Coca Cola Space Science Center 1st April 2011
The Coca Cola Science Center is a Challenger Center for Space Science Education that offers a variety of education programs for teachers and students. Students on excursions are able to visit the planetarium where shows cater for varying age groups. Teachers who may be teaching students about the universe and specific areas of the solar system are able to have the planetarium show customised to fit the needs of their students. Other shows include animations which have been developed by employees of the science center.
Great lesson ideas can be found at http://www.challenger.org/teachers/lessons/index.cfm
The planetarium also holds shows for general public.
Visiting students are also provided with hands-on learning experience in the mission simulator. Students are places into two groups. One group is in the mission control room, each student has a different responsibility and contributes to the group. The other group is on the space station and again each student is given a different role during their time in the simulator. Various mock emergencies and challenges arise during the simulated mission and students need to complete their role, follow instructions and work together as part of a large team (space station and mission control) to complete the challenges and solve emergencies.
The floor exhibits at the center are all interactive and are all aligned with the state science teaching standards. The solar system exhibit provides students with insight into what each planet looks like and doing so shows students the extend of the knowledge scientists have on the planets in the solar system. In this way Pluto appears quite plain in colour, as it has not been mapped as may of the other planets have.
Teachers are able to access professional development through workshops conducted at the CCSSC. These workshops are focused on space science standards and information can be located on the CCSSC website.
The CCSSC website also includes activities for teachers to do with their students in their classrooms. These are easily accessed. Are series of further activities that are traditionally completed during excursion days can also be found in the online Teacher Handbook. Activities include experiments that can be conducted with UV beads.
New to the CCSSC website is podcasts which take students through a variety of scientific concepts. Currently there are twelve available, by the conclusion of summer this number will have increased to 50 and by the end of the year to 75. These podcasts include audio, visual and text to assist students with their understanding of scientific concepts.
Students and teachers are able to access the CCSSC seismograph via the internet and view current readings as well as readings from events such as the Earthquake which affected Japan. http://www.ccssc.org/rtmd/drumplot/index.html
Soon to come to the website will be links to the CCSSC observatory, students and teachers will be able to observe characteristics of the Sun from across the world through the observatory. Schedules can now be processed. Access the site at:
http://www.ccssc.org/observatory/solar.html or Email riso@ccssc.org for further information. Great images can be accessed at http://www.ccssc.org/observatory/image_gallery.html
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