Category: Investigations

{ Climate Change Contents } { All GSS Books } In this model (game), half the students act as photons and half as molecules. The model can be done either as a board game with students working in groups and moving pieces across a board, or as a whole class model where each student acts […]

Chapter 1 { Climate Change Contents } Life on Earth would be impossible without the atmosphere. It contains oxygen and other gases essential for plants and animals. The atmosphere protects us from the Sun’s harmful rays and acts like a blanket to keep our planet at a livable temperature. There is, however, some disturbing evidence […]

CLIMATE CHANGE addresses the controversial question of how human activities may be changing Earth’s climate. See Overview. Contents Chapter Titles Investigations Stay Current 1. The Greenhouse Effect 1.1 Light In Air1.2. Podcasts and Videos Chapter 1 2. What’s So Special About CO2? 2.1 Two Prisms2.2 IR TV Remote2.3 Molecules Absorb IR Energy2.4 Singing Piano Chapter […]

Investigation AC9.4 { A Changing Cosmos Contents } [by Rich Lohman] Materials:   How many galaxies are there in the Universe?  You may have heard some numbers.  If you have (or even if you haven’t) write down a number right here that you think is the number of galaxies in the Universe.     My guess or recollection […]

{ A Changing Cosmos Contents } { All GSS Books } What’s the evidence that our Universe is expanding, contracting, or staying the same? Materials Worksheet “Spectra of Fast-Moving Galaxies”  Worksheet “Hubble’s Law” The line spectrum of hydrogen, the most common element in the Universe, has characteristic lines (wavelengths or frequencies) in the regions red, […]

Chapter 9 { A Changing Cosmos Contents } Where did the Universe come from? How did it start? What were things like way back when? Will the Universe end and if so, how? And when? Contemplating such questions is a realm of study called cosmology. Getting at answers can take us to the very largest […]

Investigation 8.1 { A Changing Cosmos Contents } Who would have guessed that from simply measuring brightness changes in a star, we could find not only whether the star has a planet, but a host of interesting properties of that planet as well. Even whether or not the planet might be inhabitable by life forms! […]

Chapter 8 { A Changing Cosmos Contents } We know of one habitable planet in the Universe, habitable meaning suitable for supporting life such as that we are familiar with. That one habitable planet is our own: Earth. For centuries, some people have speculated that there may be many many such planets in other planet-star […]

{ A Changing Cosmos Contents } { All GSS Books } In Chapter 1, we saw how asteroids can be major threats to the well being of life on Earth. You can find out more about the NASA efforts concerning near Earth asteroids at the NASA Center for Near Earth Object Studies: https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/ The Hands-On Universe (HOU) […]

Investigation AC7.1 { A Changing Cosmos Contents } Galileo discovered the four largest moons of Jupiter in 1610, and they are often referred to as the Galilean Moons. He was using a simple telescope and a keen mind. He noticed that Jupiter and these four dimmer lights, which he assumed were stars, were stretched out […]