Lesson Plan: Types of Galaxies Physics
This lesson plan includes the objectives, prerequisites, and exclusions of the lesson teaching students how to classify galaxies based on their shapes and the prominence of their features.
Objectives
Students will be able to
- identify and describe spiral, barred spiral, elliptical, irregular, and ring galaxies,
- know that spiral galaxies are the largest type of galaxy on average,
- know that irregular galaxies are the smallest type of galaxy on average,
- identify whether one galaxy has greater or lesser ellipticity than another,
- identify whether one galaxy has a more or less prominent bar than another.
Prerequisites
Students should already be familiar with
- what galaxies are.
Exclusions
Students will not cover
- how galaxies form,
- supermassive black holes,
- galaxy rotation curves,
- dark matter,
- dark energy,
- antimatter galaxies,
- stellar populations,
- star-forming regions.