I really hope that I eventually have the opportunity to teach astronomy.
Why you ask?
Because of Elite: Dangerous.
It's a new space-sandbox game that has been available on PC for a while (recently released as an early access game on Xbox). It's very open ended and does not ever really "end" in the true sense of a video game.
What does this all mean?
It means if I were to teach a lesson about a specific solar system, star, black hole, or nebula, the class could travel there within the game and explore (as long as it is within our Milky Way galaxy)! They could see the different stars in the galaxy, and actually read up on some general information about the type of body it is, as well as specific information about that individual object.
One could easily make an assignment where they would need to go out and find a specific star (you are able to search within the game itself) and give certain information about it.
An example could be to find LHS 2520 (a star which astronomer Neil deGrasse Tyson found for DC comics as the possible location for where Superman was from). Once found, you will need to explain what type of star it is, how massive it is compared to our sun, and how hot the surface of that star is.
After they had done that assignment, they could then decide to search anywhere within our Galaxy. Want to visit the coal stack nebula? Go find it! Want to find Sagittarius A*? Get a move on, and bring some heat sink launchers to avoid burning up along the way to the center of our Galaxy!
I'm really hoping to find a way to explore this in my classroom, even if it's just as an extra curricular astronomy club. I think this is an interesting way to get students interested in the topic and allow them to explore our own Galaxy!
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