The
room is dark, the light bulb in the middle of the room is shining
brightly, Vassal Lane 8th graders are holding white spheres in their
hands modeling moon phases and excitedly exclaiming “watch this, can you
see it, can you see how it changes?”
Iona Brightman’s 8th graders are participating in a Moon phase
visualization lab and accessing an amazing tool that offers immersive
views of the sky and explanations of celestial objects and phenomena,
funded by NSF program on Transforming Education through Cyberlearning
with a team of Harvard University educators and astronomers (Worldwide
Telescope Ambassadors) in collaboration with Microsoft Research.
Dr. Pat Udomprasert and her team from Harvard, have spent a few days
with each class administering a pretest to find out what 8th graders
know and understand about moon phases and eclipses, facilitating the
kinesthetic moon phase Vizlab, and guiding students as they access the
world wide telescope images and multimedia experiences to increase their
understanding of how our solar system works. Students ask questions and
practice skills that astronomers and scientists use everyday in their
work.
Click here to view these amazing celestial objects for yourself.