Where are the Stars?

Grade: 3

Lesson Plan Theme/Topic: More stars can be seen through a telescope, and in areas of lower light pollution.

Standards Addressed: SC.E.3.5.5

Goals: (What do you expect the students to be able to know and do?)

Students should be able to identify that they live in an area of higher light pollution (for my class; if a teacher is doing this in another area it may be different). They should be able to identify that stars are easier to see in areas of lower light pollution, and explain what light pollution is. They should also be able to tell me that looking through a telescope allows one to see more stars than they could with the naked eye.

Formative Assessments: (How will your students demonstrate that they have met the goals? How will they assess themselves?)

Students will write a small paragraph on what they learned and found interesting about light pollution. They will then fill out a small worksheet to check for understanding on telescopes.

Key Content: (What key elements will be learned or practiced?)

Vocabulary: Light pollution, telescope, dim vs bright.

Skills: Physical kneading (for craft), writing (reflection).

Resources, Instructional Materials, Technology:

Pictures, YouTube video, craft materials, possibly google for more pictures if the kids get curious.

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Anticipatory Set: When you look at the night sky, how many stars do you see?

Possible answers: "A lot" "Not many" "It depends" "Like 100" etc.

By a raise of hands, how many of you have seen a picture similar this?

Does the sky look like that at night when you look at the stars?

A: Probably "no".

When people build cities and towns, we build lots of lights to illuminate the dark. However, when we do this, it causes something called light pollution. Light pollution makes it hard to see the stars. If you lived far out in the country where there was hardly any light pollution, the sky would look like this at night. Because we live in an area where there are lots of cars, houses, and stores, there are lots of lights, so there is a lot of light pollution. That is why when we look up, the stars look more like this:

Credit to National Geographic

I'm going to show you guys a video of how different the night sky looks depending on the level of light pollution. The higher the level, the more light pollution there is.

Light Pollution Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FXJUP6_O1w

"Turn to your shoulder buddy and share one thing from the video you learned or thought was cool." Ask kids if they'd like to share after 30-60 seconds of turn and talk and pick a few kids to share.

Examples of answers: "There are 8 light pollution levels" "Light pollution makes it hard to see stars" "When there's no light pollution, you can see a lot more stars" "Those pictures of the milky way in the sky are real" etc.

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With no light pollution, how many stars do you think you could count in the sky?

Possible answers: "Countless" "millions" "billions"

Now that you know about light pollution, I want to talk to you about telescopes. Super bright stars have the lowest magnitude. Without light pollution, our eyes can see stars with a brightness magnitude of 6. This means that the really dim stars that we can see with no light pollution are at magnitude 6. However, good telescopes can see up to magnitude 30, which is way beyond what we can see with out eyes!

Can you imagine how many more stars you could see with a telescope if you can already see billions only using your eyes?! The whole night sky could appear colorful through a telescope when you're in an area with no light pollution.

This is a picture taken through a telescope of a galaxy commonly known as the Andromeda Galaxy. Its name is M31. You can see billions of stars in the foreground (you may have to define foreground) and the background of the galaxy, as well as within the galaxy. Without a telescope, you would not be able to see this galaxy or many of the stars in this photo!

You can also point out to the students the other small galaxies in this photo if they are really interested in it, and how with a more powerful telescope, we could see even more stars that are further out in space.

Have students write a reflection (minimum of 4 sentences) of what they learned and found interesting about the stars and light pollution from the video and conversations.This will be graded and also used as a knowledge check.

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Optional Activity: Galaxy Slime. Adapted from Little Bins for Little Hands Galaxy Slime

Materials:

1. Liquid starch (some popular brands found at Walmart or other grocery stores can be found in the laundy isle and inclue Flo-Sta and Linit Starch)

2. Lots of clear Elmer's school glue (washable)

3. Water

4. Glitter (and other add-in if you'd like, such as sequences). For best results, give access to all sorts of colors, or silver.

5. Mixing bowls for each student (prefereably disposable)

6. Disposable spoons or forks for stirring the ingredients (one per student)

7. Food coloring (optional). Recommended if using only silver glitter.

8. Plastic baggies to put the slime in when playtime is over.

9. Newspaper to prevent mess.

Instructions:

1. Cover the desks with newspaper or other material to prevent mess on the desks and make it easier to clean up glitter spills.

Give each of the students a bowl with 1/4 of a cup of glue and something to stir with.

2. Come around to each student and pour 1/4 of a cup of water into their bowls and instruct them to stir.

3. Come around once more and pour 1/8 of a cup of liquid starch into their bowls and instruct them to continue stirring.

4. Tell the students once there is no liquid left and they have a gooey slime ball to start kneading their slime. It will be a little stringy for a few minutes and the consistency will change as they knead it.

5. Optional: Have the students put one or two drops of food coloring into their slime (red, pink, green, blue, and purple will be most popular).

6. Pass out small amounts of glitter to each table and have the students knead it into their slime. Once all the glitter is kneaded in, you can pass out more if you'd like. Doing it in small amounts at a time prevents dreadful glitter mess in the classroom.

Once the students are done, explain once more how stars form (from the previous lesson) from nebulas, collections of gas and dust, and have the students knead their galaxy slime to pretend they are forming new stars within their own nebula. Or, have them view the slime as an irregular galaxy. To aid in this, maybe show them some photos of M82, the Cigar Galaxy, or one of the Magellantic Clouds.

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Closure (Reflect or Cool-Down Set): Have the students write a 4 sentence reflection, then do the slime activity with them to have some fun.

Adaptations (for students with learning disabilities): When craft time comes, stay with any children that have ADHD or behavioral problems and do the craft together after you pass out materials to everyone else. Talk to them as they mix the materials together about what they learned. This will help them recall information, feel special being with the teacher, and prevent them from making a mess and being disruptive as they do the craft until it is complete. If you have multiple students like this, sit them all at the round table. Let them talk amongst themselves until the other students have received all of their materials and then engage all of them in group discussion as you sit with them.

Extensions (for curious and gifted students): Have some copies of National Geographic or other astronomy magazines or books in the classroom. Let the students look at these during down time in the classroom. Prepare videos on the classroom computers that the students can watch with headphones later in the day. Bring in telescope to class and show students how it works and how the parts fit together.

Possible Connections To Other Subjects: What the stars looked like throughout history (what the ancient Greeks saw, what early Americans saw in the Revolutionary War, etc.).