Brent Sackris
mailto:sackriswestinghouse@gmail.com
George Westinghouse High School
105 Tech Pl
Brooklyn, NY 11201
Grade/Subject: High School: Earth Science & Technology
About the Grant: |
Materials: iMacs or macbooks w/iMovie &
Photobooth
Modeling Supplies (Styrofoam modeling balls, clay, paint,
fishing twine, thumb tacks, empty box, glitter, cotton)
Recommended Readings from Website list below
About: Students spend several weeks learning about the
life and death of a star. Students are then asked to make a
model of this process, and then create a video podcast that will
provide students with the opportunity to explain what they've
learned in greater detail as well as incorporate digital diagrams
and animations to help them explain this process. |
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Objectives |
- Students will be able to explain the life cycle of a star
- Students will be able to explain and identify key terms
associated with star life and death, such as nebula, protostar,
fusion/ignition, main sequence , super giant, red giant, white
dwarf, black hole
- Students will create a three-dimensional model of star life
cycle
- Students will research and write a script explaining
highlights from star life cycle
- Students will create a video podcast, gathering real-world
images/animations to help explicate the narrative of their star
life cycle script
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Websites Used |
- http://aspire.cosmic-ray.org/labs/star_life/starlife_main.html Offers an overview of a star's life and death
- http://burro.astr.cwru.edu/stu/stars_lifedeath.html Offers an overview of a star's life and death at an accelerated
reading level
- http://thehistorychannel.co.uk/site/tv_guide/full_details/World_history/programme_204.php information on a recent HISTORY channel production about
the life and death of star
- Gateway to Science, ISBN: 1424016215 / 9781424016211 Great textbook
for low-level readers to explain life/death star process
- Quizstar.4Teachers.Org great website that
teachers can use to create online quizzes. Even allows
teachers to upload graphics for the quizzes. Includes 60 day
free trial, $35 annual fee after trial period
- http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/rel_stars.html NASA's official website about star life & death
- http://spitzer.caltech.edu/features/hd/index.shtml Resource of High definition video podcasts of the 'things
that go bump' in outer-space from NASA's Spitzer
telescope.
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Standards Addressed: |
National Science Standards Met for grades
9-12
Earth and Space Science Standards -- Origin and
Evolution of the Universe
As a result of their activities in
grades 9-12, all students should develop an understanding of
- Energy in the earth system
- Geochemical cycles
- Origin and evolution of the earth system
- Origin and evolution of the universe
National Education Technology Standards for NETS.S For
Teachers
1. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity
2.
Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and
Assessments
3. Model Digital Age Work and Learning |
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Lesson 1: |
Introduction/Lecture/Activity
Objective: Students will learn key phases of a star's life
cycle
Materials: Recommended readings and/or videos per the teacher
Procedures:
- Teacher will introduce topic with material is appropriate for
his/her students.
- The website, http://aspire.cosmic-ray.org/labs/star_life/starlife_main.html,
has a great diagram comparing a star's life cycle to that of a
human's. The teacher could use this analogy to enhance
student learning and ask students to think of other analogies for
the life/death of a star.
Homework: Further reading about life/death of star.
Assessment: Students should complete a quiz of the basic
understandings and key words of life cycle of star which could be
given as an in-class assignment, or as an online quiz using
Quizstar.
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Lesson 2: |
Model Building
Objective: Students create physical model of the life cycle of a
star.
Materials: model-building supplies (wire, foam, paint, etc)
Procedures:
Students are given the modeling supplies to create a model of a
star's life cycle. An example is shown below:
Homework: Ask students to begin collecting real-world images of
the things that they modeled, being sure to keep track of where they
are finding the images so that they can cite them later.
Assessment: Teacher can create a rubric to grade students on
their ability to successfully model a star's life
cycle. |
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Lesson 3: |
Video Podcast Viewing
Objectives:
- Students learn how to download video podcasts for viewing from
NASAs website
- Students identify characteristics of a successful video
podcast
Materials: Computers, Web browser, Internet Access, http://spitzer.caltech.edu/features/hd/index.shtml
Procedures:
- Teacher demonstrates how to access the NASA HD website.
(Note, iTunes can also be used to access these video casts).
- Teacher assigns students to small groups and asks them to view
various videocasts from the website. Teacher asks
students as a group, to keep track of the commonalities
between each video.
- Teacher allows each group to report their findings to
facilitate class discussion.
- Teacher points out common characteristics such as length
(generally less than 7 minutes), importance of selected images to
enhance information transfer, language used, etc (as a
differentiated activity, students can actually download full
transcripts of each episode and groups could be tasked to compare
the language used between episodes)
Homework:
Teacher asks the students to choose a video podcast
that most interests them and to download the written transcript of
the video podcast. Teacher asks the students to identify what
they think the key words and ideas are from each video podcast
transcript (if a class website exists, students could complete this
homework assignment in a blog format -- or email to teacher so that
he/she could filter comments and post)
Assessment:
The homework would serve as an assessment piece.
Teacher could also assign the class to watch 1-2 specific
video podcasts and then give quiz on subject matter. |
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Lesson 4 |
Drafting Video Podcast Script
Objective: Students will research using text and school library
resources (if available) to draft script of their video podcast for
the life/death of a star.
Materials: Selected readings, school library, internet access
Procedures: Teacher guides student research through draft writing
process.
Homework:
Students should create story board for where they
will insert their real-world images into their videocast.
Assessment:
Teacher collects drafts at end of class time.
Checks for use of key words and make sure script fits video
podcast style. |
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Lesson 5: |
Video Podcast Creation
Objective: Students will create their video podcast based on
their script
Materials: Imacs/Macbooks, iMovie & Photobooth
Procedures:
- Teacher should allow students access to labs that have
iMacs/Macbooks so that they can create their video podcast using
the video record feature of Photobooth (which will allow them to
'blue-screen' their real world images).
- If necessary, teacher should instruct students on how to use
the software.
- After finishing their raw takes, the teacher should allow the
students to edit their videos using iMovie.
Homework:
Teacher should tell students to create a works
cited page for the resources they used and finish editing their
production if they haven't already.
Assessment:
Teacher can use the submitted video podcast as a
final assessment on the topic. The video podcast can also be
used to assess students' digital savvy.
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Brent Sackris holds a master’s of social sciences
degree in psychology from The University of Chicago and a master’s of
science degree in Special Education from Long Island University. He has
collaborated in the past with the following museums to create education
outreach opportunities The Museum of Science and Industry, Scitech Hands
On Museum, American Museum of Natural History and The Rubin Museum of
Himalayan Art. He is a recipient of the following grants which helped to
fund innovative learning experiences: Motorola Innovation Generation
Grant, UFT MiniGrant, and Donor's Choose.
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