Category: A Changing Cosmos

The GSS email list (google group) receives “Stay Current” articles (excerpts and links to the source articles). To receive them email gssmail@berkeley.edu with subject line “Join GSS”. Please give your city, state, country, and your school (if you’re a teacher). See also “Stay Current” links in each book’s Contents table. Some news sources limit the […]

Staying current for Chapter 7 { A Changing Cosmos Contents } Articles from 2008–2020 2020-12-21.  Habitability and the Evolution of Life Under Our Magnetic Shield. By Manasvi Lingam, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: …The existence of a global magnetic field raises questions about how it affects habitability and life. This is a question wide in scope, and the discussion […]

{ All GSS Books } ~{}~ Objectives [] AssessmentGuides for each Chapter: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 Goal 1: Students acquire beginning skills using HOU Image Processing software so they can start doing astronomy investigations. Goal 2: Students gain familiarity with celestial objects and comprehend […]

{ To GSS Books } TEACHER GUIDE CONTENTS Introduction 1. Map of the GSS Course 4. How Can I Customize GSS for My Students? 7. How is GSS Related to Science Education Reform? 2. What is Global Systems Science? 5. What Teaching Methods Should I Use? 8. How Was GSS Created? 3. What Will My […]

Staying current for Chapter 9 { A Changing Cosmos Contents } The Mysteries of the Cosmos – a panel discussion with astronomers Phil Plait, Mike Brown, Debra Fischer, Andrea Ghez, and Saul Perlmutter. Topics: newly discovered solar system objects; the black hole in our galaxy; expansion of our universe. 2025-02-28. Stars made from only primordial gas […]

Staying current for Chapter 8 { A Changing Cosmos Contents } Articles from 2008–present NASA’s Kepler mission (to find Earth size planets in the habitable zones of stars)See GSS NASA Kepler page, Kepler Mission Chronology, and the archived Kepler education website.  2025-04-17. Alien planet’s atmosphere bears chemical hints of life, astronomers claim. By Daniel Clery, […]

Staying current for Chapter 7 { A Changing Cosmos Contents } See also articles from 2008–2020. Asteroid visualization (YouTube) – an animation of the solar system showing asteroid discoveries starting in 1980. Earth Crossers are Red. Earth Approachers (Perihelion less than 1.3AU) are Yellow. All Others are Green. Articles from 2021–present 2025-07-16. This star offers the […]

Staying current for Chapter 6 { A Changing Cosmos Contents } Articles from 2006–present 2025-01-21. Early supernovae may have filled the universe with planet-forming dust. By Hannah Richter, Science. Excerpt: “Dust is the building block of the universe,” says Melissa Shahbandeh, an astrophysicist at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI). Over millions of years, specks […]

Staying current for Chapter 5 { A Changing Cosmos Contents } Articles from 2011–present 2011-05-25. NASA’s Kepler Yields the Next Harvest: A bounty of findings delivered at the 218th Meeting of the AAS in Boston. Kepler News. Excerpt: On the first day of the American Astronomical Society meeting in Boston, the NASA Kepler team held a […]

Staying current for Chapter 4 { A Changing Cosmos Contents } Articles from 2009–present 2025-03-28. [Video] Gaia: Rewriting the story of the Milky Way. By ESA – European Space Agency. For over a decade, ESA’s Gaia mission has mapped our galaxy with stunning precision—rewriting the story of the Milky Way. As its mission enters a new phase, […]