The lifecycle of stars is one of the core parts of the science curriculum in many countries around the World. It is, however, one of the more challenging parts of the curriculum for teachers. Many teachers are not specialists in astronomy and possibly did not study physics past their own school careers. This presents a significant problem when they come to teach the unfamiliar topics they meet in astronomy.
For this reason we created Star in a Box. It is a resource which allows people to explore the evolution of stars through different stages of their lives.
We have just released a new version of it based on consultation with a teacher focus group from Cardiff UK. Some of the new features are:
- Mode switch: If you are an advanced high-school student you might use different vocabulary for describing physical phenomena to younger students. On the front of the box you can select Advanced or Normal mode.
- Evolution time: Inside the panel on the right you can view the brightness, surface temperature and mass of the star. You can also now view the evolutionary stage the star is in as a clock. Clicking the buttons will pause and restart the star's evolution.
- Clickable graph: The main panel of the app shows a graph of brightness against surface temperature of the star. The lines on the graph show how these both change as the star gets older. You can now position the star anywhere on its yellow, evolutionary track to jump to that phase. You can also click on the graph and read off the precise values for brightness and temperature at the point clicked.
There are also a few surprises in there too. We hope you enjoy the upgrade.
Star in a Box has been developed by Stuart Lowe, with initial development by Jon Yardley. Creative inputs have been provided by Edward Gomez, Haley Gomez, Chris North, Megan Davies and Jake Hughes.
