The Astronomy Workshop: Web Tools for Astronomy Students at All Levels

The Astronomy Workshop (http://janus.astro.umd.edu/) is a collection of over 20 interactive web tools that were developed under the direction of Doug Hamilton for use in undergraduate classes and by the general public. The goal of the website is to encourage students to learn about astronomy by exploiting their fascination with the internet. Two of the tools, Scientific Notation and Solar System Collisions, have instructor materials available to facilitate their use in undergraduate, high school, and junior high classes. The Scientific Notation web tool allows students to practice conversion, addition/subtraction, and multiplication/division with scientific <P />notation, while the Solar System Collisions web tool explores the effects of impacts on the Earth and other solar system bodies. Some web tools allow students to explore our own solar system (Solar System Visualizer) and the Sun's past and future history (The Life of the Sun), Others allow students to experiment with changes in the solar system, such as to the tilt of the Earth (Earth's Seasons) and changing the properties of the planets in the solar system (Build Your Own Solar System).