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December 2009

Volume 8, Issue 1, Articles (01xxxx)

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Bill Gates’ Great-Great-Granddaughter’s Honeymoon: An Astronomy Activity for Several Different Age Groups

Andrew Fraknoi

2009, AER, 8 (1), 010201, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.3847/AER2009007

Online Publication Date: 06 April 2009

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When students finish a unit or course on the planets these days, they are often overwhelmed with facts, comparisons, and images. A good culminating activity, to help them organize their thinking (and review), is to have them divide into small groups (travel agencies) and come up with their top ten solar system “tourist sights” for future space vacationers, complete with images. The history of the activity and its variants, and resources to help instructors and students, are reviewed.
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01.40.ek Secondary school
01.40.-d Education
96.00.00 Solar system; planetology
01.40.Di Course design and evaluation
01.50.Pa Laboratory experiments and apparatus
01.40.gb Teaching methods and strategies
01.50.Qb Laboratory course design, organization, and evaluation

The “Box Universe” of 1 m3: An Activity for Introduction to the Study of Astronomy

Marcos Daniel Longhini

2009, AER, 8 (1), 010202, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.3847/AER2009022

Online Publication Date: 22 July 2009

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This is a report of an activity of introduction to the study of astronomy developed with a group of future physics teachers at a Brazilian public university. Such activity had the goal of giving privileged emphasis to notions of spatiality, alternative conceptions of the participants, and the process of interaction among peers, with the objective of encouraging discussions in regard to their models of the universe. Such models were made explicit from the distribution of the stars throughout the universe, which were constructed from clippings of paper and inserted into the box which represented the universe. The results, which were categorized as miscellaneous, geocentric, heliocentric, and acentric models of the universe, were qualitatively analyzed. Analyses of the activity in the perspective of the participants are indicated and additional considerations are made regarding its use as a resource for teaching astronomy and for teacher training.
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01.40.-d Education
01.40.Fk Research in physics education
01.40.J- Teacher training

A Simple Demonstration of Absorption Spectra Using Tungsten Holiday Lights

Jennifer J. Birriel

2009, AER, 8 (1), 010203, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.3847/AER2009045

Online Publication Date: 07 August 2009

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In a previous paper submitted to the Demonstrations section (Birriel 2008, Astronomy Education Review, 7, 147), I discussed using commercially available incandescent light bulbs for the purpose of demonstrating absorption spectra in the classroom or laboratory. This demonstration solved a long-standing problem that many of astronomy instructors face trying to demonstrate how astronomical objects, such as stars, exhibit absorption spectra. In this paper, I briefly describe using a strand of tungsten holiday lights to demonstrate absorption spectra and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using a holiday light strand versus the previously discussed, full-sized incandescent light bulbs.
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01.40.-d Education
71.35.Cc Intrinsic properties of excitons; optical absorption spectra
01.50.My Demonstration experiments and apparatus
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