Final Assignment

Compare two ancient astronomy sites in terms of: *purpose *location *connections to daily living (farming, etc.) *connection to spiritual truth (religion, etc.) *possible construction methods

  Starting Resources
http://www.sir-ray.com/Ancient%20Astronomy.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080328104302.htm
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3003200#.T7aSTEVDySo http://www.catchpenny.org/howbuilt.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRRDzFROMx0 Pyramid

Day 38: The Big Bang and the Expansion

Evaluation
New Mayan Calendar Found...Goodbye Doomsday?
Universe Pictures
A Last Look at Hubble



Discuss Big Bang and Big Ideas

Day 37: Special Relativity

FYI:   http://www.spaceweather.com

The background

Tutorial 1

Tutorial 2

Tutorial 3

Tutorial 4

Tutorial 5

Tutorial 6

GO through each tutorial and then summarize in one or two paragraphs.

Each of these tutorials focuses on a specific concept.  When you get done, you should be able to explain
*the twin paradox
*simultaneity
*length dilation
*time dilation
*special relativity

Hand in the paragraphs and the definitions INDIVIDUALLY when you are finished.

Day 36: Pictures of the Big Bang

Universe Begins

Drake Equation

How were these concepts explored in HOUR 1 of Nova ORIGINS

Day 35: Understanding Galaxies

http://www.galaxyzoo.org/how_to_take_part

Local Group

Day 34: Understanding the Universe/SDSS project

Read the activity found here    (this should take 20 min)


Read the opening paragraph of the Wikipedia article on the Sloan Digital Survey.   (this should take 5 min)

Today, you will be doing a digital scavenger hunt with a partner.  The activity is found here. (this should take 50-60 min, so take your time with the reading)


Note:   the magnitudes are listed using 5 different filters-- u, g, r, i ,z    Each of the filters is tracking different wavelengths.  At this point, just write them down.

You will probably not get all 18 of the questions answered.   That's ok.   Do your best.

Last Week of Work

Today, you (individually) will make a poster that contrasts 2 religious beliefs and a science belief about the beginning of the world. As we have said all semester, science and religion mixing can make the questions we ask more and more unclear, and is done all the time in the media, even though the fundamental purpose of each discipline is different. I am not asking you to choose which is "right" and which is "wrong" here, I am simply asking you to contrast the ideas using two of the passages below. If you use the picture at the right, pay careful attention to the timeline.


Universe SCIENCE data:http://www.universeadventure.org
http://www.universetoday.com

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/origins/univ-flash.html


Universe RELIGION data (if you don't like any of these, use your own research):
http://www.gly.uga.edu/railsback/CS/CSIndex.html

http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ab83

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+1&version=NIV

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+2&version=NIV


http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+1&version=NIV




When you are done, on the back of the poster, please explain to me how well you believe the science and religion shown in these examples mesh, and how politics and societal views shape the arguments.Give three details to support your viewpoint.


Grading Rubric


Student includes at least 5 details about the Big Bang (1-5)
Student compares these details to a religious story (1-5)
Student compares these details to another religious story (1-5)
Student poster is effective, using an attractive visual layout (1-5)
Student paragraph of support is included, with three supporting pieces of evidence (1-9)

==========================

Go to the Hubble Galaxy Hunt activity. Take the time you need to explore, but when you are done, I need you to write a 3-4 paragraph reflection on your impressions, including data, statistics, and size factors.

==========================

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/origins/ward.html

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/space/drake-equation.html

Arguments For/Against Aliens

The Golden Record

SETI

Lenticular Clouds

Foo Fighters

Your turn: Use the resources above to support your position on being PRO or AGAINST the possibility of alien life. You must include at least 5 pieces of evidence in your arguments.

Paragraphs 1-2: Your position, and your Evidence.

Paragraph 3-4: Implications for Human Beings

If you choose PRO on the possibility of alien life, you are telling me that you believe life exists outside of your own planet. Answer these questions, in paragraphs 3 and 4?

• Would the governments tell us if there were aliens? Why or why not? Is this a problem for science?
• Should we be sending out signals, like those of the Voyager, to advertise our existence?
• Given the constraints of the Drake equation, how likely is it we will here another civilization's signal?
• Since space is dangerous, how likely is it that aliens will be traveling long distances?
• How do you define 'life' or 'aliens'

If you choose CON on the possibility of alien life, you are telling me that you do not believe life exists outside of your own planet. Answer these questions, in paragraphs 3 and 4?

• Are there other benefits to SETI than finding aliens, or should the program be shut down?
• Why do so many people claim to have seen UFOs? Do you buy the lenticular cloud argument? What about the Foo Fighters?
• Since no other aliens have ever been announced, is the Drake equation even science? Or is it just opinion packaged as science?
• If there are no aliens, why is the universe so darn big??
• How do you define 'life' or 'aliens'?

==========================
Evaluation

Day 33: Starting Chapter 5 with a Black Hole

Black Holes

Black Holes and Relativity


Black Hole Quiz

Icarus and the Black Hole

Day 32: Unit 4 Assessment

Stellar Evolution

The PDF version

Chandrasekhar Limits

One last thought

There is a ton of information on the three sites above, and you will need to use it to show me your individual creativity.     For each option, you must include  a glossary of the following terms that are understandable to a 4th grader

• black hole
• pulsars
• neutron stars
• quasars
• supernova
• red giants
• blue giants
• main sequence
• temperature
• OBAFGKML
• HR-diagram
• Life cycles of stars
• proton-proton chain
• CNO cycle

Option 1:   Write two specific obituaries for a star the mass of the sun and a star of another mass.   Make the obituaries entertaining, but informative.  Connect the ideas of the life cycle to the HR diagram as appropriate.

Option 2:  Create a children's book that tells the life cycle of the Sun and the time involved, as well as sharing things that the sun WON'T become.   Use example photos from the photo gallery found at http://chandra.harvard.edu

Option 3:  Create a 1 minute digital video that explains to me your understanding of two different stellar life cycles.

Grading:

Content accuracy:  10 points
Creativity:  5 points

Day 31: Bringing together Unit 4

The big ideas in the chapter are

• stellar life cycles
• types of evolutionary pathways
• the HR diagram.

Today, we need to find out about 

black holes

supernovas
neutron stars

pulsars

quasars

Take the time to find out about each of the four pathways by using the resources on http://chandra.harvard.edu or Wikipedia.   I need a top ten facts list for the first three, and a decent list for the bottom two.  You will be using this all tomorrow.

Day 30: Patterns in the HR Diagram

Work through the sections on  the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram. Then complete the following questions related to the background
information.

Go To the following document.
Please complete Questions 1, 2, 4, 5, 9, 11-13 on a sheet of paper and hand indivually.


Where are the nearest stars?