Astronomy is enjoying a huge revival, thanks in part to Stargazing Live, with GCSE astronomy saved from the scrap heap and local astronomy and science clubs seeing great surges in membership. For teachers wanting to harness all this enthusiasm, the Guardian Teacher Network has some stellar resources for stargazers of all ages.

Particular thanks to the astronomy team at the Royal Observatory Greenwich for sharing their engaging and inspiring lesson ideas and plans.

A fantastic introductory lesson for any age, but particularly aimed at key stage 2, is the fabulous fruit solar system, which will help students grasp the various sizes of planets in our solar system in a tangible way.

Investigate the moon during school hours with this Royal Observatory Greenwich guide to daytime viewing for primary school-aged children and this extension for key stage 3. Moon Zoo is a primary ICT activity for the moonzoo.org website, which uses images from Nasa’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft to help astronomers explore and analyse the lunar landscape. Pupils get to survey craters and identity boulders on the surface of the moon.

Primary school aged-students can investigate the phases of the moon in this classroom activity, exploring its changing appearance throughout the month.

A ball, a torch, a Lego man, pencils and paper are all that is needed to introduce primary school-aged pupils to the concept of longitude and the rotating Earth in the Royal Observatory’s brilliantly thought-out activity on the spinning earth. Students can also carry out simple arithmetic that relates to the 24-hour clock.

The science and maths activity Human Sundial needs a sunny day, so might be a keeper. Pupils look at their shadow at different times and measure differences in its size and direction.

Celestia Navigation is a really useful guide to (and activities to use with) the Celestia space flight simulator, which can be downloaded free here. Pupils get to explore real astronomical data as they fly through space. The version comes preloaded with the planets, their moons, some galaxies and star clusters.

Key stage 3 maths and science students use bearings to plot constellations including Cygnus and Cassiopeia in Stellar Sat Nav. There is also a slightly tougher version of the activity that includes plotting Orion. Drawing Orbits will help students to visualise the orbits of planets as ellipses rather than circles.

GCSE science students can learn about the electromagnetic spectrum and compare and contrast views of the sun and the Milky Way in The Royal Observatory’s colour and wavelengths in space activity. Or how about measuring the rotational period of the sun through Doppler-shifted emission lines. There’s some nice guidance on estimating the errors associated with this measurement. There’s an advanced version of this activity for over-16s here.

Galaxy Zoo and the universe is an activity using the Galazy Zoo website to classify five samples of 10 galaxies.

Key stage 4 students (and advance key stage 3) get to use data from Nasa’s Kepler space probe in this activity on determining the size of an exoplanet. Explore Kepler’s third law in this classroom activity, which looks at the distances of planets from the stars they orbit and their orbital periods.

Over-16s can use Hubble’s law to derive the age of the universe, or plot the rotation curve of M31.

It’s well worth considering a visit to the Royal Observatory Greenwich. There are unparalleled opportunities to meet astronomers, engage with cutting-edge science and explore big ideas. All programmes for schools are free, with the exception of planetarium shows.

London’s Science Museum’s Cosmos and Culture gallery tells the story of astronomy and how it changed the world. The gallery webpage has lots of information for teachers that is useful with or without a visit.

The Guardian Teacher Network also has some nice online lessons in the archive. See Earth, sun and moon, which will help younger pupils to find out that these are approximately spherical and how the position of the sun appears to change through the day. All about planets explores the position of the planets, the phases of the moon and how the moon orbits the Earth. The resource was created before Pluto was demoted, but is definitely worth a look for key stage 2. The solar system explains the basics, with lovely graphics for key stage 3. The Earth in space is a good revision resource for key stage 4 to understand the position of the planets in the solar system, the concept of gravitational pull and the concepts – galaxy, universe, stars, asteroids and comets.

This Gagarin and the space race PowerPoint by science teacher Graham Peacock illustrates the Russian astronaut’s incredible voyage and other major milestones in the stages of space exploration. It comes with an associated lesson plan.

For a more literary look at astronomy, check out Cosmic Disco, a teaching resource from the Poetry Society giving practical science and creative teaching suggestions using Grace Nichols’ poem. In the English or citizenship classroom, prepare for a debate on whether the UK should continue space exploration through manned or unmanned missions with this guide.

And finally, for some cute primary presentation download these space borders.

Join the Guardian Teacher Network community www.guardian.co.uk/teacher-network for free access to teaching resources and an opportunity to share your own. There are also thousands of teaching, leadership and support jobs on the site. Visit http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/schools

Article source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/teacher-blog/2013/jan/14/astronomy-schools-teaching-resource