Information for Educators

1. "What is Your Cosmic Connection to the Elements?" Poster and Information Booklet - We're pleased to announce the latest addition to our series of posters and information/activity booklets. These materials trace the cosmic origins of the chemical elements. Astronomy topics include the big bang, life cycles of stars, supernovae, cosmic rays, and the chemical compoisition of the universe. Physics topics include fusion and physical principles important in stellar evolution. Chemistry teachers fll find information connecting the elements with their cosmic origins. The booklet is complete with 8 classroom activities which use a variety of techniques to re-inforce the material.
   Check out the Cosmic Elements page for online versions of the poster and booklet, the power point presentation of our workshop, and a link to our order form.

2. Updated Worskhop Presentations - Having given our educator workshops a few times now, we've gone back and updated each of power point workshop presentations. There new graphics, expansion on some topics and simplification on others. Teachers are free to use these presentations (or portions of them) in their classes.
   Look for updated presentations for Life Cycles of Stars, Anatomy of Black Holes, and Hidden Lives of Galaxies.

3. New Lesson Plan: How Far ... How Powerful - We're proud to introduce a new lesson plan on gamma ray bursts, in which students use data from the Keck-II telescope. Students are led through a series of experiments in which they learn about the 1/r² fall-off of light, Hubble's Law, the Doppler shift, and spectral lines. Students determine the distance to the optical counterpart of a gamma ray burst, and compute the total power of the burst. They then compare this power with energetic events closer to home.

   Check out How Far ... How Powerful in our collection of lesson plans.

Where You Can See Us in the Near Future

• The Annual Convention of the NationalScience Teachers Association (http://www.nsta.org/conventiondetail&Meeting_Code=2005DAL), March 31 - April 3, 2005, Dallas, Texas. We'll be doing a number of presentations and workshops. In addition, our Educator Ambassadors, Cheryl Neimela and Marie Pool, will also be presenting some of our workshops:
  • Thurs, March 31, 8 AM, "Exploring the Hot Universe with the Coolest Instrument in Orbit," presented with Marie Pool.
  • Friday, April 1, 11 AM, "The Hidden Lives of Galaxies," presented by Cheryl Neimela
  • Saturday, April 2, 8 AM, "Your Cosmic Connection to the Elements," presented by Cheryl Neimela
  • Saturday, April 2, 9:30 AM, "HERA: NASA Data Analysis in Your Classroom"
  • Saturday, April 2, 2 PM, "Beyond Einstein: From the Big Bang to Black Holes"