Understand Stellar Distances

This article presents a lesson to student the relative distances of stars in the constellation Orion that takes approximately 80 minutes if students are able to understand conversions and ba... See More

This article presents a lesson to student the relative distances of stars in the constellation Orion that takes approximately 80 minutes if students are able to understand conversions and basic geometry. The activity starts with a preassessment, an optical illusion, understanding of the use of scales, and the building of a 3-D model. All aspects of the activity are presented including an assessment piece. All of this leads to a better understanding of astronomical scale of stellar distances.

Great concept

One of the challenges that teachers face when teaching astronomy is how to get students to conceptualize the size and scope of space. When looking up at the night sky, a student sees a two ... See More

One of the challenges that teachers face when teaching astronomy is how to get students to conceptualize the size and scope of space. When looking up at the night sky, a student sees a two dimensional plane, where depth does not exist. That is why I enjoyed the article from Dotger and Fidler, who try to give their students a better understanding of space; by having them build a three dimensional model of the constellation Orion. This activity challenges some students’ misconceptions of astronomy, such as the distances of stars and their respective sizes. For instance, when looking up at the night sky, the stars on Orion’s belt look like next-door neighbors. In reality, however, those stars are light years apart. What the students learn form this activity is that star brightness does not determine the proximity of the star nor its size. They also get a firm grasp as to just how far apart stars are from each other. In another activity students compare the size of our sun to Betelgeuse. This was a great way to help students conceptualize the magnitudes of some of the stars in our universe. This particular activity might be perfect for an introduction to astronomy, because it presents many more questions that students might wonder about, such as: What makes stars brighter? Why are some stars red, white, blue or yellow? These are just a few of a countless number of opportunities for further discussions that this article provides.