0BUbD Lesson Plan
Lesson Title: Telescope History, Technology, Grade Level(s): 10/11/12 (College
& OpticsPrep or Honors)
Subject/Topic Area:Astronomy
Key Words:Telescope, Optics, Lenses, Reflection, Refraction, Mirrors, Galileo, Newton, Huygens, Kepler
Designed by:Don RhineTime frame: Ten68 min periods
School District: TyngsboroughSchool: TyngsboroughHigh School
1BStage 1 – Identify Desired Results
Established Goals:
Mass. Science & Technology/Engineering Curriculum Framework (S&T/E)/National Standards:- Light travels in a straight line until it strikes an object. Light can be reflected by a mirror, refracted by a lens, or absorbed by the object. NAS NSES pg 127
- History and the nature of science
- Scientific inquiry
5B What essential questions will be considered?
/4B What understandings are desired?
- How do telescopes work?
- How did scientists develop the telescope?
- What happens to light as it travels through space and strikes objects
- there are different types of telescopes: two major categories are refractors and reflectors.
- the use of optical devices that interact with light is at the heart of a telescope.
- Different telescope technologies have advantages and disadvantages
- telescope technology rapidly developed after it was initially invented at the beginning of the 17th c.
What key knowledge and skills will students acquire as a result of this lesson?
Students will know... / Students will be able to...- that light (photons) from distant objects can be modeled as nearly parallel rays
- the basic principles of a telescope and how the human eye interacts with the telescope
- How to design, build, and test a simple telescope
- the early developmental history of the telescope
- the difference between refractor and reflector telescopes
- Draw ray diagrams for various types of optical devices (converging and diverging lenses and mirrors, plane mirrors, prisms)
- Design a Galilean/Keplerian telescope using their knowledge of optics
- Identify the major components of telescopes
- describe how basic reflector and refractor telescopes work
2BStage 2 – Determine Acceptable Evidence
What evidence will show that students understand?
Performance Tasks:- Correctly and accurately draw ray diagrams for different lenses and mirrors (laws of reflection and refraction) – in class worksheet and a quiz
- Take notes with supporting diagrams on assigned technology history reading assignments (homework checks)
- Understand, analyze, and communicate the roles and discoveries of key historical figures (short essay question and multiple choice quiz)
What other evidence needs to be collected in light of the desired results?
Other Evidence:- Design, build, and test a working telescope. Teacher observations and short project report.
Student Self-Assessment and Reflection:
- Students will have the opportunity to check their homework answers (Worksheets D & E) and discuss their results.
3BStage 3 – Plan Learning Experiences
WHERETO
What sequence of teaching and learning experiences will equip students to engage with, develop, and demonstrate the desired understandings? List key teaching and learning activities in sequence.
Link to HUteacher resource pageUH(worksheets, this lesson plan, video clips, and other on-line resources). ( read password = itop)Timing: Start this project at the beginning of Week 2 in the course (after introduction to course scope, ancient history of astronomy complete, and introduction to the night sky complete)
Day 1:
- Lecture/Discussion: Introduce light, photons, and distant and close light sources, intensity, parallel ray nature of distant light sources.
- Demo: Use light meter and point source bulb to demonstrate 1/r2 relationship to intensity
- Discuss start magnitude ranking system (light intensity)
- Assign homework based on topics above
- Review intensity homework.
- Discuss/Lecture: (intro to reflection)
- What happens to the rays of light as they strike objects?
- Specular vs. diffuse reflection?
- Law of reflection
- Class demo: various diffuse/specular reflection demos
- Assign intro hw on reflection, Hewitt Practice Page 29-1
- Review intro reflection homework.
- Discuss/Lecture/Integrated demo: (intro to refraction)
- What happens to the rays of light as they strike objects that allow some or all of the light to pass through?
- Demo different angles for a single material (low n into high n)
- Keep angle constant and swap in higher n materials
- Demo prism
- Demo total internal reflection (fish tank, etc)
- Hw: Hewitt Practice Page 29-3
- Review intro refraction hw.
- Continue Discuss/Lecture/Integrated demo: (intro to refraction)
- Work on Hewitt Practice Page 29-4 in small groups, then discuss results
- Demonstrate concepts of rays using laser/split beam light source
- Demonstrate ray tracing concept
- Introduce prism, trapezoidal, and rectangular shapes that will be used next time to create lenses, practice simple ray tracing using graph paper, ruler, protractor
- Hw: Ray tracing exercise
- Review 2nd refraction hw.
- Discuss/Lecture/Integrated demo: (converging & diverging lenses)
- Show how to stack shapes to form general lens shapes
- Practice ray tracing – allow students to discover convergent/divergent lens shapes
- Demo Duffy’s optics workbench, have students experiment
- Assign HW Hewitt w/s 30-1
- 2ndday of class:
- Review Day 1 topic: concept of parallel rays
- Discuss limitation of human eyesight and brainstorm method to improve ability to see dim object (make them brighter) and magnify
- Develop idea that a telescope is a black box that take in many more parallel rays than the human eye concentrates them in parallel rays to fit into the eyes pupil (or to a camera aperture)
- Discuss idea that a camera is similar to the eye, but has the ability to “store” the images over a long period of time (discuss different methods)
- Assign HW Hewitt W/S 30-2
- Have student go back to the optics workbench to find a solution for the “telescope black box” (homework assignment)
- Review hw from Day 6
- Quiz: Ray Tracing with lenses and prisms
- Discuss Lippershey and Galileo (assign reading for homework and include Kepler reading as well)
- Compare their solutions to Galileo’s
- Review hw: Discuss Lippershey, Galileo, and Kepler
- Discuss Galileo’s major discoveries
- Plan project: building Galilean telescope
- Show students materials, have them experimentally work out focal lengths and appropriate spacing. Give students materials a week to build at home
- Assign reading on Newton and his invention of the reflection telescope
- Check status of progress on homemade telescope project
- Discuss development of larger and larger refractor telescopes
- Discuss technical limitations (spherical and chromatic aberration, unwieldy lengths, quality of grinding lenses
- Discuss Newton’s innovation – mirror as primary collector
- Demonstrate typical configuration of reflector telescope (take apart Rhine’s large scope, show how to collimate, adjust secondary mirror, objective lenses)
- Discuss limitations of Newton’s design, contrast with refractor
- Assign history reading & essay: competitive race between refractor and reflector telescopes in the 18th and 19th centuries
- Check status of progress on the homemade telescope project
- Discuss homework assignment
- Discuss plans for completing homemade telescope project
- Discuss how to use the homemade telescope replicate Galileo’s observations, then have student develop a test and observation plan for homework
- Spherical aberration – how do you minimize or eliminate? Space elevators