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# 148 - Astrolabes - 1.15.07
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Bi-Weekly Science Lesson Plan List
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Jan 17, 2007 16:59 PST
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Hi everyone,
An astrolabe is used to measure the altitude of an object, in Earth
Science you can use it to find the altitide of stars and planets above
the horizon.
When I started my unit on Astronomy, I had the kids use an astrolabe to
practice measuring altitude. I made up an easy worksheet (see below) and
had the kids find the altitude of the clock, a poster, a window, a word
on the chalk board, a person's eye, you can also go outside and measure
the flag pole, top of buiding, basketball net etc.... I made a small
class set of astrolabes, but you can have the kids make and keep their
own.
This lesson is helpful because when we talk about constellations, and I
tell them that Polaris is 40 degrees above the horizon (from Northern
NJ), they know where to look!
Here is the lesson plan on how to make one:
http://cse.ssl.berkeley.edu/AtHomeAstronomy/activity_07.html
Here is a sample lesson on how to use one:
http://cse.ssl.berkeley.edu/AtHomeAstronomy/activity_08.html
Worksheet
http://www.middleschoolscience.com/astrolabe.pdf
Nova lesson plan:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/shackleton/classroom/w3northstar.html
Until next week,
Liz
http://www.middleschoolscience.com
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