Stars: The Wonders of the Universe
“Without the evolution of stars, we wouldn’t have the fundamental elements necessary for the existence of life,” says Dieter Hartmann, a Clemson University Professor in the CNN article Scientists Measure all of the Starlight ever Produced in the Universe. Using a Fermi telescope, scientists were able to calculate the amount of photons given off by all stars that have ever existed. The end result? 4x10⁸⁴ photons. That’s 4,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.
So, I decided to turn this article into a math lesson that incorporates the power of art. As stated by the Montana Common Core Standards by the end of eighth-grade, students are to use numbers expressed in the form of a single digit times a whole-number power of 10 to estimate very large or very small quantities, and to express how many times as much one is than the other. (8.EE.3) I found a way that one teacher had taught this topic by using geometric shapes to pull the values apart and match them with their correct counterparts (see below). I really liked this activity because it is hands-on and allows the students to create a variety of geometric shapes while they are also understanding scientific notation, as well as, how equations and expressions work.
For this lesson, I would like students to create their own galaxies using a variety of mediums, such as chalk or crayons, to show how much light they think the stars give off each night. The students will then present their galaxies with their numbers and we will have a class discussion surrounding each measurement. I will use this as an informal assessment to see if they understand the purpose of scientific notation when measuring large, or small, quantities. If my student replies with their star measurement as 6X10^-50 then I know that the student has some misconceptions.
