ESTIMATED TIME TO COMPLETE: Two 50-minute class periods
MODULE OBJECTIVES:
Components | |||
Engagement | Warm Up Activities: Students are asked to speculate on how long it takes the light of the sun to get to Earth. | Individual or small groups | Overhead projector (OP) or PowerPoint (PP) to post the Warm Up questions. |
Exploration | Discussion of student answers and computation of the distance to the sun in light-minutes. Construct a graph relating distance in km to light years.
Problem-Solving Activity (PSA): How long would it take for a ship traveling at the same speed as Voyager II to get to the nearest star? |
Individual or small groups | OP or PP to show images of
the sun
and of a graph relating distance in km to distance in light minutes.
Graph paper or software to produce a graph. Textbook or directed WWW search to answer Problem questions. Sites used: Voyager Mission Home Page Stellar Distances |
Explanation | Presentation and discussion of student work. | Individual or small groups | OP or monitor to show images of the sun and nearby stars. |
Extension | Follow-up research about the Voyager missions or other robotic missions of space exploration. | Small groups | Sites used:
Voyager Mission Home Page |
Evaluation | Students will be evaluated based on their graph and their answers to the PSA. | Individual (all students submit their own work and answers based on their collaboration) | Rubrics for graphing |
EXPECTED MODULE OUTCOMES: