DESCRIPCIÓN

Se propone al alumnado diseñar un experimento astronómico en el que se deban medir distintas variables para contrastar una hipótesis. El alumnado prepara la misión espacial elaborando un informe junto con una maqueta del telescopio orbital y sus detectores y la rutina informática de programación del telescopio orbital mediante Scratch.

REFERENCIAS

[Artículos]

Mission to Stars: un Proyecto de Investigación alrededor de la astronomía, las misiones espaciales y la investigación científica. Revista Eureka de Enseñanza y Divulgación de las Ciencias, 14 (1), 98–114. Jordi Domènech-Casal, Neus Ruiz-España. https://wp.me/p25seH-qL

Resignificación STEM y escuela. Escenas ABP desde el Itinerario Minerva. Boletín Ciencia Tecnología y Sociedad 15, 57-65 (2021). Jordi Domènech-Casal. https://wp.me/p25seH-Tu

ANDAMIOS DE APLICACIÓN

  • COL1. Formación de equipos y roles
  • CIE1. Diseño de experimentos (Pensamiento Computacional)
  • CIE2. Indagación y diseño de experimentos
  • CRE2. Dinamizadores de creatividad
  • TEC1. Diagramas de flujo (Pensamiento Computacional)
  • TEC2. Diseño Tecnológico
  • CRE1. Lluvia de ideas
  • COM3. Proyecto Tecnológico
  • CRI2. Auto y co-evaluación
  • E1. Macroestructuras y relación de ideas
  • E2. Mapa Conceptual
  • R1. KPSI
  • R2. Rúbrica

APLICACIÓN DEL PROYECTO

We’re boarding

Welcome to Mission to Stars.

Here in Earth we are in need of knowledge and ressources.

Our Solar System is becoming too small. Extra-Solar planets, asteroids, satellites, and supernovas are waiting for us. But exploring the space is expensive.

You have received instructions to design and present a proposal for a mission to ESA. You budget is limited. Your time is limited.

And there will be other teams doing their best to get the best proposal.

We’are boarding to the secrets of Universe.

Welcome to ESA

In this activity, you will work as a Scientist to build a mission to explore our Galaxy.

To do so, you will nedd to know about the place of our Galaxy in our universe and to know about the kind of missions that a Spatial Agency like ESA develops.

Task 1:

See the following video about Universe and our Galaxy.

Ressources

Task 2:

Read three news about exploratory missions from ESA and construct a vocabulary of 15 Key terms related to Universe an Spatial Missions.

Ressources:

List of articles to read:

Your Mission

Your mission is to design a Space Telescope and define which parts of our Galaxy you consider of interest to explore.

ESA proposes you several kinds of objectives and the prices of each component and requirement. It’s up to you to decide your goals and which tools do you need.

To do so, you will work on several steps, and at each step you will get a product that will help you to take decisions and plan your mission. You will work on teams and you will keep a Ship Log of your mission.

All along this project, you will elaborate and present the following products:

  • A 3D model of your Space probe constructed with paper.
  • Stellar maps showing the targets for your mission.
  • Your calculations of the price your mission will cost.
  • An oral presentation of your project.
  • The Ship Log of your mission.

At the end of the project, you will use the elaborated products to present your mission to the local Comission.

You will get a numeric index indicating how interesting is your mission. Begin by downloading the Ships Log form and commenting the process. Good luck!

The process

Organize your self to get the tasks done. The following Gantt Diagram can help you.

Ressources:

0. Your Project Team

Make teams of 4 people to design a mission. Choose a role for each of you. These are the positions:

  • Commander: Your responsibility is to promote the work of the group as a team and to assure that the Ship’s Log is kept actualized.
  • Enginer Officer: Your responsibility is to promote the construction of the 3D model of your Space Telescope and the correct calculations and selection of Detectors.
  • Communications Officer: Your responsibility is to promote all the aspects related with communication: assure that the Oral Presentation is being prepared in parallel with the project, and that the materials your team is preparing are well-presented and of good quality.
  • Navigation Officer: Your responsibility is to promote all the aspects related with localization and identification of celestial bodies and the use of emulation programs to present your mission.

Tasks

  • If you haven’t it yet, Print your Ship Log, write the names and positions of the members of your team.
  • Design a Logo for your mission.
  • Fill in and cut the ID cards of the members of the Team you will find in the Ship Log. Wear it visible during the Mission.

