Build a Telescope - History of STEM practicals - History of Astronomy

Practical 26 in the History in STEM practical series.

In this practical the students will be able to build their own telescopes using equipment available available for less than 5 dollars. They will be even able to make their own lenses, upcycling plastic bottles. This package includes an experiment printout with an introduction including a history of astronomy pre and post invention of the telescope. The practical can be done in a 60-90 minute lesson or split up over multiple lessons if needed.

If you want, they could even take the telescope home for further investigation/homework tasks to extend the use of the project.

More about the History in STEM practical Series

This series is designed to bring quality cross-curricula material to STEM subjects, that help students to explore and discover phenomena normally taught, while getting a glimpse into the history of its development.

In addition, a number of the practicals give the students the opportunity to play “Mythbusters”, looking at a number of different methods and having to reason why one or the other was the more likely or useful method.

From Ancient Greece to Vikings, China to the Golden age of the Muslim empire and beyond to India, the series takes a look at some of the most important STEM achievements throughout history.

There is a plan for about 40 of these such practicals in this series, so, if you liked this one, consider looking at some of the others, or check out some of the bundles available.

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