My students need materials to construct models of the Milky Way galaxy, including foam board, protractors, star stickers, styrofoam balls, celestial spheres, star catch balls, and a Bill Nye DVD.
I teach 6th grade science, 8th grade science, and an Astronomy elective course at a rural middle school in Washington State. We are one of two NASA Explorer Schools in the state.
Thank you for reading my proposal. Many areas of science such as chemistry and physics are easy to incorporate hands-on activities. Astronomy is more difficult as most everything we study is not within reach. Yet, it is so important to provide these hands-on activities for astronomy as well. In addition, our school district has faced major budget cuts and hands-on materials for science are very difficult to obtain.
I am excited about the opportunity to provide astronomy hands-on activities. Modeling is an excellent way to provide an immersive astronomy experience. My students will construct models of the Milky Way using a modeling activity developed by Dr. Kumiko Usuda of the Subaru Telescope. They will use foam board for the plane of the Milky Way and will use the protractors to measure the angle of star and astronomical object position from the center of the Milky Way (represented by a Styrofoam ball). By constructing their own Milky Way, they will understand how stars and nebula are grouped within the spiral arms of the Milky Way. My students will also construct celestial spheres in order to understand our perspective of the stars. Games such as the catch-ball will also make learning about astronomy fun!
You can make it possible for students to truly grasp the size, scale, and structure of our own galaxy. In addition, your support makes it possible to integrate math and science as they use graphing skills to construct their model.
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