Step 1: Define your goals

ESA Agency has several goals of different importance. You should aim more than one goal for each Mission. In this step, you have to search for interesting candidates and decide which will be part of your mission.

Task

1.1) Search at least three goals you could attend in a single mission. Define your three goals as proposed in the Ship Log page for Step 1.1.Take in account that:

  1. You cannot repeat the kind of goal.
  2. Try to define goals relatively close, as distance makes your mission more expensive, and it penalizes your mission.

1.2) Design your experiments: Which Targets (Celestial Bodies) should you aim with your telescope and which parameters whould you measure in each case.

Ressources

  • Read at your ship’s log the list of proposed goals

Step 2: Localizing your Targets, distance calculations.

To calibrate your telescope, you have to determine its position on a map and calculate its distance.

Task

2.1) Mark on the Stellar maps available at this Step Ressources the exact position of your Targets.

2.2) Measure the distance on the map in mm and transform it to Light years by using the equivalences written on the map.

Ressources: Stellar Map of the Universe and Detailed map of the Milky Way

Step 3: Design your spacecraft and evaluate your Mission

Your Space Telescope will need to use several detectors and Solar Panels to get energy for these detectors. In this Step you will calculate the energy requirements and detectors you need, and construct a 3D model.

Tasks

  1. Read the goals you set in Step 1 and select in the Detectors and Equipment list which Detectors will need your Solar Panel.
  2. Calculate the total energy your Space Telescope will need to complete the mission and the number of Solar Panels needed.
  3. Calculate the total cost of your Space Telescope.
  4. Evaluate your Mission.To know how will the E.S.A. evaluate your Mission, calculate with the following formula:
  5. Index of your Mission = ( 300 x Value of your Mission ) – cost of your Mission.

Compare your results with those of the other teams. If you see that the Index for your Mission is too low, propose and undertake improvements. Some examples:

  • Could you get a better index by sharing goals with another mission?
  • Changing one of your goals?
  • Looking for a closer Target for one of your goals?
  • Working on just two goals instead of three?

Ressources

  • Read at your Ship’s Log the list of detectors, Equipments, and requirements

Step 4: Construct a 3D model of your Space Telescope

To present your Mission, it is important to show it as something attainable, that can be done. Showing a 3D model of your Space Telescope will make people see your mission as something probable.

Tasks

Build a 3D model of your Space Telescope. Inspire your self on real space Telescopes images and be sure you add a component for each detector. BE CREATIVE!!

Ressources

Step 5: Multimedia Data

Complete your data with visual materials of your targets to be able to do a better presentation of your mission. Choose one of the following options.

Tasks

  1. OPTION 1.-Make a digital collection of images of the targets (celestial bodies) of your mission. Include at least 8 images, collecting the following data for each image:
    1. Represented object.
    2. Kind of image (artistic representation, real image, spectral representation).
    3. Original web direction.
    4. Author (or responsible Institution).
  2. OPTION 2.-Make a video with Google Earth* where you show the targets of your mission. *Google Earth is a free, downladable program. It may present some difficulties in its usage.
  3. OPTION 3.-Make a video with Celestia* where you show the targets of your mission. *Celestia is a free, downladable program. It may present some difficulties in its usage.

Ressources

Step 6: Prepare your presentation

Use an Impress (Open Office presentations program) to prepare 5-min oral presentation on your project. You can download a Frame from the project’s WebPage.

Tasks

Your presentation must have the following sections, with the following Tittle and Contents.

1. Introduction: Who are you (0) and which are your goals (1.1).

2. Experiments: Which experiments do you want to do (1.2).

3. Mission presentation and Targets: Location of the targets. Multimedia and Distance Calculations. (2.1, 2.2, 5.1).

4. The Spatial Telescope: Detectors, Costs and 3D Model (3.1, 3.2, 4.1).

5. Evaluation and Conclusions: Calculation of the costs, Evaluation of the project (3.2, 3.3).

Ressources

Assessment

This activity will be assessed in two dimensions:

1) Individual Dimension

At the last pages of your Ship’s Log, there are grids specific to co-evaluate your day-to-day work. You have to fill it together with your team to autoevaluate and coevaluate your individual work as a part of your team.

2) Team Productions

In this activities, you will elaborate several team products that will be evaluated with the following criteria:

3D Model of your Space Telescope.

  • Using recycled materials.
  • Obtaining a final product aesthetically reproducing the shape and aspect of a real Space Telescope.
  • Incorporating devices representing each of the detectors and each of the Solar Pannels.
  • Special creative efforts (original materials, movement, scenario…).

