thomasblack holes 5-9-08-Project Summary Write-up

Choose only one answer space trap singularity event horizon gravitational ghost 5 When a star emits X-rays while circling an invisible compact object, astronomers can calculate the mas

Cathi Thomas WeExcel-UD/WSU

Black Holes- Black Holes: The Ultimate Abyss Discovery Channel

School-(Unitedstreaming: http://streaming.discoveryeducation.com/ )

This lesson was modified for use in a CD resource room located in a high school with a high poverty rate Students in the class read at a k-4 grade level

Standards hit upon were: Grade 9-Ohio 1 Explain how stars and other celestial objects provide information about the processes that cause changes in composition and scale of the universe

We began the lesson with a pretest to see what the students knew about black holes (Without the answers of course!)

1 To detect black holes, astronomers look for _ (Choose only one answer)

ultraviolet radiation they emit

objects falling out of space-time

nuclear reactions at their centers

stars circling massive compact objects

2 Astronomers theorize that when our sun runs out of nuclear fuel, it will become a _ (Choose only one answer)

black hole

neutron star

white dwarf

frozen planet

3 According to Einstein's theory of gravity, why does the earth revolve around the sun? (Choose only one answer)

The earth travels along a curvature of space-time

The earth is pulled by the sun's enormous mass

The earth is pulled through space by a magnetic field

The earth is moved by the heat of the sun's nuclear reactions

4 The place deep within a black hole, where everything is destroyed, is called the _ (Choose only one answer)

space trap

singularity

event horizon

gravitational ghost

5 When a star emits X-rays while circling an invisible compact object, astronomers can calculate the mass of the compact object by measuring the _ (Choose only one answer)

speed of the star

density of the star

intensity of X-rays emitted

frequency of X-rays emitted

6

Theory suggests that if you could get close to the center of a stellar-mass black hole, you may be converted into something like a _ (Choose only one

answer)

cube of ice

ball of wax

doughnut ring

string of spaghetti

7 To zoom from one galaxy to another faster than the speed of light, some

astrophysicists have proposed that we need to _ (Choose only one answer)

squeeze the time dimension of space-time

make worm holes that connect black holes

build a spaceship that can travel faster than light

find the entry and exit points of parallel universes

8 Astronomers suspect that the strongest radio signals from the hearts of distant galaxies are coming from _ black holes releasing jets of energized particles

(Choose only one answer)

micro

mini

stellar-mass

supermassive

We then watched a video downloaded from United Streaming :

(http://streaming.discoveryeducation.com/ ) called, “Black Holes, the Ultimate Abyss”

It was a total of 51 minutes long After the 1st and 2nd part, we had a class discussion asking the following:

1

1 Describe how a black hole is formed from the time a massive star begins its collapse We discussed, as we saw in the movie, that first there was a huge explosion, followed by huge implosion and then an incredible concentration of mass What was previously the size of 10

of our suns is now the size of Washington D C We discussed prior lab with the sun and showing how many earths we could line across it Then we drew the pinpoint on just one of those earths representing something the size of Washington DC

1 2 Describe the steps involved in determining the mass of a black hole What do you have to measure or observe in order to estimate the mass? We discussed that when scientists see a star orbiting an

invisible object, we determine this objects mass by how fast the start is orbiting it This was reiterated at the white board with a drawing

2 3 If you were observing a probe entering the event horizon of a black hole, you would see it “hovering for an eternity and destroyed in an instant.” Discuss the meaning of this phrase as it applies to conditions near a black hole We discussed how the “Event Horizon” is the point

of no return The concept of hovering for an eternity and being

destroyed in an instant was one that we had a very hard time grasping.

Discussed here was also singularity with is the destruction of

everything, deep in the center of a black hole

3 4 Discuss Einstein’s theory of gravity and the curvature of space time

We discussed what we saw in the video and compared it to stretching out a sheet and putting a basketball, representing the sun, in the middle, while at the same time adding the other smaller planets, for example, tennis balls, marbles, etc What happened? They all fall toward the larger massed item, that being the sun

Project: Divide class into 3 groups of 4, giving each a different kind of black hole to research Group one did Stellar Mass black holes Group 2 did Super Mass black holes and group 3 did mini black holes

They were assessed on the research project using the following rubrics:

Use the following three-point rubric to evaluate students' work during this lesson

1 • 3 points: report well-researched, information clearly and logically organized, presentation interesting and lively

