TEACHER GUIDE Get Close to McDonald Observatory Live and in Person Live for Students McDonald Observatory offers a unique set- The Frank N. Bash Visitors Center features ting for teacher workshops: the Observatory a full classroom, 90-seat theater, astronomy and Visitors Center in the Davis Mountains park with telescopes, and an exhibit hall of West Texas. The workshops offer inquiry- for groups of 12 to 100 students. These based activities aligned with national and programs offer hands-on, inquiry-based ac- Texas science and math standards. Teachers tivities in an engaging environment, provid- can practice their new astronomy skills under ing an informal extension to classroom and the dark West Texas skies, and partner with science instruction. Reservations are recom- trained and nationally recognized astronomy mended at least six weeks in advance. educators. mcdonaldobservatory.org/teachers/visit mcdonaldobservatory.org/teachers/profdev Live on Video Visit McDonald Observatory from the class- room through an interactive videoconference program, “Live! From McDonald Observato- ry.” The live 50-minute program is designed for Texas classrooms, with versions for grades 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12. Each program is aligned with Texas education standards. mcdonaldobservatory.org/lfmo IOLO (INSET) C RANK CIAN F ; ; D For complete details BENNINGFIEL 432-426-3640 D mcdonaldobservatory.org/teachers DAMON Table of Contents TEACHER GUIDE To the Teacher 4 Resources 38 5th Edition Staff Classroom Activities EXECUTIVE EDITOR Damond Benningfield EDITOR Rebecca Johnson Shadow Play 6 K-4 ART DIRECTOR Tim Jones CURRICULUM SPECIALISTS Dr. Mary Kay Hemenway Kyle Fricke Brad Armosky RADES CIRCULATION MANAGER Paul Previte G DIRECTOR, PUBLIC INFORMATION Sandra Preston Modeling the Night Sky 8 Special thanks to all the teachers who evaluated this guide. Observing the Moon 11 Front Cover EAM A Hubble Space Tele- T RY RY scope view of a swath U REAS T of the Coma Cluster, a S C Planet Tours 14 A collection of thousands of galaxies. Astrono- ST mers are studying Solar System Science 15 5-8 /COMA H Coma to learn about I C the evolution of galax- STS / Rock Cycle 16 ies in clusters. RADES NASA Equatorial Sundial 18 G Back Cover With Earth looming in the background, astro- Scale Models 20 nauts service Hubble Space Telescope in the cargo bay of space shuttle Discovery. Support for Program num- ber HST-EO-10861.35-A was provided by NASA through a grant from the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is oper- Sunspots 22 ated by the Association of Univer- sities for Research in Astronomy, Incorpo- Spectroscope 24 rated, under NASA contract NAS5-26555. Stars and Galaxies 28 9-12 RADES The StarDate/Universo Teacher Guide is published by the McDonald G Observatory Education and Outreach Office, 2609 University Ave. Coma Cluster of Galaxies 30 #3.118, Austin, TX 78712. © 2008 The University of Texas at Austin. Direct all correspondence to StarDate, 2609 University Ave. #3.118, Austin, TX 78712, or call 512-471-5285. POSTMASTER: Send change of address to StarDate, The University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station, A2100, Austin, TX 78712. Periodicals Postage Paid at Austin, TX. StarDate and Universo are trademarks of the University of Texas McDonald Observatory. Visit StarDate Online at stardate.org and Universo Online at radiouniverso.org S TAR D ATE /UNIVER S O TEACHER GU I D E 3 To the Teacher tarDate and Universo are daily of the radio program content while may be distributed to other teach- radio programs that transport providing some idea of how these ers, placed in your school’s library, or Slisteners into the universe. and similar programs may be incor- used for other educational Many of the programs point out porated into lesson plans. purposes. However, interesting events or objects in StarDate and Universo provide the copies may not the night sky, with details on the additional resources through be sold or otherwise underlying science. Other programs World Wide Web sites in both distributed for non- cover the history of astronomy and English and Spanish. These sites educational uses. space exploration, upcoming mis- provide extensive information sions, recent discoveries, and relat- on the solar system, stars, Listening Skills ed topics. galaxies, and other sci- StarDate and Univer- Radio stations receive the programs ence topics, as well so provide an opportunity on monthly compact disks, and these as daily, weekly, and for students to improve their same monthly CDs are made avail- monthly skywatching listening skills. Teachers who able to teachers around the country. tips. Web addresses for preview the daily program Hundreds of teachers incorporate these and other sites may ask questions the programs into their classroom are provided at the back about the program to instruction. of this publication. help students focus The StarDate/Universo Teacher We occasionally