Star Chart

Hi Everyone,
In January my class went to the Yearley Outdoor Education Centre in Huntsville and I thought, "What a great opportunity to mix technology with the great outdoors!"  During our evening program we took a night walk and brought our iPads along.  It was a beautiful, clear, frigid night when we walked down to the pond. Students listened to the story of the "Space Rock" (no clues here...you have to go to Yearley to know about the secret of the Space Rock...er spearmint lifesavers!) and the kids were just about to lose interest when the adults pulled out a few of the iPads and opened up the Star Chart app.  And VOILA...re-engaged students.  No seriously...if you haven't checked out this app you really should.  Basically you hold your device up into the sky and the app identifies the stars and constellations that are directly in front of you.  This app strongly supports the Grade 6 Space curriculum.  The app will identify the names and location of stars and constellation and the phases of the moon (which is useful if the kids start acting squirrelly and you are wondering when the full moon will occur!) The upgrade includes features for tracking meteor showers, exploration of dwarf planets, comets and satellites.  All-in-all a very cool app.
K.