The Scale of the Universe

By Thomas Hammerlund -
This is a link to a website where you can move a slider and virtually move through space.


I found this and I initially shared it with our Grade 5-6 teacher since they have a unit on space. He showed it to his class and they went wild over it.

After I heard that, I showed it to my class as well. They loved it. After letting them play on it for 15 minutes or so, I started asking them questions like:
  • What is the most interesting thing on here for you?
  • What is bigger, x or y?
  • How many x's can you fit into one y?
  • If the Saturn V rocket is about the size of a football field, how long would it take you to run the length of it?

Another great feature of this site is that you can click on the objects and a fact bubble will pop up with more information.

I am going to have a think about this to see how many more ways I can use this. I am sure I can think of some big questions to use with this site.

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