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Aurora Science

Brief Description  In this class you will develop curriculum elements to have ready for your students when aurora occur in the sky or you hear about them as television or radio news stories. The course will discuss what aurora are, what causes them, how we know what we know about them, and what affect they have on man in the present and the past.

Aurora Science course objective The goal of this class is to educate teachers so they can understand and explain to their students and others what aurora are, why they occur, how we have learned what we know about the aurora and what affect they have had on man in the past and the present.

Concept

  • Instructor will develop and deliver Alaska aerospace-related curriculum topics for K-12 teachers in one-credit-hour modules.
  • For five of the fifteen contact hours students will participate in hands-on instruction activities and approporiate field trip.
  • Final grade will be based on development of appropriate curriculum elements that teachers can use in their classrooms.
Course content syllabus
Day 1 (3 hours)
  • Presentation of overview of the topics covered in the course. Describe grading system: student's grades will be based on curriculum elements that they develop for their own use.  0.5 hours
  • Introduction to the aurora through slides and narration. Instructor will provide narration for a set of pictures.  1.0 hours
  • Discussion: how do we know what we know about the aurora?
    Review of information gathered from written and verbally transmitted records that span man's recorded history. How aurora were interpreted by people before the use of current scientific research methods. Aurora as recorded in oral legends, prose and poetry, woodcuts, drawings, paintings and photography.  1.5 hours
Day 2 (3 hours)
  • How exploration of the arctic inspired more recent research of the aurora.  1.0 hour
  • The role of photography in revealing the height, occurrence, source and excitation of light from the aurora. This includes discussion of commonly seen electric discharge light sources, and the use of cameras and spectrographs to study the light of the aurora.  2.0 hours
Day 3 (3 hours)
  • How aurora affected navigation by compass and telephone and telegraph lines toward the end of the last century. Discuss simple hands-on demonstrations that students can build and use to see the effect of electric current on the orientation of a compass needle.  1.5 hours
  • How aurora disrupts radio and radar systems, and how research in this area has led to our current understanding of the effects of how weather on our sun affects the outer layers of the earth's atmosphere.  1.0 hour
  • How studies of the motions of the first satellites to orbit the earth further helped us understand solar weather and its affects on the earth's atmosphere, including aurora.  0.5 hour
Day 4 (3 hours)
  • How instruments aboard satellites and rockets have been used to learn about the aurora.  1.0 hour
  • Why do scientists continue to study the aurora? What are its greatest mysteries? What effects do aurora have on today's technologies?   2.0 hours
Day 5 (3 hours)
  • During the last forty years, how have scientists at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute played a major role in auroral research. Why that work led the Geophysical Institute to establish the only rocket range in the world owned and operated by a university to study the aurora in 1969. The instructor will give a slide presentation about the operation of Poker Flat. What has been learned about the aurora from Poker Flat? why and how is it becoming perhaps the best place on earth to study the aurora?
  • Teaching practicum with middle school student volunteers.  3.0 hours
Student evaluations
  • Each student will be asked to write and submit to the instructor for grade a one-page paper describing two curriculum elements they could use in their own classrooms. This paper must be submitted within one week after the last day of class.
Texts and Materials:
Aurora Borealis: The Amazing Northern Lights by Dr. Syun-Ichi Akasofu. You can purchase this book by Clicking Here!
The Aurora Watchers Handbook by Dr. T. Neil Davis
The Aurora Explained (30 min. video) by Dan Osborne, Neal Brown & Tom Hallinan
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Rocket Science

Brief Description  Team-build a high-power model rocket and launch it at Poker Flat Research Range. Take the knowledge of how rockets work and how they are used to study the aurora back into your K-12 classrooms

Rocket Science course objective The goals of this course are to introduce model rocketry to teachers as a method of studying physics and developing skills of experimental observation. We will study the basic concepts of stability, component placement, drag, propulsion, recovery systems and experimentally measure stability and drag. Teacher teams will build and launch their own high-power model rocket. Concept

