Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Life of a Star Lesson development InstructIonal objectIves Grades 6-8 Students will • compare various life cycles; • interpret charts and diagrams depicting the life cycle of stars; • use a variety of Internet sources to research stages of a Sun-like star’s life cycle; • develop PowerPoint presentations or Web pages to visualize the stages of a star’s life cycle; Galaxy NGC 4013 (Image: NASA) • compare the life cycle of a Sun-like star to the life cycle of a massive star; and • gather and share data about stars with people around the world. background Stars are born in dark, cold nurseries filled with dust and gas. Gravity’s pull clumps this dust and gas together forming protostars. As protostars contract, their matter collides, heats up and begins to glow. Eventually, the protostar’s central core is hot enough to begin hydrogen fusion. The protostar will grow and change into a main-sequence star. Orion Nebula (Image: NASA) The Sun is a middle-aged main-sequence star. For the past 4.6 billion years it has been relatively stable and should continue to be for another 5 billion years. Old age for the Sun will be more spectacular than middle age. It is expected to expand, becoming a red Giant, perhaps twice during its later years.These showy final years will lead to a much quieter death. The Sun will shed its outer layers, fade and become a planetary nebula. All that will be left will be an extremely hot core that will slowly cool and eventually become a white dwarf. A star’s cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth in the universe is never-ending, unfolding in millions and billions of years. Changes in individual stars cannot be observed. But, by observing many star clusters at various stages, astronomers have pieced together what they believe to be a star’s entire life cycle. This process has been aided by the launch of space observatories. In particular, since the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope in 1990, NASA has been able to peer deeper and deeper into the universe. The results have produced spectacular images and snapshots of stars in every stage of stellar evolution. www.masterthescience.org - Master The Science...Master The Game! Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl Life of a Star Life of a Star Lesson development (continued) ENGAGE Galaxy NGC 4013 (Image: NASA) Grades 6-8 Use the images of Chimchar and the Sun to begin a discussion of life cycles with your students (TEACHER RESOURCE). These questions may help guide your discussion: • In the Pokémon world, how might Chimchar change in appearance and capabilities? • UsethePokédex,foundattheofficialPokémonWebsite, www.Pokemon.com, to compare Chimchar to Monferno and Infernape. • In our world, where would you classify our Sun in its life cycle? • Whatcriteriadidyouuseforthisclassification? • HowmighttheSunchange?Whatcausesthesechanges? EXPLORE The Sun A. Agree/Disagree Pre-assess your students’ prior knowledge of stars and the Sun with this “agree/disagree” activity. Orion Nebula (Image: NASA) Post “I agree” and “I disagree” signs on opposite walls in the classroom. For each statement below, ask students to walk to the sign that represents whether they “agree” or “disagree” with the statement. If they are unsure, ask students to stand in the middle of the Chimchar room. In their groups, ask students to discuss their ideas. Encourage all groups to share their ideas. • The Sun is a star. • All stars are exactly the same. • Stars in a constellation are close to each other. • Stars live forever. • All stars will end their lives the same way – as supernovae. ShortexplanationsforeachstatementcanbefoundattheAmazingSpaceWebsite, http:// amazing-space.stsci.edu/resources/myths/stars.php.p=Teaching+tools%40%2Ceds%2 Ctools%2C%3EStellar+evolution%40%2Ceds%2Ctools%2Ctopic%2Cstars.php%3EOverview% 3A+Star+myths%40%2Ceds%2Coverviews%2Cmyths%2Cstars.php&a=%2Ceds B. Life Cycle of the Sun 1. Use these questions to help your students analyze the chart of the Sun’s life cycle (TEACHER RESOURCE). • How long is the Sun’s life cycle? Life Cycle of the Sun • WhereistheSuninitslifecycle? • WhatstageswilltheSuntravelthrough,fromthepointmarked“Now”toitsdeath? 2.Showyourstudentsthedrawingyoufindathttp://aspire.cosmic-ray.org/labs/star_life/starlife_ main.html that compares human and star life cycles. 3. Group your students into teams of three. www.masterthescience.org - Master The Science...Master The Game! Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl Life of a Star Life of a Star Lesson development (continued) Grades 6-8 Galaxy NGC 4013 (Image: NASA) 4. Randomly assign each member of the team Task Card 1, Task Card 2 or Task Card 3 (STUDENT RESOURCE). Each Task Card identifies which part of the Sun’s life cycle the student will research and lists appropriate Websites for research. The Website links are interactive. If possible, allow students to work from the PDF file on a computer that has Internet access. 5. Re-organize students so that the students working on similar sections of the life cycle may work together. For example, arrange the room and materials so that everyone working on the “birth of a star” may share materials and work collaboratively. 6. Use these general questions to help guide your students’ research: • What happens during this stage? • What’s the average time a star is in this stage? • How does the star change during this stage? • What causes this change? 