As a greater number of provinces begin placing emphasis on summative assessment (activities which assess the students’ mastery of a larger unit of material), there is a great opportunity for teachers to be creative. Summative assessments can not only evaluate the students’ knowledge base, but also tap into their creativity, allow for extra research and extend the topic so that students can find its place in society.

You’ll find below a number of ideas for creating summative assessment activities, as well as ideas for potential astronomy topics. Remember that many activities (such as creating a brochure) can be used at any grade level as long as the expectations are adjusted accordingly, or extra resources made available for the younger grades. You can also check out our other teaching resource list for more ideas.

Teachers – if you have an idea or a tried-and-tested activity which is not here, please let us know! Email us at cascaed@astro.utoronto.ca .

Arts-Based Assessments

• Collage
  • Create a collage of nebulae
  • Create a collage of galaxies
  • Create a collage of the history of space flight
• Docudrama
• Storyboard
  • Create a commercial advertising the latest space mission
  • Create a commercial advertising a space/moon hotel for tourists
• Tableau
• Brochure
• Poster
  • Create and educational poster on a given topic
• Bulletin board design
  • Design and create a bulletin board for the classroom
  • Design and create a public bulletin board for Astronomy Week
• Scrapbook
  • Choose a topic and create a scrapbook of articles, pictures and commentary on that topic
• Encyclopedia
  • Create an astronomy encyclopedia, including definitions, historical references and images
• Model-making
  • Build a scale model of the solar system
  • Build a scale model of a cross-section of the Sun or Earth
• Music
  • Compose a piece of music based on the characteristics of the planets
  • Design and create a CD (choose music and design the CD cover) of astronomy music

Activity-Based Assessments

• Debate
  • Recreate a historical debate
  • Debate whether Pluto is a real planet
  • Debate whether there is life on Mars
  • Debate the existance of extra-terrestrial life
• Observing
  • Complete a level of the Canadian Junior Astronomer Program
• Build a telescope

Thinking Skills Assessments

• Case study
• Concept mapping
  • Create a concept map of the terms and concepts learned in this unit
• Map making
  • Create a map of the solar system for an interstellar traveller; use city maps as a source of ideas
• Media analysis
  • Comment on the portrayal of astronomy in the media (articles, advertisements)
• Visual/Graphics organizer
• Creative writing
  • Write a work of fiction on the first human trip to Mars
  • Create a poetry anthology on the planets in the solar system
• Reading response
  • Read a scientific article on a given topic and write a response
• Response journal
  • Write a daily response journal on the Astronomy Picture of the Day
  • Write a daily response journal on the Earth and Space Science Picture of the Day

Technology & Media-Based Assessments

• Internet technologies
  • Create a webpage
  • Complete a webquest based on a previously-made webpage
• Multi-media presentation
  • Create a powerpoint presentation based on research topic
  • Create a presentation which includes visual effects, audio effects and a physical demonstration
• Media production
  • Create an instructional video on a topic for younger grades
• Graphic applications
  • Design the next space station
  • Design the next space shuttle
  • Create a Flash animation of as astronomical process (ie. planets orbiting the Sun)

Inquiry & Research Assessments

• Historical
  • Research the biography of an astronomer or astronaut
• Mathematical problem solving
  • Testing the General Theory of Relativity
• Problem-based models
  • Can we live on Mars? The Moon?
  • Can we travel to other star systems?
  • Can people be born in space?
  • Can we grow food in space?

Possible Topics:

Canadiana:

• Canadian astronomer biography
• Canadian astronaut biography
• Canadian contributions to astronomy
• Canadian contributions to space exploration technology
• Canadian observatories

Historical:

• Great debate of 1920 on the scale of the universe
• Copernicus' contributions to the field
• Galileo's contributions to the field
• Kepler's contributions to the field
• Einstein's contributions to the field
• Hubble's contributions to the field
• Astronomer biography
• The history of space exploration
• The history of the telescope

Components of the universe:

• Components of the solar system
• Compare terrestrial planets to gas planets
• Life cycle of stars
• Unusual stars: binaries, pulsars, white dwarfs, variable stars
• Eclipses: fact and myth
• Galaxies: classification, morphology
• Our place in the Milky Way Galaxy
• Extra-solar planets
• Measuring the universe

Formation Processes:

• Formation of the solar system
• Formation of the Earth
• Formation of the universe
• Comparing theories on the formation of the Earth
• The fate of the universe

Earth and Space Science:

• Impact of space debris on the Earth
• Impact of meteors and comets on the Earth
• The fate of our solar system
• A day in the life of an astronaut in orbit
• Space experiments
• The effects of solar activity on the Earth (sunspots, radiation, etc.)
• The effects of the Moon on the Earth
• The importance of seasons on the Earth
• The formation of aurorae

Miscellaneous:

• Extra-Terrestrial Life (see SETI.org)
• The science of Star Trek

compiled by the CASCA education Webteam, (2009)