Lesson Plan: Stars and Galaxies Science
This lesson plan includes the objectives and exclusions of the lesson teaching students how to use the light-year as a measure of the distances between stars in the Milky Way.
Objectives
Students will be able to
- understand that stars are very large, very hot objects that are very far away,
- understand that a light-year is a unit used to measure astronomical distances,
- know the length of a light-year in kilometers,
- understand that there are billions of stars in a galaxy,
- know that our galaxy is called the Milky Way,
- understand that the Milky Way has a spiral shape,
- know the major types of optical telescope,
- understand that the Sun takes several hundred million years to orbit the center of the Milky Way,
- know that the solar system is located in one of the spiral arms of the Milky Way,
- know the definition of a light-year as the distance traveled by a beam of light in one year.
Exclusions
Students will not cover
- the names of any galaxies other than the Milky Way,
- the shape of, size of, or distance to any other galaxies,
- converting distance values between light-years and other units,
- any other astronomical distance units, like the AU and the parsec,
- the interior workings of telescopes,
- mirrors or lenses,
- reflection or refraction diagrams.
