Topic: Origin of Big Dipper Class: Astronomy

Unit: Celestial Sphere Date: 29 January 08 Topic: Origin of Big Dipper Class: Astronomy Objectives: Today I will remind the students about their “what is science” lecture, and we will talk about how Native Americans viewed the heavens, and came up with explanations to support the natural phenomena that they saw. The story is about a Fisher and how he turned into the Big Dipper Constellation. We will discuss how the pointer stars of the big dipper point to the NCP (North Celestial Pole) and Polaris, the star found there. We will chat about how this enables us to find directions, and about direction finding in general. Activities: (include minutes) Materials/Equipment: ~15 minutes: Read the Fisher turning Native American stories book w/ Fisher into the Big Dipper story, and ask the and the skyland story Ss about connections to the natural world. Big Dipper diagram

~15-20 minutes: Draw the Big Dipper diagram for different times of the year on the board, and discuss how the story explains the position of the Big Dipper. Also, explain how the last two stars in the basket of the big dipper are pointer stars and point to Polaris, which is the last star in the handle of the little dipper.

~5 minutes: Wrap up the direction discussion with a lecture on how the Freeways of America are organized. Odd North and South, Even East and West.

Assessment: (Embedded or Formal)

Embedded assessment on Native American methods of observation, and what references the story made to real world events. Also, I will question them on their knowledge of the North Star, why it is there, and debunk the myth that Polaris is the brightest star in the sky (Sirius is). Reflections & Notes:

I heard several students say that they liked the lesson today. Reading a story to the kids isn’t something that most of their teachers do I don’t think (unless it’s foreign language) so it’s a nice little change for them. They learned some good information about the North Star and how to find directions, and how to use the angle of the North Star to determine the latitude of the observer. Angle = latitude. Also, they always like learning about the freeway system, and learning that Polaris isn’t the brightest star in the sky.