Life Cycle of Stars: Student Gallery Edition

A fascinating area of study is the life cycle of stars. At this point my students know the different types and classifications of stars.  I usually only have a few students that know of black holes and supernovae.  I decided to divide my 4 HS Earth Science classes into groups.  Each group was responsible for one poster and section of the life cycle.  Overall, it ended up being 19 groups. I had them research the type of star they were assigned and make a poster. When they were finished, I put them up and we used our wall collaboration to go over the different masses of stars and how it has an impact on their deaths.  It also made my wall look a lot more festive! I also had them do another assignment at the same time with QR codes and past astronomers and their contributions to astronomy.  I had about 3 students a group.  For example, when one or two students were coloring the other could work on their ancient astronomers, then they would switch.

Enjoy!

HR-Diagram on the floor

When my students begin to study the life cycle of stars I have them make an HR diagram on the floor, before they have been introduced to the HR diagram is.  Some teachers have them graph it with data on a piece of graph paper or perhaps using excel for practice .  I do this because I like that the students get to move around the classroom and get out of their seats. This is the website that I originally got the idea from.  I have since changed it to fit my classroom and student's needs. I also made the stars in Kelvin instead of Celsius to better match common HR diagrams.

This is the star papers to cut out.  I try to print them on color paper so that they correlate with the actual colors of the stars. They use meter sticks as the axes and I give them scratch pieces of paper so they can label their axes. I try and discourage them from using the numbers on the meter sticks so the stars do not bunch together. It also allows them to change the scale of the graph and allows them to experience more trial and error.  I will say it is a lot of fun to watch them think this through.  Most of them get really close but never usually think to put the hottest star towards the inside of the graph as a lot of common HR diagrams have. I like this however, because it gives us a chance to talk about different ways to set up a graph with the same set of data. The students who finish a lot earlier than other groups get instructed  to change the  X-axis to  make the real HR diagram they will later color and glue into their journals. You can have them take a picture or have them draw it in their science journal if there is time.  Super fun and easy activity for any level of student! Have fun!

The Space Mag

     For the past few years I have had my Earth Science students make an informational magazine covering the planets, moon and various objects in our solar system.  They digitally design these magazines on their laptops.  I love doing this assignment with them for many reasons.  The number one reason is the experience and the journey they go through to achieve the final product.

     For the last part of our Astronomy unit I wanted my students to be able to experience the wonders of our own solar system. I needed a lesson to do this while still making it meaningful and relevant to my students after they leave my class.  This is why I chose a magazine.  By making this magazine my students practice their research skills, graphic designing, problem solving, APA citations and experience perseverance; all while learning detailed information about our solar system.

**A disclaimer is that my students all have Mac computers, a lot of the programs that I mention are built in, but if you have Photo Shop or Picasa this is possible on a PC.**

   The first thing I would do is make a rubric for a large project like this. It is important you know what you want the students to have.  Before giving them the rubric, give them an organizer. Here is my organizer I give my students to help them get started. Again, for my class this is a HUGE project so there are a lot of different areas of research on my organizer.  The great thing about this, is that it can be shortened and it is extremely easy to differentiate for high ability or low ability students if needed.

The introduction paper is here to give you an idea of all that I require them to do.

  In the introduction it explains that each student must pick a theme and, that the theme must be present throughout the entire magazine.  This really helps bring the magazine together and make it unique.  Here are some examples of different themes and magazines that a few of my students have turned in.

Pixar Theme 
The Big Bang Theory 
The Hunger Games 
Video Games 
Thor


Areas that I emphasize on (and have learned to emphasize on) are the following:

1. APA citation- It is critical that they make the citation as they go and not wait until the end. If they do wait they will have a days worth of citation generating and they will most likely forget which citation goes where. 
2. Color Scheme- They are not allowed to have more then 5 different colors per page.  Anymore looks like the rainbow threw up on the magazine. 
3. Images- Must have at least 3 images per page.  One must be of the actual object, the other two can be relevant to the object. An example of this might be having a picture of the Mars rover, Curiosity on their page.
4. Theme Overload- The personal theme is one of the best things about the magazine, but if you are not careful the students can get so wrapped up in it they lose sight of what they are doing.
5. Table of Contents- I have learned to have them do this FIRST.  It gives them guidance on where to start.  It may seem trivial, but it really does help them get the ball rolling on the project. 
6. Peer Editing- Occasionally I will have someone else just look at their pages and see how the flow is going.  Most of the students end up using a lot of the same sources from NASA.gov, so I have them just look at the overall appearance of the pages. This helps give guidance in the aesthetic area of the magazine. 

This project is long, but there is a huge sense of accomplishment when they are done with it.  They are also very proud of the magazine that they create and it becomes something they like to keep. I usually get the top magazine printed and bound with nice glossy paper.  If I could afford it, or if your school has the money I would definitely print them out for every student! 

If you have any questions please let me know!