Instructify

May 20, 2008

Captain’s Blog, Stardate 51908.5: We have… encountered strange… applications! Ensign Redshirt has beamed down to the surface to… investigate.

Want to get kids interested in space? Here are two sites that should be helpful.

SETI@home is a distributed computing effort from University of California, Berkeley. SETI stands for the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence and is a great way to engage a student’s sense of scientific wonder. SETI collects observational radio transmission data—A LOT of data—and distributes it to various personal computers for analysis. The program runs as a screen saver or by taking advantage of otherwise unused processor power, without interrupting your computer’s normal operations. If your class should happen to find alien life, you just remember who sent you.

First Google Earth allowed you to look down on our planet, now WorldWide Telescope lets you take a look in the opposite direction. Drawing from the Hubble Telescope and several terrestrial telescopes, your students can pan and zoom wherever the data will allow. It’s definitely fun to just zip around and explore on your own (which is one reason it’s taken me so long to write this post). The quality of the images and variety of views through different filters, spectrums, etc. are also a great boost towards its usability in the classroom. – NICK YINGLING

Captain’s Blog, Supplemental: If you a trying to come up with a writing… style!… that looks like the way William Shatner acts… I would use a lot of… ellipses. Also, the Shatner schtick is a little… old-hat and derivative.