Exploring the Solar System, the Galaxies, and the Universe with the Hubble Space Telescope
This page authored by Rebeca L. Dodge, University of West Georgia.
This activity was selected for the On the Cutting Edge Reviewed Teaching Collection
This activity has received positive reviews in a peer review process involving five review categories. The five categories included in the process are
- Scientific Accuracy
- Alignment of Learning Goals, Activities, and Assessments
- Pedagogic Effectiveness
- Robustness (usability and dependability of all components)
- Completeness of the ActivitySheet web page
For more information about the peer review process itself, please see https://serc.carleton.edu/teachearth/activity_review.html.
This activity has benefited from input from a review and suggestion process as a part of an activity development workshop.
This activity has benefited from input from faculty educators beyond the author through a review and suggestion process as a part of an activity development workshop. Workshop participants were provided with a set of criteria against which they evaluated each others' activities. For information about the criteria used for this review, see http://serc.carleton.edu/teacherprep/workshops/workshop07/activityreview.html.
- First Publication: May 2, 2007
- Reviewed: March 2, 2023 -- Reviewed by the On the Cutting Edge Activity Review Process
Summary
This is an online pre-lab exercise designed to familiarize students the resources for studying our universe that are available on the Hubble Telescope Web site, located at: http://hubblesite.org.
This is a pre-lab online activity that students complete prior to laboratory sessions concerning the Solar System and the Universe. The students navigate through the web site, learning how to access teaching materials including videos, games, images, "news articles", and historical articles. Students read and analyze articles and videos, and answer questions designed to prepare them for laboratory activities. During lab students will develop a classroom activity for a K-6 classroom, based on the Hubble site.
Learn more about the course for which this activity was developed.
Topics
Astronomy Grade Level
College Introductory
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Learning Goals
The student will be able to
- Visualize Star Formation, planet formation, galaxy collisions
- Understand different approaches to determining the age of the Universe, and why there is controversy over its age
- Understand the Hubble telescope instrumentaion and how it observes the Universe
- Access diverse online teaching resources concerning the Universe and our solar system
- Prepare to develop grade-level appropriate activities tied to Georgia Performance Standards, using the Hubble site
Context for Use
This activity can be used in a computer laboratory with supervision, or assigned to students to undertake prior to a laboratory activity. It requires no special skills other than the ability to access online sites. It requires approximately 1 - 2 hours to complete. The questions that comprise the exercise are designed for Early Childhood education majors, but could be upgraded for higher-level students by increasing the analysis required, and by adding writing elements to the exercise.
Description and Teaching Materials
This is an exercise that requires students to go online and access a single website, navigate through the website following simple instructions, and answer content questions based on reading and on viewing videos contained on the site.
Assignment handout and assignment handout with answers (Microsoft Word 65kB Jun13 07)Teaching Notes and Tips
Make sure the students have access to computers that can play the videos.
Assessment
Students bring the completed exercise to lab and the questions are discussed prior to starting the laboratory activities.
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