2 • 2 points: report adequately researched, information sufficiently organized, presentation dull

3 • 1 point: report insufficiently researched, information inadequately organized, presentation poorly prepared

After project was completed, we had our final exam This was basically the same test the students were given at the beginning, however, there were modifications made in the vocabulary of the test Substitutions were made For example, “emitting gases” was changed to “spitting out gases” and “scientists theorized” to “scientists think” and “when

our sun runs out of nuclear fuel to” “when our sun burns out” Here is how it looked retyped:

4

Discovery Education Streaming Name:

_

Circle the best answer

1. To find black holes, astronomers look for _

Ultraviolet radiation they spit out

Objects falling out of space and time

Nuclear reactions at their centers

Stars circling huge invisible objects

2. Astronomers think that when our sun burns out, if will become a _

Black hole

Neutron star

White dwarf

Frozen planet

3 According to Einstein’s theory of gravity, why does the earth revolve around the sun?

The earth travels along a curvature of space time

The earth is pulled by the suns gravity

The earth is pulled through space by a magnetic field

The earth is moved by the heat of the sun

4. The place deep within a black hole, where everything is destroyed, is called the _ Space trap

Singularity

Even Horizon

Gravitational Ghost

5. When a star is circling an invisible object, astronomers can find the mass of the invisible object by measuring the _

Speed of the star

Density of the star

Intensity of x-rays

Frequency of X-rays

6 If you get close to the center of a stellar-mass black hole, you may be changed into something like a _

Cube of ice

Ball of wax

Doughnut ring

String of spaghetti

7 To zoom from one galaxy to another, faster than the speed of light, some scientists have said we need to _

Squeezed the time dimension

Make worm holes that connect black holes

Build a spaceship that can travel faster than the speed of light

find where you enter and leave a universe

8. Astronomers suspect that the strongest radio signals from distant galaxies are coming from _black holes releasing jets of gas

Micro

Mini

Stellar-Mass

Supermassive

9. The point near the black hole where you cannot turn back is the

Act of accretion

Gas

Event Horizon

Space Trap

Modifications made:

Simplified questions for example:

2 Astronomers theorize that when our sun runs out of nuclear fuel, it will become a To

2 Astronomers think that when our sun burns out, if will become a _

Data: (Names were changed)

Ms Smith Science-2nd Block

Student Pretest Grade Final Test Grade Increase

Sue 38 75 37

* Not

included

in totals

Students’ grades improved vastly This also is reiterated in discussions

As for the research, all of the sites were way above their reading level They ended up just basically copying down whatever site they had, not being able to scan the site for exactly what was needed So, what we have now are 3 charts of summaries that the students have made, but these charts have words that they cannot read, let alone, words that they can understand

A venn diagram was to be made of the similiarities and differences of 3 different types of black holes They were able to get a few of these and the Venn diagram will be made this week Thus, more time is needed for this project and not the 2 class periods the lesson plan from United Streaming said we would need I did think the research task would be easier on the students if more charts or graphs were found in the research but this didn’t happen, so they were left on their own to seek out information that was

needed I also tried to find sites that were high interest/low readability, but didn’t find enough (However, A to Z reading is in the process of setting up sites for science for hi/lo reading.) I had them print out their sites and then I had them highlight the main facts that pertained to we needed, i.e., facts from each black hole that we could easily put into a Venn diagram

There are learning moments in copying information There is a chance to put

hand/eye coordination to work And hopefully when they were writing the words down they recognized parts of words

The pretest, the movie, the discussion, the research and the poster making all together took 3 blocks which was more than my Excel assignment was supposed to take It will take another partial block period to have students present their posters and create a Venn

diagram as a class Problems, for example, were: if the student was looking up mini black holes, he would find the site okay, but was not able to scan the site to find the info

on mini black holes alone He or she would just start writing anything they see on the site

I did get some great pictures from the students Some that were reluctant to draw where more confident when I told them that every picture we see of a black hole is just an artist’s rendering To make this go better next time, I will work one-on-one

with each student during roc (studyhall) to show them how to scan websites for what they need

The below is a copy of the actual lesson plan:

This is a lesson plan from “United Streaming” (Discovery

Education, 2004) with some activities modified or deleted for use in a high school resource for students with a

cognitive delay For full lesson plan as given by Discovery Education, please go to:

http://streaming.discoveryeducation.com/videos/21399/D9D DB615-9B20-5CA7-C60629FE323A428E.pdf

Onscreen Activities

Segment 2, Black Holes, The Ultimate Abyss: Part 2

1 • Pre-viewing: With your classmates, speculate on what might happen

if you fell into a black hole What about a wormhole? As you watch the documentary, keep track of the black hole and wormhole theories that are proposed and the evidence used to support them How different are they from your ideas?

