Astronomy Projects for 12th Grade Class

[nmsurobert]

I teach a 12th grade astronomy class. First semester we spoke about the planets. I gave three research/group projects.
1. "Vagabonds of the solar system"
2. "The moons of Jupiter and Saturn"
3. "Design a solar system mission"

We are now moving on beyond the solar system. Stars, galaxies, and things of that nature. I would like to give them similar research projects this semester but I'm a little stuck. We are talking about types and lifetimes of stars right now. I don't want to simply assign them a star have them tell me about it. Any ideas would be appreciated.
Thanks.

 

[berkeman]

How fun. Just some ideas...

• Something to do with Exoplanet searches and what kind of stars are the best candidates (and why)
• Celestial navigation techniques and how they work -- If you had to go on a sailing trip without GPS, how would you find your way?
• How has the idea of whether the Universe is Open or Closed evolved over time? Start with Hoyle's "continuous creation" (Steady State Model) ideas, and follow the evolution of ideas and experiments through to the present day
• What experiments were conducted to arrive at the current theory of Dark Energy and the current value of Ω ? (BTW, this is fascinating and amazing research)

 

[nmsurobert]

How fun. Just some ideas...

• Something to do with Exoplanet searches and what kind of stars are the best candidates (and why)
• Celestial navigation techniques and how they work -- If you had to go on a sailing trip without GPS, how would you find your way?
• How has the idea of whether the Universe is Open or Closed evolved over time? Start with Hoyle's "continuous creation" (Steady State Model) ideas, and follow the evolution of ideas and experiments through to the present day
• What experiments were conducted to arrive at the current theory of Dark Energy and the current value of Ω ? (BTW, this is fascinating and amazing research)

Ah I like the first one. From here we're going to move on to exoplanets. I see what I can come up with using that idea. They're all good ideas though. I'll ponder over them and try to come up with something. Thanks!

 

[vela]

I teach a 12th grade astronomy class. First semester we spoke about the planets. I gave three research/group projects.
1. "Vagabonds of the solar system"
2. "The moons of Jupiter and Saturn"
3. "Design a solar system mission"

We are now moving on beyond the solar system. Stars, galaxies, and things of that nature. I would like to give them similar research projects this semester but I'm a little stuck. We are talking about types and lifetimes of stars right now. I don't want to simply assign them a star have them tell me about it. Any ideas would be appreciated.
Thanks.

Perhaps projects about stellar end states. I'm sure your students probably find black holes intriguing.

 

[nmsurobert]

Perhaps projects about stellar end states. I'm sure your students probably find black holes intriguing.

yeeesssss they all want to talk about black holes and the movie Interstellar.

 

[berkeman]

Great theme by @vela -- you could also assign a question to one of your most advanced groups of students, "Why do two black holes make a chirping sound when they collide and merge?" That leads into all kinds or research on LIGO and gravitational waves and data analysis and such. You can even poke at them some, with fun questions like, "I thought sound can't travel through a vacuum", and "How could scientists figure out which direction and how far away each collision/merger is?".

 

[tygerdawg]

Show pictures of island galaxies like Magellan, then pictures of violently merging galaxies with all of the swirls and tails and erupting star-forming regions of blue stars. Send them on a mission to explain why merging galaxies are so dynamic, explore the interactions of distributed masses, gravity effects, dark matter effects, current cosmology theories.

And if in case you're not aware of it, search for website Astronomy Picture Of The Day. Just for daily zing.

Or go crazy like I did in High School: I made (by hand grinding) my own 6-inch diameter reflector mirror telescope. Epic by today's standards of Wal-Mart culture, but commonplace back in my day when Edmund's Scientific catalog arrival in the mailbox was every kid's Best Day Ever.

 

[berkeman]

pictures of violently merging galaxies with all of the swirls and tails and erupting star-forming regions of blue stars.

https://phys.org/news/2016-10-galaxies-collide.html

 

[nmsurobert]

Great theme by @vela -- you could also assign a question to one of your most advanced groups of students, "Why do two black holes make a chirping sound when they collide and merge?" That leads into all kinds or research on LIGO and gravitational waves and data analysis and such. You can even poke at them some, with fun questions like, "I thought sound can't travel through a vacuum", and "How could scientists figure out which direction and how far away each collision/merger is?".

this is a really good idea too. i had thought about assigning them some kind of "advanced" research project like that. but i like that question. I wanted to talk about LIGO and what they've done. maybe ill make the student tell me haha

 

[nmsurobert]

Show pictures of island galaxies like Magellan, then pictures of violently merging galaxies with all of the swirls and tails and erupting star-forming regions of blue stars. Send them on a mission to explain why merging galaxies are so dynamic, explore the interactions of distributed masses, gravity effects, dark matter effects, current cosmology theories.

And if in case you're not aware of it, search for website Astronomy Picture Of The Day. Just for daily zing.

Or go crazy like I did in High School: I made (by hand grinding) my own 6-inch diameter reflector mirror telescope. Epic by today's standards of Wal-Mart culture, but commonplace back in my day when Edmund's Scientific catalog arrival in the mailbox was every kid's Best Day Ever.

ah that's a really good idea too. that sounds like a mega project too.

thanks everyone!