Educational Materials & Videos

Here you'll find some of the best eclipse-related educational materials, as judged by members of the AAS Solar Eclipse Task Force. To avoid overwhelming you with too much information, we've intentionally weighted our listings toward resources that are relatively new, up to date, and/or especially relevant to the August 21, 2017, solar eclipse across America. We've also considered quality, of course; if an educational resource is listed here, we think it's of high quality. If it's not listed here, that doesn't mean it's not of high quality — it just means we can't list everything. If you have, or know of, a resource that you think belongs here, please contact us; we can't guarantee that we'll add the item to our website, but we will consider it.

Eclipse Education Websites

• 2017 Solar Eclipse Resources (Astronomical Society of the Pacific)
• 2017 Solar Eclipse: The Celestial Event of the Century (Science‐Technology Activities and Resources for Libraries)
• Classroom Eclipse Activities (Astronomical Association of Queensland, Australia)
• Eclipse 2017 Outreach Resources (Night Sky Network)
• Eclipse Resources for Earth & Space Science Education (NASA Wavelength)
• Educational Activities Related to the Sun (Michael Bakich, Front Page Science)
• Education Resources (NASA Eclipse 2017 Website)
• Educator Resources (National Solar Observatory)
• Explore Science: Earth & Space 2017 Toolkit (National Informal STEM Education [NISE] Network)
• Total Solar Eclipse 2017 NASA Resources for Informal Education (Museum Alliance)
• Total Solar Eclipse 2017: Research-Based Teaching Resources (American Association of Physics Teachers)
• Yardstick Eclipse Activity (Astronomical Society of the Pacific)

Free Online Course at Coursera

• The Sun & the Total Eclipse of August 2017 (Douglas Duncan, University of Colorado, Boulder)

Eclipse Education PDFs

For All Educators:

• "Getting Ready for the All-American Eclipse: An NGSS Storyline Approach to Classroom Instruction” (Brian Kruse, The Universe in the Classroom, Astronomical Society of the Pacific)
• “Observer’s Guide to the All-American Eclipse of August 21, 2017” (Andrew Fraknoi & Dennis Schatz, National Science Teachers Association)
• "The 'All-American' Eclipse: A Guide for Public Libraries and Their Communities" (Andrew Fraknoi & Dennis Schatz, STAR_Net)

For Elementary-School & Early-Learner Educators:

• "Countdown to the Great American Eclipse" (Charles Fulco, Science & Children, February 2017, NSTA Press)
• "Eclipses Across the Curriculum" (Charles Fulco, Science & Children, April/May 2017, NSTA Press)
• "Eclipses & Eye Safety" (Charles Fulco, Science & Children, March 2017, NSTA Press)
• "Get Ready for the Great American Eclipse!" (Charles Fulco, Science & Children, January 2017, NSTA Press)
• "Preparing for the Eclipse: How to Safely Observe the Sun with Young Children" (A. Hurst, J. Plummer, S. Gurton & D. Schatz, Science & Children, March 2017, NSTA Press)

For Middle-School Educators:

• "The August 2017 Total Solar Eclipse: The Perfect Opportunity to Highlight Three-Dimensional Science Learning" (D. Schatz & A. Fraknoi, Science Scope, March 2017)
• "Science Teachers as Community Eclipse Outreach Agents" (A. Fraknoi & D. Schatz, Science Scope, March 2017, NSTA Press)
• "Exploring Lunar & Solar Eclipses via a 3-D Modeling Design Task" (R. Miranda, B. Kruse & R. Hermann, Science Scope, October 2016, NSTA Press)

For High-School Educators:

• "Total Eclipse: An Ideal Opportunity to Practice Three-Dimensional Science Learning" (D. Schatz & A. Fraknoi, The Science Teacher, March 2017, NSTA Press)
• "Becoming a Solar Eclipse Outreach Agent" (A. Fraknoi & D. Schatz, The Science Teacher, March 2017, NSTA Press)
• "Modeling the Eclipse: Using Various Models & Perspectives to Help Students Visualize the Eclipse" (W. Thornburgh & T. Tretter, The Science Teacher, March 2017, NSTA Press)

Eclipse Education Books

• Solar Science: Exploring Sunspots, Seasons, Eclipses & More (Dennis Schatz & Andrew Fraknoi, 2016, National Science Teachers Association)
• When the Sun Goes Dark (Andrew Fraknoi & Dennis Schatz, 2017, National Science Teachers Association)

Educational Videos About Solar Eclipses

• "2017 Eclipse & the Moon's Orbit" (Ernie Wright, NASA Science Visualization Studio)
• "2017 Eclipse: Earth, Moon & Sun" (Ernie Wright, NASA Science Visualization Studio)
• "2017 Eclipse Shadow Cones" (Ernie Wright, NASA Science Visualization Studio)
• "2017 Total Solar Eclipse in the U.S." (Ernie Wright, NASA Science Visualization Studio)
• "America’s Coast-to-Coast Total Solar Eclipse" (Kelly Beatty, Sky & Telescope)
• "August 21, 2017: Solar Eclipse Across America" (American Astronomical Society)
• "August 21, 2017, Total Solar Eclipse as Seen from the Moon" (Michael Zeiler, GreatAmericanEclipse.com)
• "En Camino al Eclipse Total de Sol del 2017" (Ana Aceves, Sky & Telescope, en Español)
• "Experiencing the 2017 Total Solar Eclipse" (Ana Aceves, Sky & Telescope)
• "Eclipse FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions" (Doug Duncan, Fiske Planetarium, University of Colorado)
• "Getting to the 2017 Total Solar Eclipse" (Ana Aceves, Sky & Telescope)
• "Great American Eclipse of 2017" (Fred Espenak at the Northeast Astronomy Forum)
• "How to Safely Watch a Solar Eclipse" (American Astronomical Society)
• "La Experiencia de Ver un Eclipse Total de Sol" (Ana Aceves, Sky & Telescope, en Español)
• "People of Earth" Eclipse Promotional Video (Mark Bender / Eclipse Across America)
• "Preparing for the Great American Eclipse" (Doug Duncan, Fiske Planetarium, University of Colorado)
• "Total Eclipse, August 21, 2017, Video 1: Where Will You Be Watching?" (Jeffrey Bennett, Big Kid Science & Story Time from Space)
• "Total Eclipse, August 21, 2017, Video 2: Understanding Eclipses" (Jeffrey Bennett, Big Kid Science & Story Time from Space)
• "Tracing the 2017 Solar Eclipse" (Ernie Wright, NASA Science Visualization Studio)