7. Once students have completed their research, pull them back into their original teams to share what they’ve learned. eXPlaIn Orion Nebula (Image: NASA) A. This poster depicts the “Life Cycles of Stars” and can be found at NASA’s Imagine the Universe Website: http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/teachers/lifecycles/stars.html The Life Cycle of Stars It can be printed or viewed from the Website. Use this poster to help students piece together their research about the life cycle of a Sun-like star. B. Many sites include visual representations of a star’s life cycle. Ask your students to use these sites to help review what they’ve learned about the life cycle of our Sun. • The Sky: Life Cycle of a Star http://www.seasky.org/cosmic/sky7a01.html • Where Do Stars Come From? And Where Do They Go? http://teachspacescience.org/graphics/pdf/10000508.pdf • Small Star Sequence http://btc.montana.edu/ceres/html/LifeCycle/starsavgstar.html elaborate There are many interesting ways for your students to showcase the life cycle of our Sun using technology. They should work as a team to pull their individual research into one story using the information and images they’ve discovered. Students may: • create a PowerPoint presentation • create a Web Page Before you begin, you may want your students to use a storyboard to help them plan and organize their projects. One example of a storyboard can be found at http://nortellearnit.org/resources/Handouts/ It may also be helpful for your students to review these Nortel LearniT video tutorials for help in creating their PowerPoint presentations and Web pages. They can be found at http://nortellearnit.org/technology/PowerPoint_Presentations/ and http://nortellearnit.org/technology/Webpage_Creation/ www.masterthescience.org - Master The Science...Master The Game! Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl Life of a Star Life of a Star Lesson development (continued) YourstudentsmaywanttouseimagesfoundduringtheirreviewofWebsitesin theEXPLOREandEXPLAINsectionsofthislesson.Theycaneitherdownload thosepicturestotheharddrive,orsavetheURLasa“Favorite”intheWebbrowser. Grades 6-8 Encourage your students to put a descriptive title screen, credits and references at the end of the project. Galaxy NGC 4013 (Image: NASA) Orion Nebula (Image: NASA) Please remind students to use only images that they have permission to include. Review copyrightandcopywrongsbywatchingtheNortelLearniTvideotutorialat http://nortellearnit.org/technology/Digital_Ethics/ StudentsmaywanttocreateananimationorWebquesttodemonstratetheirunderstanding of the life cycle of a star. Examples of each are below: • Animations - Life of the Sun http://janus.astro.umd.edu/astro/stars/SunsLife.html - Canadian Space Agency’s Applet: The Life Cycle of a Star http://www.ioncmaste.ca/homepage/resources/web_resources/CSA_Astro9/files/multi media/unit2/star_lifecycle/star_lifecycle.html • WebQuest - Life Cycle of Stars http://www.can-do.com/uci/ssi2003/starlife.html EVALUATE BasedupontheimageoftheOrionNebula (TEACHER RESOURCE), ask your students these questions: • WhatstageoflifehasthisHubbletelescopeimagecaptured? • Whatstageswouldyouexpecttoseefollowingthisstepina star’s life cycle? Thisimage,andothers,canbefoundinaWashingtonPost article, The Hubble Cosmos Postcards from the Edge: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/photo/galleries/hubble/3.htm. Several of these images at this site may be used to help evaluate your students’ understanding of the life cycle of stars. OrionNebula UseNASA’sImaginetheUniversemazetocheckyourstudents’understandingofstarsand their life cycle. http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/teachers/lifecycles/SC_main_p15.html www.masterthescience.org - Master The Science...Master The Game! Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl Life of a Star Life of a Star Lesson development (continued) To evaluate the PowerPoint presentation and Web pages, use these rubrics Grades 6-8 found at the Nortel LearniT site: • PowerPoint Presentations http://nortelearnit.org/resources/Handouts/ • Web pages (Webpage Creation and Website Project) http://nortellearnit.org/resources/Handouts/ Galaxy NGC 4013 (Image: NASA) eXtend These activities may be used to extend or continue your students’ exploration. A. EXPERT INTERVIEWS -- WHAT DO YOU WONDER NOW? What are your students wondering now that they’ve learned more about the life cycle of stars? Generate a list of questions that your students might ask “the experts” from NASA, the National Institute of Aerospace and research universities. Submit this list following the link on this Website. Several Orion Nebula (Image: NASA) questions from all submitted will be used in video interviews with “experts” and posted to this site. B. Explore these Websites to compare the life cycle of Sun-like stars to the life cycle of massive stars. • NASA’s Imagine the Universe: Supernovae http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/know_l1/supernovae.htm • NASA’s StarChild Website http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/universe_level2/stars.html C. Find out more about attributes of individual stars by exploring these Websites. • Windows to the Universe: All Stars Line Up http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/the_universe/AllStarTop.html&fr=t • Windows to the Universe: ExploraTour: A Peek Into the Lives of Stars http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/cool_stuff/tourstars_1.html • Amazing Space: Star Light, Star Bright http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/resources/explorations/light/ D. Join others across the world to see if people everywhere see the same number of stars in the night sky. The Student Observation Network: Star Count Project encourages students and adults to count the number of stars viewed each night. This data is shared with others around the world. Everything you need to know to run this challenge is found at the Star Count Website: http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/starcount/home/index.html www.masterthescience.org - Master The Science...Master The Game! Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl Life of a Star Life of a Star Teacher resource Grades 6-8 Galaxy NGC 4013 (Image: NASA) Orion Nebula (Image: NASA) Chimchar Image: NASA The SUN (For a QuickTime movie) http://www.nasa.gov/mov/187931main_Fringe081807_512FD.mov www.masterthescience.org - Master The Science...Master The Game! Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl Life of a Star Life of a Star Teacher resource Grades 6-8 Galaxy NGC 4013 (Image: NASA) Orion Nebula (Image: NASA) Illustration:Tablizer; Science Museum of Minnesota Life Cycle of the Sun www.masterthescience.org - Master The Science...Master The Game! Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl Life of a Star Life of a Star student resource Grades 6-8 Galaxy NGC 4013 (Image: NASA) task card 1: BIrTH OF a sUN-LIKe sTar You will become an expert on the birth of a Sun-like star. During your research, be sure to look for more information about these topics: • Gas clouds • Protostars These Websites will help with your research: • HubbleSite Orion Nebula (Image: NASA) http://hubblesite.org/hubble_discoveries/hstexhibit/stars/starbirth.shtml • NASA’s Imagine the Universe http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/teachers/lifecycles/LC_main_p1.html Section I: Star Birth • The Birth of Stars http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/stars/lifecycle/starbirth.shtml • The Once and Future Sun http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Lectures/vistas97.html • The Life and Death of Stars http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/m_uni/uni_101stars.html • The Life Cycle of a Sun-Like Star http://wind.caspercollege.edu/~marquard/astronomy/sunlike.htm www.masterthescience.org - Master The Science...Master The Game! Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl Life of a Star Life of a Star student resource Grades 6-8 Galaxy NGC 4013 (Image: NASA) task card 2: MId-LIFe OF a sUN-LIKe sTar You will become an expert on the mid-life of a Sun-like star. During your research, be sure to look for more information about these topics: • Today’s Sun • Red Giant These Websites will help with your research: Orion Nebula (Image: NASA) • NASA’s Imagine the Universe http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/teachers/lifecycles/LC_main_p1.html Section I: Star Birth and Life and Section II: Beginning of the End • NASA’s StarChild Website: The Sun http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/solar_system_level2/sun.html • NASA’s STEREO Mission Website: The Sun in 3D http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/stereo/main/index.html • The Once and Future Sun http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Lectures/vistas97.html • The Life and Death of Stars http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/m_uni/uni_101stars.html • The Life Cycle of a Sun-Like Star http://wind.caspercollege.edu/~marquard/astronomy/sunlike.htm • StarDate Online: Exploding Stars http://stardate.org/resources/btss/stars/exploding_stars.php www.masterthescience.org - Master The Science...Master The Game! Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl Life of a Star Life of a Star student resource Grades 6-8 Galaxy NGC 4013 (Image: NASA) task card 3: OLd aGe TO THe deaTH OF a sUN-LIKe sTar You will become an expert on the old age to the death of a Sun-like star. During your research, be sure to look for more information about these topics: • Red Giants • Planetary Nebula • White Dwarfs Orion Nebula (Image: NASA) These Websites will help with your research: • HubbleSite http://hubblesite.org/hubble_discoveries/hstexhibit/stars/stardeath.shtml • NASA’s Imagine the Universe http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/teachers/lifecycles/LC_main_p1.html Section III: The End • The Death of Stars http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/stars/lifecycle/stardeath.shtml • Amazing Space http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/resources/tales/glorious_end.php.p=Teaching+tools%40 %2Ceds%2Ctools%2C%3EScience+content+reading%40%2Ceds%2Ctools%2Ctype% 2Creading.php%3EOverview%3A+End+of+stellar+life+story%40%2Ceds%2Coverview s%2Ctales%2Cglorious_end.php%3ETales+of%3A+End+of+stellar+life%40%2Cresour ces%2Ctales%2Cglorious_end.php&a=%2Ceds • The Once and Future Sun http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Lectures/vistas97.html • The Life and Death of Stars http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/m_uni/uni_101stars.html • The Life Cycle of a Sun-Like Star http://wind.caspercollege.edu/~marquard/astronomy/sunlike.htm www.masterthescience.org - Master The Science...Master The Game! Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl Life of a Star 0 Life of a Star Teacher resource Grades 6-8 Galaxy NGC 4013 (Image: NASA) Orion Nebula (Image: NASA) Image: Rice University and NASA orIon nebula www.masterthescience.org - Master The Science...Master The Game! Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl Life of a Star