PI in the Sky

Brought to you by NASA and Sonoma State EPO

Dr. Mary Garrett, Educator/Ambassador for NASA’s GLAST Programl

Introduction:

As modern children passively stagnate in the world of television where the unexpected is normal, it is sometimes difficult for educators to help children truly understand the wonder of the real world and the excitement of exploring it. At http://universe.gsfc.nasa.gov/ we can get a look at the way scientists are striving to understand our world. But the terms and especially the numbers used by the scientists make it difficult for the students to really understand what the scientists are discussing. Trying to help children and the non-scientists of our culture to understand the excitement behind the blasting rockets and the reason for the many NASA missions, NASA scientists have worked with educators to develop educational resources that can capture the imaginations and expand the understanding of students. You can find many NASA educational resources at http://teachspacescience.org, but sometimes it is hard to see how they can be used in the classroom. In this presentation, we will look at NASA developed materials and methods to teach children about PI and why it is important.  The PI in the Sky booklet teaches science and geometry students grades 5-12 about pi-radians and degrees, as a foundation for understanding subtended angles, apparent size, visual acuity, and parallax. We will try some of these activities together, but first a word from our sponsor.

GLAST Science (GLAST:  Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope)

Explore the era of star formation in the universe, the physics of dark matter and the creation and evolution of galaxies

What is in the PI in the Sky Booklet?


How are these "labs" related?

What is PI? (A1)

  Circle X Circle Y Circle Z
Circumferences      
Diameter      


A2).  How many diameters fit along the circumference

A3).  Repeat with a string and a paper plate and other objects)

A4).  Make charts and graphs of the circumference and diameter and calculate slope.  Use Excel for older students and talk about correlation and Regression Analysis.

B1).  So What’s a Radian?

  1. Balance Paper Plate on a Pin
  2. Draw the Radius on the Plate
  3. Use the index card to measure the radius
  4. Transfer this measurement to the pie plate
  5. Cut out the piece of pie formed by the radius

Point out that you have
6 wedges plus a little bit more

How much is that little bit more?

 

 

B4).  How to determine that little bit more  A MM bead Activity

  1. Count the beads in the radius
  2. Mark the number of beads equal to the radii using colored pencils
  3. Count the number of beads left over
  4. Divide the left over number of beads by the number of beads in the radius.

http://www.mathlearning.net/learningtools/Flash/unitCircle/unitCircle.html

F).  Looking at size and distance.  Using the mm beads sheet, look at 10 millimeters in each circle.

How do the angles compare?  If the number of beads is the same and the objects are the same size, why would the angles not be the same?

Point out that if you draw an object on circle ‘x’ of a certain size and the same object on  circle ‘y’ the angle will be smaller on circle ‘y’.  This is because the object on circle ‘y’ is farther away.

Parallax photos from opposite ends of a football field

How does this apply to astronomy?

  1. Things appear smaller when they are farther away and you know this by the angle that they form.
  2. Astronomers need a way to measure objects in the night sky with out actually measuring them.
  3. One way is to use Parallax
  4. Parallax only works for objects that are relatively close (100 – 500 light years away)
  5. If someone thinks they see a candle burning a thousand miles away it must actually be an entire city on fire!
  6. The bright objects that GLAST will see must actually be huge events in our universe because they are so far away and so luminous.

TOPS: Pi in the Sky!

  1. Pi is a Constant
  2. Radians & Degrees
  3. Counting Diameters
  4. Visual Acuity
  5. Tie you Kamel
  6. Look from Here and There

What will you do in your classroom

Conclusion

NASA has an educational outreach program designed to help teachers bring the excitement of space and active real world science into the classroom. In this presentation we have demonstrated how some of these materials can be used not only to help students understand Pi and how its applications can be used for various types of real world calculations, but even how NASA materials can be the core of a complete courses. Teachers, administrators, and instructional designers should leave this session with a better understanding of the role that free NASA materials may have in making your instruction as exciting as the very Structure and Evolution of the Universe in which we live.

Sign in Sheets

We need to report on who was here so please fill your name and information out and if you have done that, you will get a copy of the booklet used primarily in today's presentation.

Resources

About the author

Dr. Mary Garrett is and Educator/Ambassador for NASA’s Structure and Evolution of the Universe Educational Outreach Program. Mary Garrett earned her PhD in Educational Systems Development, (instructional technology emphasis) from Michigan State University. She has taught at the post-Secondary level for more than 20 years. She has won numerous awards for outstanding instruction and frequently presents at International, National, and State conferences on instructional design and educational technology issues. She is certified to teach at the secondary level and has developed instruction and taught on-line since 1995. Retired from full time instruction, she now works as an adjunct instructor for secondary and  post secondary institutions.