Oral Presentation

  • Giving correctly all the needed informations.
  • Following the proposed schema and information organization. Clean and good ortography.
  • Technical level of the digital materials (Multimedia, choosen images, video,…).
  • Fluency and control in the oral exposition (not using notes, not reading from the pwpt file, pronounciation, voice…).

Ship’s Log

  • No lacking informations on your Ship’s Log, and specially en the Diary.
  • Correct presentation and scientific notations (using units, names of celectial bodies,…)
  • Correct calculations an localization of celestial bodies.
  • Good description of the undertaken improvements of the initial project.

Additional tasks

Here you will find ideas or materials for possible tasks you can include as options for advanced students.

  • Scratch Programming activity to construct the informatic program to automatize the Spatial Telescope.
  • Calc o Excel Spreadsheet using formulas to calculate the costs and the value of the project through formulas.
  • Writing a Newspaper New about their mission, including interviews to themselves as future tripulants of the mission.
  • Making a Socio-Scientific Issue debate on social implications of using budgets for astronomy instead of social services (hospitals, schools,…) (Ressources: Activitat de controversia)

Didactic Guide

Two articles about the experience are available published in Spanish:

Description

Astronomy teaching is usually performed in the frame of our Solar System. This could be a good approach 30 years ago, but the present frames of Astronomy are weel far from it. To prepare our students to understand the news about astronomic research and to adopt positions as citizens to take decisions, even in the frame of political and budgetary priorities, it is important to enlarge their knowledge on Universe.

In this activity, students work in teams that compete with each other to design their own mission, with budgetary and technical limitations. They choose their goals and design a Space Telescope to get the goals. At the end of the activity, students present their projects and the value of the mission is calculated according to budgetary and scientific parameters, selecting the best mission to be accomplished.

Goals

  • Understand how astronomic research is done, by participating in the construction of an astronomy research project.
  • Learning the main parts an components of the Universe (Andromeda, Orion arm, Milky Way…) and being able to localize them.
  • Developing high-order Scientific Skills as experiment designing, planification and scientific communication.
  • Measuring distances, calculating scales and units conversion.
  • Presenting a project in digital an oral formats.
  • Constructing Multimedia representations of astronomic celestial bodies.
  • Constructing physical representations of complex objects.
  • Working in teams in a collaborative and competitive environment.
  • Organizing their own work with the help of a Gantt diagram.

Class Organization

  • At the beginning of the activity, badges are elaborated by students. Wearing the badges during the activity is a gamification key that promotes their implication in the project.
  • Respect the roles: at the beginning, roles ares distributed among team members. Use the roles to help the teams and make visible to students you are using it. Call the commanders and give them instructions. Call the Engineer Officers and clarify their doubts on calculations. And so on.
  • It is important to allow them to organize their work, and to teach them to work with the Gantt diagram in order to make them able to construct their own diagrams in future projects.
  • Make sure that at the beginning of the class students have a clear idea of what they want to get of the session and how to do it. Let some minutes at the end of the class
  • Be available for your students, but don’t solve their problems. When they ask you a question, reformulate their question in order to help them arrive to their own conclusions.
  • During the activity, students need to use the computer. Be sure they have a clear idea of what they want to do before switching on the computer, as attention dispersion could happens.
  • The complete didactic sequence can take 12 sessions o 1 hour. If possible, use 2h-length sessions rather than 1h.

Hints and ideas for further development

Sequence allows easy modifications by:

  • Changing the number of research goals.
  • Including new goals and detectors.
  • Including cooperation dynamics (i.e. changing temporally or definitively a member of a team to another team as as visiting scientist, or allowing two teams to construct a consortium).
  • Including aleatory factors (accidents, supplementary costs, unexpected discoverings…) to increase the Gamification dimension of the activity.
  • Including new tasks in the didactic sequence (Additional tasks)

Important Notices

It is important to make students understand that a Space Telescope is not a Spaceship that needs to arrive near to its targets to get information, and that the extension of universe and the physics limitations makes impossible to explore directly some interesting parts of our galaxy. News from Solar System missions could make them believe that it is currently possible to send ships outside the Solar System.

This activity is not constructed nor approved by ESA, and we are using its name in order to create a relevant context for our students, an at the same time making them know about the European Spatial Agency. Data from this activity (Research Goals, Detector prices,…) are invented taking as a depart real goals and prices.