Aurora Alive - Multi Media Aurora Curriculum

Posted: Tue Aug 24, 2004 11:02 pm

Now that the nights are starting to get dark in some of the higher Northern latitudes, here is something that may be of particular interest.

Aurora Alive™ is a middle school multimedia science education curriculum that teaches mathematics and basic physics concepts through study of the Northern Lights. Aurora Alive™ was created by the Geophysical Institute, the world's leader in aurora research, and by the International Arctic Research Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Aurora Alive™ was designed and implemented with a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, and is comprised of an interactive CD-ROM and a comprehensive manual of associated classroom lessons.

The Aurora Alive™ interactive CD-ROM includes aurora movies, photos, artwork, interactive graphics illustrating scientific concepts, text narration, and aurora legends from around the world.

The lesson manual is spiral bound and contains lesson plans, copier-friendly student worksheets, teacher instructions, assessment guidelines and rubrics, a list of standards addressed, and a CD-ROM containing all of the transparencies for the Aurora Alive™ lessons.

The Aurora Alive™ curriculum meets National Science, Math, and Language Arts Standards, State of Alaska Standards for Culturally Responsive Schools, and Alaska Content Standards.

For those who aren't in Alaska schools that are participating in the Aurora Alive™ curriculum, the CD-ROM, as well as classroom or homeschool curriculum packages are available from the Aurora Alive™ website at http://www.auroraalive.com/index.html All proceeds from CD-ROM and lesson manual sales are used to facilitate and enhance the Aurora Alive™ curriculum in participating Alaska schools.

Check out the http://www.auroraalive.com/index.html site for sample lesson plans and examples of the interactive Aurora Alive™ activities and materials.

Kayt