The Milky Way Galaxy and Other Galaxies Science Games

5 games

In this series of games, your students will learn about the components and characteristics of galaxies and how scientists study them. The Milky Way and Other Galaxies learning objective — based on NGSS and state standards — delivers improved student engagement and academic performance in your classroom, as demonstrated by research.

Scroll down for a preview of this learning objective’s games and the concepts they drive home.

Concepts Covered

A galaxy consists of billions of stars, planets, moons, nebulae, dark matter, black holes, light, and energy. The universe is home to at least 100 billion galaxies, and they are distributed unevenly, in clusters and superclusters.

There are three main types of galaxies, named for their shapes: spiral, elliptical, and irregular. Gravity holds all of a galaxy’s matter together, and causes it to orbit around the center of the galaxy.

Our galaxy is a spiral galaxy called the Milky Way, and our solar system is located about halfway out one of its arms. Each arm rotates around the galaxy’s bulging center, but some individual stars move faster than others, like the way cars move through highway traffic jams.

In total, the Milky Way has 100-400 billion stars of all different types — including every star that we can see with the naked eye — and many of them have their own solar systems. The entire galaxy measures about 100,000 light-years in diameter.

A light-year is a unit of distance: the distance light travels through a vacuum in one year. That means if we look at a star 50,000 light-years away — using space, radio, or x-ray telescopes — we see what that star looked like 50,000 years in the past, because that’s how long it takes for the star’s light to reach us.

A preview of each game in the learning objective is found below.

You can access all of the games on Legends of Learning for free, forever, with a teacher account. A free teacher account also allows you to create playlists of games and assignments for students and track class progress. Sign up for free today!

Image for Compare Two Numbers
Compare Two Numbers Estimated Duration: 4 minutes Compare Two Numbers
Image for Fishing Numbers
Fishing Numbers Estimated Duration: 9 minutes Travel to the Great Lake, filled with plenty of different sized fish, and work with the greatest fisher mathling to catch a good haul of fish! However, he wants the correct amount of fish that have the correct numbers on them, as they are precious for his business. Learn to identify which number is greater or smaller than the other.
Image for Number Compare - Compare
Number Compare - Compare Estimated Duration: 10 minutes Create meaning of greater than, less than, and equal to by moving objects into two independent play areas and watching the graph in the middle update in real time. Choose between a bar graph and a number line, and hear the comparison statement read out loud in English and another language of your choice.
Image for Number Compare - Lab
Number Compare - Lab Estimated Duration: 10 minutes Use this interactive whiteboard to create addition, subtraction, or comparison problems without feedback. Organize objects into ten-frames to visually compare which has more, or whether the number of objects are equal. Be creative in how subtraction is modeled.
Image for Magical Forest Deluxe
Magical Forest Deluxe Estimated Duration: 15 minutes Find yourself in a magical forest full of treasures and adventures. Collect coins and berries, answer questions, earn points! Good luck!
Image for Robot Chef
Robot Chef Estimated Duration: 18 minutes Congratulations, you are creating the first all-robot restaurant in the city! As you serve more customers, you will be able to build more robots to assist in delivering tasty treats. Attend Night School and answer questions to earn advanced robot chefs!
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