  • Instructor will develop and deliver Alaska aerospace-related curriculum topics for K-12 teachers in one-credit hour modules.
  • For five of the fifteen contact hours students will participate in hands-on instruction activities.
  • Final grade will be based on development of appropriate curriculum elements that teachers can use in their own classrooms.
Course content syllabus
Day 1 (3 hours)
  • Describe grading system: student's grades will be based on curriculum elements that they develop for their own use.
  • Lecture and present demonstrations to introduce principles of mass conservation and forces in rocketry. Video of shuttle launch forces.
  • Construct and launch individual model rockets.
Day 2 (3 hours)
  • Lecture and discuss aerodynamic drag forces.
  • Demonstrate computer programs to predict flight performance of model rockets.
  • Review principles covered in Day 1 and apply these principles to the launch and flight of two-liter pop-bottle rockers. Construct, launch, and quantitatively measure thrust performance of two-liter pop-bottle water rockets.
  • Start construction of team-built high-power model rockets.
Day 3 (3 hours)
  • Lecture on chemistry and physical configuration design of solid propellant rocket motors.
  • Lecture and direct hands-on work with model rocket electrical ignition and launch safety systems.
Day 4 (3 hours)
  • One-hour computer lab for students to learn how to use model-rocket computer software for flight performance prediction, stability, launch facility set-up and determination of height of apogee.
  • Lecture on rocket motors and physical payload structures actually used at Poker Flat Research Range.
  • Describe how scientists coming to Poker Flat Research Range use scientific experiments aboard sounding rocket payloads to study the aurora.
  • Complete construction of high-power model rockets.
Day 5 (3 hours)
  • Teaching practicum with middle school student volunteers.
  • Launch team-built, high-power model rockets.
Student Evaluations:
  • Each student will be asked to write and submit to the instructor for a grade a one-page paper describing two curriculum elements they could use in their own classrooms. This paper must be submitted within one week after the last day of class.
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Remote Mapping Science

Brief Description  Team-build kite borne systems to photograph local terrain and then interpret the results. Learn about air and satellite borne imaging systems including radar and how they are used to study the arctic. Develop a curriculum module of your own!

Remote Mapping Science course objective  The goals of this course are to introduce remote mapping to teachers as a method of studying science and developing skills of experimental observation. We will study the basic concepts of remote sensing using acoustical, photographic and radar technologies to map terrain and learn how to inerpret the resulting data and produce useful maps. Concept

  • Instructor will develop and deliver Alaska aerospace-related curriculum topics for K-12 teachers in one-credit hour modules.
  • For five of the fifteen contact hours students will participate in hands-on instruction activities.
  • Final grade will be based on development of appropriate curriculum elements that teachers can use in their own classrooms.
Course content syllabus
Day 1 (3 hours)
  • Describe grading system: student's grades will be based on curriculum elements that they develop for their own use.
  • Introduce principles of remote sensing technologies such as acoustical, photographic and radar.
  • Discuss synthetic aperature radar mapping systems as used on spacecraft to study Venus and Earth.
  • Carry out contour map excercise for line-of-sight radio antenna system.
Day 2 (3 hours)
  • Finding true north by shadow casting. Discuss latitude, longitude and time.
  • Hand out photocopies of kite borne aerial photography systems.
  • Ten minute video of computer simulation of 747 aircraft flying into volcanic ash cloud from Mt. Redoubt, Alaska.
Day 3 (3 hours)
  • Invited scientist lecture-such as impact of volcanic ash clouds on commercial air traffic.
Day 4 (3 hours)
  • Ways to describe legal land boundaries on a round earth.
  • Aerial photography-simulate or take actual pictures and interpret.
Day 5 (3 hours)
  • Finding our way by correlating geographical features on maps and photographs.
  • Teaching practicums with middle school volunteers.
Student Evaluations: