What is “Dark Skies Rangers”?
Dark Skies Rangers is an environmental/astronomy-based program that includes student participation in a highly successful international, citizen-science campaign monitoring night sky brightness calledGLOBE at Night. Students will learn the importance of dark skies and immerse themselves in activities that illustrate proper lighting technology, what light pollution’s effects are on wildlife and how everyone can measure the darkness of their skies. The Dark Skies Rangers program has been developed for grades 3 through 12 with numerous references and ideas on how a teacher can “go deeper” if desired. Dark Skies Education kits will be available to educators who train and participate in the program.
What Standards are Addressed?
The program’s focus is centered on inquiry activities and incorporate skills and concepts, which include strains 1, 2 and 3 of the Arizona Science standards. Content concepts on the nature of light and energy conservation are also included. The program lessons are interdisciplinary and integrate reading, writing, math, social studies (e.g., geography and economics) and health standards.
What are the Activities and Projects?
- Light Shielding – An interactive demonstration on what light pollution is, how it affects the visibility of stars, its interdisciplinary importance and relevance to your life
- School Outdoor Lighting Audit – How energy conserving is the outdoor lighting at your school? Determine the good bad in outdoor lighting and how much energy and cost is lost to poor lighting.
- Constellation at Your Fingertips; How Light Pollution Affects the Stars – Activities to introduce concepts skills: picture the constellation by tracing it with glow-in-the-dark paints;find what a stellar magnitude is by making a magnitude reader. How do they help measure night sky brightness?
- Turtle Hatching– Students role-play turtles hatching on a beach at night to experience the affect too much lighting has on their survival.
- Do They See the Light? Students can first use an experiment to assess how light affects insects and then design their own experiment to see how light affects other animals.
- Student Symposium – Students research & role-play opposing stances on important dark skies issues such as the impact of light pollution on wildlife (e.g. Developers vs. Neighborhood Assoc.)
- GLOBE at Night – Students join people all around the globe in collecting data on the night sky conditions in their community and contributing them to a worldwide database on light pollution.
What Does the Dark Skies Rangers Program Expect from You?
- Educators attend the Dark Skies workshop on Aug.7.
- Students do at least four dark skies activities.
- Students participate in the GLOBE at Night campaign.
What Can You Expect from the Dark Skies Rangers Program?
- Free Dark Skies Education kit with materials and guide to carry out the activities and projects, upon committing to the program (e.g., demonstration to introduce light pollution; CDs and DVDs with videos, presentations, activities, etc; in addition, a digital meter to measure night sky brightness may be included)
- Free in-class staff support on activities from the National Optical Astronomy Observatory
For more information and questions on the activities and projects, contact Connie Walker . Please use “Dark Skies Rangers Workshop” for the subject header.
Registration Form for the Dark Skies Workshop
11am – 2:30pm on September 11, 2010 at the Cooper Center for Environmental Learning
()
Teacher’s Name
Phone Number
Email Address
Alternate Email Address
School Name
School District
School Street Address
School City/State/Zip
Grade and/or Subject Taught
The registration formfor the Dark Skies Rangers Workshop must be received by Sept. 8. Only 30 applications will be accepted. Fax the form to Rob Sparks at 520-318-8451, email it to or mail it to Robert Sparks at NOAO, 950 N. Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ 85719. BYOL (Bring Your Own Lunch); beverages and fruit will be provided for lunch.