well.
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Some of the incredible features of this app include the following:
You turn on the shuffle mode to browse randomly through images.These apps are sure to make your classes much more fun and interesting. These apps are guaranteed to pique the interest of your students and keep them glued to the amazing features that the apps have to offer. That's what we call education with a fun twist.
Adilah, graduated from Malaysia University and is a social activist. He focuses on various areas including education and takes notes on measure which could help in the overall pattern of studying. Recently he is registered with MyPrivateTutor Malaysia and has gained reputation in his field.
