Exploring your Universe from Inner to Outer Space

The subject matter taught in this six-session course covers the size and scale of the Universe surrounding us. Your student/child will explore objects from the infinitesimal to the infinite using multi-wavelength imagery. They will write out their cosmic address in the Universe, thus giving them a better understanding of where they are in our world, Solar System, Galaxy, and beyond. All of this will be done over the six sessions with each session covering one size range of their Universe.

Summary of You Are Here Mini-Course

Download the full PDF of the educator's guide

Mission 1: The Size and Scale of Things
	Duration 1 hour
	Activities TOPS Scale the Universe (sticky tabs), Intro to the magnitude system, cut out tabs.
	Concepts The mission of this session is to provide a general overview of the size and scale of the Universe.

 

Mission 2: How We See the Universe
	Duration 1.5 hours
	Activities Invisible light sources and detectors, IR video, ground and space based telescopes, tour invisible universe slides
	Concepts The mission of this session is to introduce the student to the electromagnetic spectrum. The students also work with the ideas of what the difference is between a light source and a light detector.

 

Mission 3: Trip to the Sun
	Duration 1 hour
	Activities Trip to the Sun, with Google maps look up, size of the Sun, Moon, and Earth, rope solar system activity.
	Concepts The mission of this session is to provide a general overview and scale of the Sun, Earth, and Moon systems.

 

Mission 4: Solar System Travel Plans
	Duration 1.5 hours
	Activities Solar System travel brochure
	Concepts The mission of this session is to cover what the different planets in the Solary system are and each student is allowed to become an expert in at least one object in the Solar System.

 

Mission 5: Our Milky Way Galaxy and Beyond
	Duration 1 hour
	Activities Our place in the galaxy (birdseed galaxy), create a black hole
	Concepts The mission of this session is to show the students where we are in the Milky Way galaxy, what's in a galaxy, and what is a black hole.

Course Resources for Educators

Course Plan (excel file)

Presentations for each mission

Activities for each mission

Download the student Booklet - Printable PDF (2.1 MB)

Questionnaire for Students

Photo Gallery: Students' Work

 

Sponsored by the GLAST, Swift, and XMM-Newton E/PO programs