Community reviews for Galaxy Zoo

This is a fantastic site. It is not something that is, by itself, a teaching tool, especially not for elementary students. It's value is in the real content taking from long-range telescopes. The students are viewing distant galaxies that haven't even been names yet. They learn terms to assist with classification. It gives them a first-hand sense of just how much data there is on the multitude of galaxies that we can now see with advanced technology. I certainly think middle school and high school students could use this as a research tool/learning tool as well. There is a fair amount of text content, but it is at a level that needs teacher assistance to be accessed in third grade.

The classification activity is the best feature of Galaxy Zoo. Students are classifying photographs of real galaxies, teaching critical thinking, categorization, and scientific process. Teachers can view student profiles to monitor progress. Overall, Galaxy Zoo could be a great supplemental activity for a middle or high school science class studying astronomy.