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starry night high school

The Research-Proven Solution to Effectively Teach Astronomy

Benefits Overview

Award-winning Starry Night High School for grades 9-12 is the only space science curriculum that combines an interactive sky simulator, lesson plans correlated to state and national standards and extensive teacher resources in one easy-to-use package.

Starry Night education titles are now optimized for SMART Boards and have been awarded SMART Technologies' highest level of accreditation: SMART Board Application Elite. Learn more

State adopted, Starry Night High School has proven to be a highly effective instructional tool that guides teachers and engages students in their explorations and understanding of the Universe.

Starry Night provides:

Lesson plans correlated to state and national standards that meet curriculum needs

Accurate visualizations and simulations that allow students to make precise observations of Moon phases, motions of the Sun and planets and much more

Interactive computer exercises and hands-on activities that encourage questioning, experimentation and exploration and accommodate diverse learning styles

Pre- and post-assessment resources with recommendations for improved student performance

Flexible teaching models for easy adaptation to pacing and classroom needs

Opportunities to develop key skills: observation, data collection, analytical thinking and discovery

Extensions that connect to topics in math, physics, language arts, social studies and technology

Winner of ComputED's Best Educational Software Award, Starry Night has been hailed by reviewers and educators for providing "such unique and compelling experiences that it is destined to change lives."

Product Features

Astronomy is a big subject - Starry Night High School makes it easy to teach with a comprehensive space science curriculum solution written for teachers by teachers.

Aligned to 9th through 12th grade national and state science standards, Starry Night High School offers innovative lesson plans with hands-on activities, software guided explorations, DVD movie content and assessment tests.

Travel from anywhere on Earth to any planet or star to help your students visualize the size and distances between objects to gain a deeper understanding of the scale of the universe.

Starry Night computer exercises, hands on activities and thought-provoking discussion questions encourage students to explore advanced topics, such as the life cycles of stars.

The ability to interactively manipulate time and space encourages questioning, experimentation and exploration. Guided inquiry-based learning lets students make their own observations and draw their own conclusions.

Research confirms that Starry Night is a highly effective science instructional tool. Recent studies have concluded that accurate visualizations of celestial phenomena are key to gaining a correct understanding of astronomical concepts.

You'll be amazed by how quickly your students will grasp the fundamentals of astronomy.

Complete with formative and summative assessment tests, detailed lesson plans, hands-on activities, student worksheets and computer exercises, Starry Night High School is sure to spark your students' fascination with the Universe.

Starry Night High School is:

US and Canadian curriculum specific

Full of pre-tested activities and exercises

Designed specifically for High School students

Hands-on and interactive

Fun and simple to use

Modular and easy-to-use solution comes complete with:

30 detailed lesson plans

Interactive computer exercises

Hands-on classroom activities

Conceptual background for teachers

Discussion questions

Assessment tests and answer keys

Resource lists

Appendices

Glossary of astronomical terms

New features highlight the latest theories and address classroom needs:

4 lesson plans, focused on the reclassification of Pluto, unmanned space exploration, astrology and black holes

Math and observing extensions for most lessons

Revised and expanded assessment resources

Pre-assessment Idea Diagrams and Concept Maps identify pre-conceptions

Thinking Grids and Contrast and Compare charts develop logical and critical thinking skills

Drawing Completion activities and KWL charts assess student understanding

Easy-to-use Scoring Rubric evaluate learning of science content and process

Expanded library of astronomy simulations

Lesson Plans at a Glance help you choose the lesson plans that best fit your curriculum requirement

QuickStart Guide for teachers new to astronomy or using Starry Night for the first time

Award-winning Starry Night software allows you to re-create these stunning simulations:

Control most popular brands of computerized telescopes

Travel through time from 99, 999 BC to 99, 999 AD

View over 16 million stars and 1 million galaxies objects with online link to 500 million stars

Explore PGC catalog with 1, 000, 000 galaxies

Plan and annotate observing sessions in the Events Finder and revised Planner

Access dynamic Hertzsprung-Russell diagram to view the lifecycle of stars

Print full sky (180-degree) star charts of any area in the sky

And much more!

SMART Board™ interactive whiteboard Ready

What's Included

Three-ring binder Includes:

Award-winning Starry Night astronomy simulation software, customized for student use

30 Lesson plans complete with extensive teacher resources, hands-on activities, computer exercises, worksheets and assessments

SkyTheater DVD with more than an hour of video of dramatic and realistic visualizations of astronomical phenomena

To run Starry Night High School you need:

A DVD-ROM drive is required for the installation of Starry Night Pro version 6 on your computer.

Windows: Requires Windows XP, Vista, 7 or 8, 500 MHz or higher processor, 128 MB RAM and 2 GB of hard disk space. 64 MB OpenGL 1.4 capable graphics card (OpenGL 2.0 is required for features like shaded sky and animated grass). Minimum recommended monitor resolution of 1024x768. DVD-ROM drive required for installation. Recommended Graphics Card: 128 MB nVidia GeForce 6600 (or higher) or ATI Radeon X800 or higher.

Macintosh: Universal Binary runs natively on Intel and PPC Macintosh computers. Requires OS X 10.3.9 or higher, G3 450 MHz or higher processor, 128 MB RAM and 2 GB of hard disk space. Will not run on OS 9.x or earlier. 64 MB OpenGL 1.4 capable graphics card (OpenGL 2.0 is required for features like shaded sky and animated grass). Minimum recommended monitor resolution of 1024x768. DVD-ROM drive required for installation.

Basic support for joysticks recognized by Windows XP and Mac OS X.