Education
Urban Night Sky Project

Materials for educators
PLANNING NSW
Under the Planning NSW portal the following resources are available:
Environment and heritage
Dark sky
Dark Sky Planning Guideline
Dark sky education
Dark sky video series
The dark sky education units are a face to face, one term, cross curriculum package now available for all Stage 3 and Stage 4 teachers.
During the unit students will:
- learn of the impact of light pollution
- understand the importance of maintaining the dark night sky, and
- discover how to protect the night sky for the future.
The dark sky education unit is designed for delivery in a project-based learning format and is fully resourced and mapped to the NSW and Australian curriculum.
More for teachers
DarkSky Interntional resources
For children from 5 to 18 these resources are from DarkSky International. They can be tweeked such that they are suitable for teaching and learning purposes beyond their United States origin.
Wildlife Workbooks
Games and activities about wildlife and light pollution.
- Protect our Night Sky/Reduce Light Pollution Ages 11-15 (12-page PDF of information and activities from the Bush Telegraph, published by the nonprofit NaDeet, the educational core of NamibRand International Dark Sky Reserve, Africa’s first International Dark Sky Reserve
- Save_the_Stars_Ages 4-8
- Diorama of the Night Art Project Ages 6-12
- Mini Page on Light Pollution Ages 8-10 (four-page PDF about light pollution and good lighting)
- Outdoor Lighting Audit Lesson Plan Ages 14 and older
- Introduction to Lighting PowerPoint Presentation Ages 14 and older


For adult learners
by DarkSky International – Select from HERE
Playlist: 44 videos
University level
Dark Sky Studies – University of Melbourne
Light pollution is one of the fastest growing challenges in modern society, rapidly erasing our view of the stars, negatively impacting astronomical heritage and astrophysics research, and damaging the health and behaviour of humans and wildlife, with further consequences on tourism and economics.
The challenge of slowing the growth of artificial light and reducing light pollution for the benefit of society and the environment falls primarily on urban planning and landscape design through engineering solutions and policy implementation. Students will engage in practice-based workshops and fieldwork with real-world results. This subject is joint between the School of Physics, the School of Biosciences, and the Melbourne School of Design, with additional contributions from the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies.
Photo credit: University of Melbourne.