2 • Post-viewing: According to the documentary, a wormhole is a

theoretical tunnel connecting two black holes This would provide a means of traveling to different locations in short periods of time If this

is possible, do you think scientists should attempt to create a

wormhole? Why or why not?

3 • Activity: Find out more about the life cycles of stellar mass,

supermassive, and mini black holes Then prepare a presentation for your class that includes their individual characteristics, such as original composition and life span

Curriculum Focus:

Astronomy/Space

Lesson Duration:

Two class periods

Black Holes: The Ultimate Abyss:

Teacher’s Guide

Student Objectives

Students will understand the following:

1 • Even though black holes all have characteristics in common, they come in three different sizes

2 • Each size black hole has characteristics different from the others

Materials

1 • Black Holes: The Ultimate Abyss video and VCR, or DVD and DVD

player

2 • Library and Internet reference materials on black holes

3 • A computer with Internet access

Procedures

1 1 Review with your students what they have learned about black holes

2 2 Make sure they understand that, while black holes have

characteristics in common, they differ with regard to size Explain that black holes come in three sizes: stellar mass black holes, supermassive black holes, and mini-black holes Explain further that particular

characteristics are associated with each size

3 3 Divide the class into three teams, and assign each team to research one of the black-hole types discussed above

4 4 Tell students that each team will prepare a presentation based on its research, which should include the following:

0 • characteristics of the type of black hole

1 • lifetime of the type of black hole

2 • locations (or suspected locations) of the type of black hole

3 • evidence for existence of the type of black hole

5 5 Tell students to keep track of the sources for their facts so that they

or other interested classmates can go back to those sources for further information Encourage students to include visuals in their reports

6 6 After each team has presented its report, invite students to

participate in creating on the chalkboard a compare-and-contrast chart showing the similarities and differences among the three types of black holes

Discussion Questions

2 1 Discuss how Newton’s view of gravity differs from Einstein’s view of gravity

4 2 Describe how a black hole is formed from the time a massive star begins its collapse

5 3 Describe the steps involved in determining the mass of a black hole What do you have to measure or observe in order to estimate the mass?

6 4 If you were observing a probe entering the event horizon of a black hole, you would see it “hovering for an eternity and destroyed in an instant.” Discuss the meaning of this phrase as it applies to conditions near a black hole

7 6 Discuss the objective of the Gravity Probe B satellite and its

relevance to the study of gravity

Assessment

Use the following three-point rubric to evaluate students' work during this lesson

5 • 3 points: report well-researched, information clearly and logically organized, presentation interesting and lively

6 • 2 points: report adequately researched, information sufficiently organized, presentation dull

7 • 1 point: report insufficiently researched, information inadequately organized, presentation poorly prepared

Vocabulary

black hole

Definition: An object with a gravitational field so strong that light

cannot escape from it It is believed to be created in the collapse of a very massive star

Context: Everybody has heard of black holes; no one has really seen

them

galaxy

Definition: A galaxy that is a powerful source of radio waves

Context: Mighty jets of energized particles are blasted into space from

invisible engines at the hearts of these so-called radio galaxies–further evidence that a black hole is driving the process

gravity

Definition: A fundamental physical force that is responsible for

interactions that occur because of mass The force of gravity from an object is inversely proportional to the square of the distance away from the object

Context: Newton reasoned that all matter in the universe has gravity

mass

Definition: A measure of the amount of material an object contains,

which causes it to have weight in a gravitational field

Context: The more mass a body has, the more gravity

Definition: A point or region of infinite mass density at which space and

time are infinitely distorted by gravitational forces and which is

thought to be the final state of matter in a black hole

Context: The most terrifying concept of astrophysics lurks at the

bottom of a black hole—the singularity—where nothing, not even light, can escape

space-time

Definition: A system of one temporal (time) and three spatial

coordinates by which any physical object or event can be located Also called the space-time continuum

Context: Space and time seem to be woven together to form the

flexible four-dimensional fabric of the universe: so-called space-time

supernova