Transcript Look Up – Look Waaaaay Up!

Look Up – Look Waaaaay Up!
Astronomy Education – Middle
School Level
Edmonton Science Outreach Network
Teacher Workshops
January 2006
Dr. Brian Martin
The King’s University College
Edmonton
Objectives…
Hope for what we will
accomplish!...
The starry heavens instill a
sense of awe and wonder
There are many simple activities and
resources that you can use to teach
astronomy
Lots of resources a
mouse click away!
URLS…
• For Teacher Refresher Education:
– On-line Astronomy Course at King’s
http://chris.kingsu.ca/~brian/astro/course/index.php
• For Curriculum Developers:
– Canadian Astronomical Society Education Web Site
http://www.cascaeducation.ca/files/index.html
• For Teachers and Students Grades
– Canadian Astronomical Society Education Web Site
http://www.cascaeducation.ca/files/index.html
– Web Sites of Note!
http://chris.kingsu.ab.ca/~brian/astro/talks/cea/web_stuff.html
How Astronomy can
Inspire Us
Recapturing a sense of
wonder!
to see a world in a grain of sand
and a heaven in a wild flower
hold infinity in the palm of your hand
and eternity in an hour.
William Blake
I believe a leaf of grass is
no less than the journey
work of the stars,
And the pismire is equally
perfect, and a grain of
sand, and the egg of the
wren,
And the tree-toad is chefd'oeuvre for the highest,
And the running
blackberry would adorn
the parlors of heaven,
(1855, Leaves of Grass (31))
In “the end, science as we know it has two basic types of
practitioners. One is the educated person who still has a
controlled sense of wonder before the universal mystery,
whether it hides in a snail's eye or within the light that
impinges on that delicate organ. The second kind of observer
is the extreme reductionist who is so busy stripping things
apart that the tremendous mystery has been reduced to a
trifle, to intangibles not worth troubling one's head about. The
world of secondary qualities - colour, sound, thought is
reduced to illusion. The only true reality becomes the chill void
of ever streaming particles.”
Loren Eiseley, "Science and the Sense of the Holy
Imagery from the Hubble Space
Telescope and a great
intellectual journey of the past
50 years can capture our
imagination and instill in us a
sense of wonder
Stellar Evolution, Nucleosynthesis
and the Remarkableness of Your
Existence!
In all this vastness
there is a wondrous
unity!
Gently, deep within
the hearts of the
stars…
Or with unfathomable
violence …. You and I are
“born”
The world is charged with the
grandeur of God
It will flame out, like shining shook
foil.
Gerard Manley Hopkins
So you’re going to teach
Astronomy!
Relax! You CAN do it!
Just keep it simple!
You can do a lot with simple tools!
• Project Star “Galilean
Telescope”
– Low cost ($45 US set
of 10)
– Simple to use, will last
3 - 5 years
– Adequate for lunar
observations
Simple Spectroscopes allow you to
take light apart!
• Project Star…
– ($55 US set of 10)
• Build your own
– less than 50 cents!
– Construction time < 5
minutes
– Pinhole for a slit,
simple replica grating
Safely observe and record
sunspots…
• Simple baffle blocks
the sun
• Focus normally on a
distant object and
then aim at the sun –
project image onto a
white card held
behind binocular
Chart the motion of the sun – the
“sun stick”
• Follow the motion of
the sun during the
season
• determine time of
local noon
• Click here to run
spreadsheet of this
Getting a bit fancier…
• Get a digital camera
• Purchase a
planetarium program
Or get one
free!
How hard is it to meet the curricular
objectives for Grade 6 Sky
Science?
• Look at the program
of studies