Classroom Materials
Stuff for your classroom! Includes educational activities, posters, information, and even a complete booklet to build your own paper model of Swift.
These standards-based activities are designed to use
gamma-ray bursts -- unimaginably huge explosions which signal the births
of a black holes -- to engage your students and teach them science and
math concepts.
This booklet contains all the instructions, drawings, and descriptions needed to build a paper model of the Swift satellite. It was inspired by the model originated by the Italian Swift E/PO group, and adheres to the national technology standards. Almost all of the work to produce the English version of this model was done by Aurore Simonnet. Download the PDF
format (9.3 Mb) or the disability accessible PDF here.
Swift Museum Slides
These three slides which summarize the Swift mission, were created
for use in the museum exhibit entitled "Cosmic
Questions." The exhibit is now touring the country, and was
developed by NASA's
Structure and
Evolution of the Universe Education Forum and a grant from NSF.
The Swift Song
The Swift Song is the theme song of the mission; an upbeat, catchy
pop tune which teaches listeners about the math and science behind the
elusive gamma ray bursts and the Swift satellite. It's a roller coaster
gamma ray ride!
Performed by The Chromatics as part of their AstroCappella educational
project: www.astrocappella.com.
The Chromatics are an a capella group of astrophysicists including Padi
Boyd, Alan Smale, Karen Smale, Lisa Kelleher (all from NASA/Goddard
Space Flight Center), John Meyer (JHU), Deb Nixon, and Paul Kolb. Lyrics
and music to written by Padi Boyd. Produced by Jeff Gruber (Blue House
Productions) and The Chromatics. Copyright 1999 P. Boyd.
A colorful brochure about Swift, written for the public.
The Swift satellite is named for an agile bird that catches its food on the
fly. Now you can build a paper airplane designed to look like a Swift! The
kit comes with pre-printed heavy-duty colored paper, and assembly only takes
a few minutes.
This uses the mystery of gamma-ray bursts to teach about
the Electromagnetic Spectrum through a series of activities. This booklet
can be order on our online form listed above.
A spectacular image of the Swift satellite and depiction of the mission
For Younger Kids:
This charming short story about Swift was written in Italian
by Monica Sperandio, and translated into
English by Giuliana Giobbi.
This is a set of 4 posters depicting and explaining Newton's laws of motion and gravitation. A set of classroom activities accompanies each
poster. The activities were created to complement each other as an overall
unit, whether in science or math. Here is a archive of files (ZIP 145KB) of how one teacher presents these posters.
Swift Eyes Through Time
Swift Eyes Through Time is a 6-unit curriculum for grades 5-8 consisting of an educator's guide accompanied by videos, one for each unit. It uses the excitement of gamma-ray burst science to teach various standards-aligned topics in science and mathematics that illustrate the scientific process. Lesson plans, handouts for both teachers and students, and standards-alignment information are provided for each unit. This curriculum was developed by the Educational Services division of Penn State Public Broadcasting.
If you have a question about Swift, please contact us via the Feedback form.
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