Paper Plate Education
"Serving the Universe on a Paper
Plate"
Welcome to a unique genre of education materials. Paper Plate Education is an initiative to
reduce complex notions to simple paper plate explanations. This website
promotes innovative hands-on
Activities that you can experience across a range of interests, at varying
degrees of complexity, and at a low price—all with common paper plates.
Check out the exciting new material
that has been uploaded to this website recently. Paper Plate Education evolves
as educators contribute to its content. Please pardon the star dust as
our universe expands. Here are some recent highlights:
| Free Video |
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Activities from the Paper Plate
Astronomy videotape/DVD are now
available online as free video:
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| Oreo®
Moon Phases |
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New instruction sheet for Oreo®
Moon Phases offers useful tips and template for activity. |
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| AstroCamp 2007 |
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AstroCamp 2007 at YMCA Camp
Eberhart features paper plate drawings of solar prominences and sunspots,
as seen by kids through solar filters and a hydrogen-alpha telescope,
plus viewing of planets,
constellations, deep sky objects, and daytime targets. |
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| Light Pollution |
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Light Pollution activity uses a
paper plate to demonstrate how easily light pollution can be curbed with
simple shielding of a bare bulb. While the pollution decreases,
the efficacy of the light fixture increases, thus saving energy and
money. Contributed by 8-yr. old student. |
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| Globe at Night |
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Mark Orion's
brightest stars on a plate, then fill in the constellation's outline with the
stars you can see. Compare your plate with the Globe at Night magnitude
charts to determine how much sky glow affects the quality of your
night sky. |
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| Transit
of Venus |
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The 2004 Transit
of Venus was a magnificent sight for observers who had clear skies
from favorable sites. Related web pages are at:
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| The Plate
as Art |
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Yes, the artwork in the thumbnail picture at left is made from paper
plates. In creating exquisite art, Bradford Hansen-Smith advocates the
geometric elegance of the circle at his Wholemovement
website. |
Site Map
A
quick visit here will help you find your way around this growing collection of
ideas and material. Site Map
outlines the variety of Paper Plate Education website components,
from A to Y (we strive to eliminate the Zzzz).
It seems a good
thing comes round. Paper instruments have
been used since the 13th Century to support teaching and to buttress
arguments. Paper plates are also believed to have inspired a key element of the Mercury space capsule in
the late 1950's. In 1992 a member of the Great Lakes Planetarium
Association renewed interest in this humble yet useful medium. See our Background
for the history of paper devices and for current Paper Plate Education
endeavors.
Teaching
is a unique profession in that it encourages sharing of ideas, modifying other
people's material, and adapting to local situations in order to deliver a
better product. In fact, you may recognize some of the paper plate
activities as variations on familiar themes. Please advance that
spirit of improvement by sending us feedback
about your Paper Plate Education experience.
These
pages represent the cumulative
work of many educators who openly avail their work to colleagues. You
may freely use the material for non-profit educational purposes. As a
courtesy, please credit
the author of contributed material. Thank you.
Don't
forget to bookmark your favorite pages. Now go
fill
your plate and enjoy.
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"Paper Plate Ed" celebrates IYA2009!
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