If you're looking for Hands-On Activities to help introduce black holes, how and why our Sun and all other stars shine, and some of the key scientific principles which will be featured in the two LIVE FROM videos, then our earlier LIVE FROM THE SUN 2000 Teacher's Guide will come in handy! If you participated in our 1999-2000 project, and purchased the Guide, this will serve as a reminder of Activities you can use right away. If you are interested in acquiring a copy of the 64 page Guide, copy masters of student worksheets and an oversize full-color poster ($35.00 including shipping), go online, e-mail ptkinfo@passporttoknowledge.com, or call 973.656.9403.
Activity 1.1 "Billions and Billions" uses the math involved in calculating how many grains of salt are in a canister, and how many canisters you'd need to make a billion, to inform and amaze students with how many stars are in a typical galaxy.
Activity 1.2.2 "Real Stars in Real Space" deconstructs the familiar constellations by adding the 3rd dimension of distance. Students will begin to appreciate light travel time and the immense distances between the stars and galaxies.
Activity 1.4 "The Life Cycle of the Stars", together with its set of Star Cards, enables you to turn a class of students into stars of different masses and colors, and for students to begin to realize the correlation between color and temperature and lifetime of a star. A great way to appreciate and extend some of the sequences in LIVE FROM A BLACK HOLE comparing our Sun with stars that will go supernova and/or end up as black holes.
Activity 2.1 "Simulating Fusion" This Hands-On Activity models--with M&Ms--the process whereby hydrogen becomes helium, the all-important force which powers the Sun and through which all stars are born.
The online Activities "Barcode of the Cosmos" and "Pictures From Outer Space" provide a wavelength-by-wavelength set of Activities exploring the electromagnetic spectrum, and an image processing activity showing how numbers become images. Again, the HUBBLE Guide is available in print.
More questions about instructional materials? E-mail: ptkinfo@passporttoknowledge.com and we'll be back to you in a flash!
Hands-On Gravity and Black Hole Activities--from the Adler Planetarium and elsewhere
"Amazing Space" Web site
Grades: All, General Public
"Amazing Space" is a set of web-based interactive activities primarily designed for classroom use, but made available for all to enjoy. All lessons include spectacular images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and many high quality graphics, ...
http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/
"Chandra" Coloring & Activity Book
Grades: 4-8, General Public
This fun and exciting 24-page coloring and activity book includes general information on x-ray astronomy, Chandra and the STS-93 mission. It is intended for parents to use with their children. It also looks at the sources Chandra investigates (including black holes and supernova remnants.)
http://chandra.harvard.edu/edu/coloring_booklet.html
How Big is That Star?
Grades: 6-8
A Lesson plan in which students will be able to explain the relationship between density, mass, and radius for a list of stars, and understand how a binary star system's orbit can cause observed changes in the brightness of a star.
http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/teachers/lessons/star_size/star_size_cover.html
No Escape: The Truth About Black Holes
Grades: 8-12, General Public
Description: provides an opportunity for students to research the fascinating topic of black holes and to examine the concepts of escape velocity, gravity, mass, and the speed of light.
http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/blackholes/lesson/index.html
The Life Cycle of Stars Web Site
Grades: 9-12
An online version of the information/activity booklet which accompanies the Life Cycle of Stars poster. The booklet contains information about the birth, life, and death of stars, and how a star's mass determines its life cycle.
http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/teachers/lifecycles/LC_title.html
The Anatomy of Black Holes Website
Grades: 9-12, Higher education, Community College
An online version of the information and activity booklet to accompany the Anatomy of Black Holes poster. The booklet provides an introduction to black holes, including historical background, their formation, and evidence for their existence.
http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/teachers/blackholes/blackholes.html
Light Tour
A self-tutorial that introduces the electromagnetic spectrum through the concept of wavelength. Students learn to associate various wavelength ranges with different spectral bands, and can explore images from space astronomy missions in each.
http://cse.ssl.berkeley.edu/light/light_tour.html
