Rubric - Solar Wind and Its Effects Upon the Solar System

Rubric - Solar Wind and Its Effects Upon the Solar System

LESSON PLAN - SOLAR WIND EFFECTS UPON THE SOLAR SYSTEM & INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM

OBJECTIVE: Students will understand the concept Solar Wind, its composition, it origin, how it interacts with the Earth and interstellar medium. This will be evidenced by at least a standard deviation increase in the post test grade over the pretest using the pretest standard deviation.

a)Students will be given challenging information that will enhance their understanding of traditional concepts and see applications to previously learned material.

b)The Solar Wing Project will be given to freshmen and upper class students to see if there is a significant difference between the three groups

  1. Physical World students – 9th graders
  2. Astronomy students – 11th and 12th graders but not strong students
  3. Honors Physics students - 11th and 12th graders who are strong students

STANDARDS:

a)Physical World – 9th grade Physical Science Standards

  1. Standards A, D, E, F, G, H

b)Honors Physics and Astronomy – 11th & 12th grade Physical Science Standards

  1. Standards A, C, D, E

PROCEDURE:

  1. Students will take a pretest thatwill be graded and counts as 10% of test grade.
  2. Reason for counting the pretest grade is to motivate them to do well and not bias pretest – posttest results
  3. Will give a significant curve so everyone will get a decent grade
  4. However, for those that do not try it will definitely go against them
  5. Bottom line is that all students should try their best
  1. The power point presentation will be given over a period of several weeks (20 minutes a day), spaced to keep students attention so they can fully benefit from the power point presentation.The presentation will cover three general areas which are the following:
  2. The Solar Wind and its origin
  3. Comparison of the Interplanetary Medium with the Interstellar Medium and interaction at fringe of our solar system.
  4. Earth’s magnetism, Magnetosphere and interaction with the Solar Wind
  1. Students will write two 500 word reports (two 375 reports for freshmen). The first covers sections 1 & 2 of the power point presentation and the second report covers the third section. The two reports will count as one full test grade (two test grades given for this project). Students must hand-write the report in a bullet format. Terms that must necessarily be discussed are given in the list on the back of this sheet. Underline each of the words in your report.
  2. Essentially you are defining the words on the back of this sheet and linking them together in a harmonious flow so we can see the connection between the various terms.
  3. To get an “A” students must include details not given in the power point presentation. – YOU MUST DO SOME INDEPENDENT RESEARCH!!
  4. Teacher counts the words by taking the average of two or three lines and multiplying that line count by the number of lines. WORDS ARE COUNTED!
  5. Extra credit for more than 1000 words / 5% extra on report grade for each 300 words
  6. Must be written in ink / students can scratch out mistakes with no penalty
  1. Students will be given library time to use computers to develop their reports. Two full block class periods for the upper classmen and four single periods for the freshman will be given to do independent research.
  1. A class discussion assignment will be given where student in their group will answer a set of questions. One paper with the answers will be submitted for the whole group.
  2. Questions will be answered NOT using notes / NO NOTES
  3. Students will work together to supply answers
  4. Counts as a 15 point homework assignment
  1. Physics class will have an additional assignment where they will perform math calculations.
  2. Astronomy and Physical World classes will NOT do this assignment
  1. A Post-Test will be given that counts as 90% of the test grade.
  2. The Test is weighted at 0.9 and the Quiz is weighted at 0.1 to count as one full test grade
  1. A survey will be given to get feedback from students as to their opinions and suggestions for improving the project.

Report Information Summary:

  1. Two 500 word reports counts as ONE test grade
  2. Handwritten
  3. Use bullet format
  4. Include all (51) words at bottom of this paper
  5. Underline each word discuss in the report
  6. Link the words together into a meaningful report and NOT just a listing of vocabulary words
  7. Do independent research to add information NOT included in power point presentation
  8. Can get extra credit for more than 1000 words at the rate of 5% per 300 words
  9. Must do in ink / Can scratch out mistakes with NO penalty

VOCABULARY WORDS TO BE INCLUDED IN REPORT AND KNOW FOR THE TEST.

1)Alpha particle

2)Auraora

3)Bow Shock

4)Chromosphere

5)Convection Zone

6)Coriolis Effect

7)Corona

8)Coronal Hole

9)Coronal Mass Ejection

10)Cosmic Rays

11)Dark Dust Cloud

12)Doppler Effect

13)Dynamo Process

14)Electrojets

15)Electromagnetic Spectrum

16)Emission Spectrum

17)Flux

18)Heliopause

19)Heliosheath

20)Heliosphere

21)Heliospheric Current Sheet

22)Interplanetary Medium (dust & gas)

23)Interstellar Medium (dust & gas)

24)Ion

25)Magnetic Mirror

26)Magnetic Reconnection

27)Magnetic Tail

28)Magnetohydrodynamic

29)Magnetopause

30)Magnetosphere

31)Maxwell-Boltzmann Distribution

32)Molecular Cloud Complex

33)Ohm’s Law

34)Parsec

35)Photon

36)Photosphere

37)Physics Equations applied to presentation

38)Plasma

39)Polar wind

40)Polarization

41)Primordial Nucleosynthesis

42)Prominence

43)Radiation Zone

44)Red Shift & Blue Shift

45)Ring Current

46)Solar Wind

47)Spicules

48)Sun Spots

49)Termination Shock

50)Tesla

51)Van Allen Radiation Belts

ASSESSMENT:

A. As discussed in the Procedure section of the lesson plan a Pretest will be given and a Posttest will be given.

a)The pretest counts as 10% of the total test grade – will be treated as a quiz grade for the quarter

b)The posttest counts as 90% of the total test grade

c)The Test is weighted at 0.9 and the Quiz is weighted at 0.1 to count as one full test grade

B. As also discussed in the Procedure section, there will be two reports written, one at the end of sections 1 & 2 ( power point slide #66) and one at the end of section 3 (power point slide 121). These two reports will count as one full test grade.

a) The reports must contain all of the vocabulary words listed above.

b) See above for details as to the criteria for grading

C. The GROUP DISCUSSION worksheet will also be graded as a homework paper. It will be a group grade and all students in the group will receive the same grade.

D. The Honors Physics class will also do a worksheet in class. Students will act as engineers and perform all the required calculations as a “real world” situation. Some of the material in the worksheet are concepts we have not studied BUT they have been taught to think and apply their knowledge to new situations over the year so it will be an interesting challenge for them. It is an open-book worksheet so they have access to resource material as is the case in the real world

a) If they do well the worksheet will count as a quiz, if they struggle then I will only count it as a worksheet.

MATERIALS:

  1. One test will be supplied to each student and will be used as a pretest and a posttest. The test consists of 55 questions and will be mostly scantron, usually having 5 choices with only a few T/F questions. (48 multiple choice and 7 T/F)
  1. Power point program will be shown to the students and given to the students. Not only will the teacher go over it in class but it is available through the “edline” program so they can view the entire program at home.
  1. One Group Discussion worksheet will be given to each student at the end of the power point presentation. Everyone will get one to use as a guide to study and one will be turned in for each group for a group grade.
  1. One Honors Physics worksheet with problems will be given to each person.
  1. Access to computers will be given for two block class periods or four single periods.
  1. A survey paper will be given to get feedback from students.

TIME:

  1. Approximately five weeks will be needed to cover the project material.
  1. On a daily basis there will be about 20 – 30 minutes a day spent on this project, but be flexible for the regular curricular material that may demand more time and therefore less time for the solar wind project on that day.
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