Next Generation Science Standards
Science literacy and critical thinking skills
Analyzing and interpreting data
Obtaining, evaluating & communicating information
Three dimensional lesson summary:
Students analyze digital images of stars and galaxies at different wavelengths, then adjust filters, colors, and intensities to create an image that communicates information about the object's properties.
Building towards:
HS-PS4-5 Communicate technical information about how some technological devices use the principles of wave behavior and wave interactions with matter to transmit and capture information and energy.
HS-ESS1-2 Construct an explanation of the Big Bang theory based on astronomical evidence of light spectra, motion of distant galaxies, and composition of matter in the universe.
Science and Engineering Practices
Analyzing and Interpreting Data | Analyze data using tools, technologies, and/or models (e.g., computational, mathematical) in order to make valid and reliable scientific claims.
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Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information | Communicate scientific ideas (e.g. about phenomena and/or the process of development and the design in multiple formats) including orally, graphically, and textually. Students create a multi-color image and develop a caption to communicate information about a science question, such as locating the hottest and coolest stars, finding star-forming regions, or identifying distant galaxies. | |
Disciplinary Core Ideas | The study of stars’ light spectra and brightness is used to identify compositional elements of stars, their movements, and their distances from Earth. Students use filters to observe the light from astronomical objects at various wavelengths to analyze and determine information about the object’s temperature or distance. | |
Multiple technologies based on the understanding of waves and their interactions with matter are part of everyday experiences in the modern world and in scientific research. They are essential tools for producing, transmitting, and capturing signals and for storing and interpreting the information contained in them. Students apply their understanding of how the image sensor of a camera detects light and how filters transmit certain wavelengths of light. Students select appropriate filters, apply chromatic ordering, and adjust color intensities to make an astronomical image that illustrates the answer to their scientific question. | ||
Related DCI | Electromagnetic radiation (e.g., radio, microwaves, light) can be modeled as a wave of changing electric and magnetic fields. The wave model is useful for explaining many features of electromagnetic radiation. Students use the wave model to understand how filters can transmit some forms of electromagnetic energy while blocking others. They explore how certain wavelengths of energy are used to estimate star temperatures, star-forming regions, and distant galaxies. They apply a wavelength-dependent chromatic ordering process to create images that use color to properly visualize data or answer a science question. | |
Crosscutting Concepts Scale, Proportion, and Quantity | The significance of a phenomenon is dependent on the scale, proportion, and quantity at which it occurs. Students select appropriate filters, chromatic ordering, and color intensities to demonstrate how light communicates information. | |
Cause and Effect |
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Connections to Engineering
| Modern civilization depends on major technological systems. Telescopes, filters, digital imaging, and computer image processing technology enable the transfer and interpretation of vast amounts of data and provide a way to visualize light that is beyond the limits of human vision | |
Physics - Earth-Space Science Correlation Table
Are you working on integrating Earth-Space Science standards into your Physics class? Click on the link below and make of a copy of this Google Sheet to search by Performance Expectation (PE), Disciplinary Core Idea (DCI), or Rubin Observatory investigation.