Developing the "Multiwavelength Astronomy: Galaxies in a Different Light" Activity

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Developing the "Multiwavelength Astronomy
Galaxies in a Different Light" Activity
Mary Kay Hemenway, Shardha Jogee, Kyle Fricke,
and Randi Worhatch (University of Texas at
Austin), and Laurie Ruberg (Wheeling Jesuit
University, Center for Education Technologies)

• Goal
• To produce a series of activities for high school
  students that
• will be related to the science PI's research
• are linked to standards
• are engaging for high school students at several
  levels and varying abilities

"Multiwavelength Astronomy" is designed to lead
high school students to an understanding of how
astronomers use different wavelengths to learn
about the nature of galaxies. In developing the
activity we followed guidelines from the
NASA-funded Virtual Design Center created by the
Center for Educational Technologies at Wheeling
Jesuit University. With the project rationale and
standards-alignment analysis completed, we
surveyed high school students from several
classes about their understanding of and interest
in topics related to galaxy research. Their
responses, and later pilot tests with secondary
teachers and students, informed the development
team's efforts. Among the topics are the
electromagnetic spectrum, false-color imaging,
image resolution, Wien's law, and galaxy
morphology. These were chosen to serve as
pre-requisites for future analysis activities
that involve students using data sets from the
HST Advanced Camera for Surveys, from the Galaxy
Evolution, Morphology and SEDs (GEMS) survey, one
of the widest-area galaxy surveys conducted in
two filters with HST to date, as well as data
from other observatories. Our description of the
development process will illustrate how we
structured activities to move from introductory,
hands-on sorting of images (in this activity) to
computer intensive and conceptually challenging
activities (future) with the design goal of
incrementally increasing student conceptual
learning. Products for this activity include
student and teacher guides, series of images in
different wavelengths, a PowerPoint presentation,
and sample materials for student assessment and
evaluation of the activities. Support from NASA
grants NAG5-13063 and NNG-06GB99G and NSF grant
AST- 0607748 is gratefully acknowledged.
Planned sequence of activities
Visual image classification of galaxies (Introduce
galaxy sorting by types in visual
wavelengths) Multi-wavelength inspection of
galaxies (Respond to survey results - interest in
wavelengths other than visual) THIS
ACTIVITY Stellar evolution (Scaffold step needed
to understand why different types of galaxies
have different types of stars this includes a
fair amount of physics.) Far, far away (Use the
Galaxies and Cosmos Explorer Tool (GCET) to
examine very distant galaxies. GCET uses an
Internet interface.) Long, long ago (Redshift is
a time label that indicates age of the universe
when the light left the galaxy. Compare and
contrast galaxies over time using GCET.)
Students pilot test the activity

• Important Concepts
• of the Activity
• Astronomers use data from many regions of the
  EM-spectrum.
• False color images make information at
  "invisible" wavelengths easy to view at a glance.
• Different detectors result in different
  resolutions, similar to different pixel sizes.
• Everything emits radiation - Wien's law.
• Different types of celestial objects emit
  different types of radiation.
• Telescope/instrument capabilities vary in
  capacity to receive wavelengths, field of view,
  and resolution.
• Pilot Testing Results
• Changed galaxy cards to be negatives - easier to
  notice details AND less toner needed to make
  copies.
• Changed galaxy cards to be all the same size.
• Added information on cards about the telescopes
  used and provided data sheets about the
  telescopes based on student interest.
• Added "coloring" exercise on resolution (surveys
  show positive student response).
• Expanded activity beyond sorting to include
  reflection on making choices.
• Added expert interpretation of sample images to
  provide examples of scientific reasoning for the
  sorting exercise.
• Restructured this activity to be "low tech"
  using paper cards easily duplicated at teacher
  request when classroom computers are not
  available.
• Expanded accompanying PowerPoint that shows
  color images of galaxies in different wavelength
  regions.

• Virtual Design Center (VDC) Principles
• Designers should enhance learners problem
  solving skills.
• Research question should pique learners'
  curiosity.
• Research question should spark learners' ideas
  about possible answers.
• Designers should offer learners choices as
  learners conduct investigations.
• Designers should provide support by fostering
  multiple abilities.
• Designers should provide support by promoting
  self-regulated learning.
• Designers should encourage team work.
• Designers should provide scaffolding to learners.
  
• Designers should help learners justify their
  solutions through argumentation
• Assessment should be designed to examine and
  foster inquiry and understanding.

Materials for Multiwavelenth Astronomy Above
galaxies in different wavelengths study
guide Below exercise in pixels and false colors

• Interactions with VDC
• Initial meeting at 2006 ASP conference
• Requested facilitation, October 2006
• Telecoms in October, November, December
• Written comments from VDC in January 2007
• Meeting at AAS Seattle meeting, January 2007
• Telecom in April 2007 (after final pilot test)
• Materials submitted to the VDC for review at
  several stages of the project included original
  EPO proposal for the project, the results of the
  student surveys, copies of the activity in
  progressive stages.
• Advice helped the development team focus on
  objectives and ways to increase student learning.
  The big change from prior activity development
  was initiating a procedure to test and refine the
  investigation question before we started writing
  the activity. Student interest in
  multi-wavelength observations and technologies
  drove the team to insert this activity as part of
  the scaffolding to prepare students for the
  Galaxies and Cosmos Explorer Tool.

• VDC Steps
• project rationale
• standards alignment
• investigation question
• assessment
• best practices
• learning technology

• Procedure
• Receive EPO award for development of high school
  astronomy activity that uses state-of-the-art
  research results on galaxies.
• Seek advice from VDC facilitators.
• Align with standards.
• Survey audience to find out what they know and
  what they are interested in. (Simple questions,
  open-ended answers - categories such as bored,
  liked a little, liked a lot.) 29 physics, 14 AP
  physics, 7 astronomy students Sept 2006.
• Use survey results to develop materials.
• Pilot test the materials with teachers December
  2006 and with target audiences of students
  January 2007 and April 2007.
• Revise after each pilot test.

For more information about working with the
Virtual Design Center http//vdc.cet.edu For
copies of the activity, contact Mary Kay Hemenway
at marykay_at_astro.as.utexas.edu For more
information about GCET http//www.as.utexas.edu/g
cet/