Star Clusters Project (2 Weeks w/ High Schoolers)
Topic/Concept: Stellar Evolution
Type of Activity: small group with a lot of mentoring
Prerequisite knowledge required: CCDs, basics of color and spectra
Resources required: Lots of stuff! CCD+telescope, computer armed with Daophot, arts & crafts supplies
Learning Objectives: understanding of the life cycle of stars, comprehension of how astronomers find profound physical information (ages of stars) from simple observations of colors and magnitudes, familiarity with what ‘real astronomers’ do.
Common misconceptions: What is this B-V thing anyway? (confused by how it means color)
Detailed description of activity: This is a two-week long project that I do at the California State Summer School for Math and Science (COSMOS). The students have had two weeks of basic activities in astronomy and vision science before we begin the project. I usually mentor 2-4 students from all grades of high school, doing an open clusters project. A friend usually does the same with globular clusters, and we collaborate closely. We wrote up our lesson plan at:
Cosmos Star Cluster Research Activity
Obviously, this project is pretty extensive, but I am posting it with the hope that bits and pieces might be helpful to someone.
Comments: We had a blast with this last summer, and I think the students learned a lot. This year, I working on a full-fledged inquiry about stellar evolution. Also, I always struggle with the data reduction. I want the students to experience it first hand, and have a taste of plugging away at a computer, but I don’t want them to get too bogged down. Unfortunately, it’s really easy to get bogged down when they’ve never seen Linux or a command line.