produce on the topic. Written Guide can help you integrate Star- printed guides, posters, or other scripts are available Date and Universo programs into resources as well. These resourc- on-line each day your daily classes. We have provided es are distributed to the through the Star- simple activities for several grade lev- teachers who receive the Date Online and Uni- els, most of which require no elabo- audio CDs. verso Online web sites. rate equipment. These activities are Some teachers broadcast the examples upon which to build similar StarDate/Universo program over the school inter- lessons based on current StarDate and Your com each day. and Universo episodes. You can inte- Classroom grate and apply new skills from other Each CD contains a full Note-Taking and Discussion subject areas as you broaden stu- month of either StarDate To go beyond passive listening, dents’ awareness of astronomy. or Universo programming. have your students take notes. Some A transcript of a related StarDate You can integrate the information teachers have found that students are radio program accompanies most from the programs into daily learn- more prepared to discuss the topic if activities. The scripts are boxed and ing experiences in your classroom in they listen, take notes, then listen a denoted by a small radio transmitter a variety of ways. You are free to copy second time to check their notes. logo. The scripts show the breadth the CDs for educational uses. Copies Extending Class Lessons With their emphasis on objects in the sky, StarDate and Universo are NATIO N AL SCIE N CE EDUCATIO N STA N DARDS great sources for homework assign- ments. For this reason, some teachers Each activity in the StarDate/Universo Teacher Guide meets the National play StarDate or Universo at the end Science Education Standards (NSES), which were developed with these of class as they make an assignment. guiding principles: • Students can keep observing logs to record their observations throughout • Science is for ALL students. the year. Their StarDate or Universo • Learning science is an active process. notes prepare them to go outside and • School science reflects traditions of contemporary science. sketch what they see. • Improving science is part of systemic education reform. • Create a resource station where The NSES promote not just hands-on science, but also minds-on science. students file information they have gathered from the programs. Stu- The astronomy context of these activities aligns their content with the dents may file their own drawings, NSES “Physical Science” and “Earth and Space Science” standards. The data, and papers as well. Keeping “Science as Inquiry” standards manifest in the structure and format of your copies of the CDs and a CD the activities. Some activities overlap grade levels; many teachers will player with earphones will allow stu- find ways to modify the activities to fit the level of their students. dents to listen individually to selected programs. Students may create a 4 S TAR D ATE /UNIVER S O TEACHER GU I D E database of the information filed at on skylore to create interest in our solar sys- the resource station. Some teachers mythology and ancient civiliza- tem. They can use this station as a reference source tions. estimate times for assignments. • Have students keep a StarDate and relative dis- or Universo journal with their tances. Bilingual Instruction summaries of the programs and • Older students Universo can help you meet the answers to the pre-listening can apply princi- needs of Spanish-speaking students questions. Journal entries may ples of geometry or students who are learning Span- consist of phrases, sentences, and trigonometry ish. paragraphs, or drawings to as they explore • Have Universo CDs available at a illustrate the core concept. the angles and listening station. Use the programs to • Encourage students to orientations of introduce the lessons and vocabulary think on a large scale. planets and satel- to bilingual students before the les- For example, in teach- lites or the position son in English. ing a unit on Thoreau, of the Sun or Moon in the sky throughout the • Have students who need support ask them to consider the day or year. in Spanish listen to the programs to vastness of the universe, review concepts taught in English. using the radio shows to spark abstract thought and Fine Arts • Encourage Spanish students to listen prepare them for existential • Encourage students to Universo programs. The written literature. to make drawings of text (in Spanish) may be printed for their concepts related them to follow. For some programs, • Use the scripts from the StarDate or Universo web to the programs. For students can check their comprehen- example, if the pro- sion by listening to or reading the sites and material from Star- Date magazine as supple- gram is about sunsets, English version of the program after they can draw their ideal they hear the Universo program.