DVD: "The Star of Bethlehem"
Just thought I'd share what I ended up using for video for our rotation on the Wise Men. (I really wanted to find a video called "Star of Bethlehem: A Mystery Revealed with Jack Horkheimer." I had it on order but didn't find out until too late that it was out of stock. I couldn't find it anywhere, new or used at the time that I needed it.
So I ended up changing the workshop and for 6th grade I had someone download to a laptop (somehow, don't ask me how) the video (an animated slideshow "star.swf") that can be seen at the website for the Griffith Observatory. With a borrowed projector it was then shown on a wall (we are real low-tech here!) Unfortunately the material at the web site was over the heads of all but the 6th graders. They did enjoy it though, and it sparked lots of questions.
There is also an excellent summary of the history and astronomy on the star of Bethlehem at: http://www.ccdastronomy.org/sc...20of%20Bethlehem.pdf
Editor's note: see another person's thoughts on teaching a lesson centered on the science around the star of Bethlehem here.