The Evolving Universe materials are
part of the Adaptive Curriculum Enhancement (ACE) program developed
by Mid-continent Research
for Education and Learning (McREL). These materials have been
adapted from the Genesis
Cosmic Chemistry: Cosmogony module for use by visually impaired
students.
Cosmologists study the present universe; cosmogonists
study the origin of the universe. Observations about our present
universe not only allow us to make predictions about the future,
but also they provide clues to events that happened long ago, when
the evolution of the cosmos began. Throughout this Evolving Universe
module, students act as scientists as they study tactile models
of specific features of the present universe. They will develop
an understanding of the difficulties of conducting science on very
large time and distance scales by indirect observation and inference.
Students involved in the Evolving Universe classroom activities
use the strategy of working backward from contemporary models of
the universe to envision a reasonable initial state of the cosmos.
The activities in Evolving Universe are organized
using a learning cycle and are intended to be used sequentially
in the order they are presented, but they have been designed to
be self-contained activities that could be used to emphasize specific
scientific concepts or to address specific National Science Education
Standards. ACE learning
Spongy
Universe
In the first part of the “Spongy
Universe” engagement activity, students develop observation
and inference skills using a sponge that models the universe. The
second part of the activity emphasizes how distance affects perspective.
In the culminating session, they must then decide whether the precepts
of the Standard Cosmological Model that describe the universe as
being homogenous and isotropic are valid. Our
Dynamic Universe
In “Our Dynamic Universe,”
students explore two more basic precepts of the Standard Cosmological
Model—our expanding universe and gravitational effects in
the universe today. Students experience the Doppler Effect, a simple
technique that has been a mainstay of cosmological science since
the early part of the 20th century. They learn that the same kinds
of changes in wave frequency that cause changes in the pitch of
sound can give us clues to what is happening in our dynamic universe.
The observation of red and blue Doppler shifts in stars and other
galactic objects leads very naturally into a discussion of the expansion
of the universe and the gravitational force that oppose this expansion.
Tracing
Origins Thought Experiments
This Tracing Origins concept development activity is actually a
series of three “Thought Experiments.”
- Tracing
the Origins of Pizza Ingredients
This activity introduces students to thought
experiment techniques that scientists use when it is not possible
to actually conduct real experiments with real equipment. Students
are encouraged to act both as cosmologists and cosmogonists as they
make observations regarding the structure of a pizza and trace the
origins of the pizza ingredients back to atoms, the building blocks
of matter. But atoms have their own building blocks—protons,
neutrons, and electrons.
- Fundamentals
of Our Universe
In this activity, students will continue concept
development as they discover the combinations of “up”
and “down” quarks, the fundamental particles that form
protons and neutrons. Quarks and electrons may have been among the
first stable particles formed in the early universe. In the final
session of this activity, we pose the question, “If electrons
exist as free particles in the universe today, why aren’t
quarks free particles today?” This will lead into a discussion
of the energy (temperature) changes that have occurred from the
beginning of the cosmos until now.
- Tracing
the Origins of Our Universe
In this culminating concept expansion activity,
students combine their experiences in inference and tracing origins
and their knowledge of fundamental particles to trace the quarks
and electrons backwards in time to discover what important role
they may have played in those early cosmic periods.
When students have completed this series of Evolving
Universe activities, they will have had modeling and inference experiences
relating to the following basic precepts of the Standard Cosmological
Model.
|
