Erin Johnson edited Education.md  almost 9 years ago

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# World Wide Telescope in Education  WorldWide Telescope is a powerful tool that helps students visualize and understand our vast cosmos. It inspires learners to explore, to ask questions, and to practice the scientific skills that astronomers use to build our understanding of objects that are literally across the universe. [WorldWide Telescope Ambassadors](wwtambassadors.org) program brings professional astronomers into K-12 schools to work with students and provides resources to help effectively use WWT in their classrooms. Young children can learn about the causes of night and day by manipulating the real-time model of Earth in our solar system. Middle school children can use WWT to understand seasons and Moon phases, as well as distance scales in the universe. High school students can learn how astronomers have pieced together the life cycle of stars by observing breathtaking nebulae, white dwarfs, and red giants. College students can explore important maps made by astronomers that help us to understand how gravity influences the shapes and structures we see in the universe. Everyone can use WWT to tell and share their own stories of what they have learned about astronomy and space. ## K12 Environments  How can educators teach Astronomy concepts for deep understanding? To answer this question, [WorldWide Telescope Ambassadors](wwtambassadors.org) developed and field-tested a WWT-based lab about the Moon's phases. This is a topic required in the middle school science curriculum of most states and is commonly cited by teachers as being an area few students truly understand.  The WWTA Moon Lab combines physical models with interactive WWT tours to help students understand the relationship between the Sun, Earth, and Moon, why the Moon appears to have phases when viewed from Earth, and why we sometimes experience eclipses. Initial educational research to test the Moon Phases Lab was secured through an NSF EAGER grant and beginning 7/2015 the WWTA team begins an additional NSF grant (DRK12) to study the use of WWT in improving Spatial Reasoning skills among middle school students.  ## University   ### Astronomy 101:   WorldWide Telescope (WWT) is currently being integrated into the hands-on laboratory programs in undergraduate general education astronomy courses. Bucknell professors Ned Ladd and Katharyn Nottis are leading the effort, designed to address and alter student misconceptions regarding size, scale, and structure in the universe.   The four lab-based activities,  i) Parallax Measurements and the Distances to Nearby Stars,