EDUCATION

Dawn Classrooms > History of Asteroids Module

The History and Discovery of Asteroids

Learners will explore scientific discoveries and the technologies as a sequence of events that led eventually to the Dawn mission. This standards-aligned module is organized around a learning cycle and engages students in a number of experience in order for the teacher to activate students' prior knowledge, assess student conceptual understanding in order to inform instruction.

Many of the MS Word documents below are password-protected. This means that there are special restrictions in effect. However, a student can type in the document and save their work electronically in the areas that show gold brackets []. A password is not needed to open, type in the gold brackets, or save the document. The document will continue to be password-protected in the restricted areas after being saved with the student's work.

Thinking Outside the Box (PDF)	Between Jupiter and Mars, I Place a Planet (PDF)	Seeing Faraway Things as Though Nearby (PDF)	It Was a Dark and Starry Night (PDF)
The Lost is Found (PDF)	Astronomical Serendipity (PDF)	What Can You See With a Telescope? (PDF)	I Can See You More Clearly Now (PDF)

Patterns in the Sky Students look at planetary distance information and use algebra to "discover" a gap between Mars and Jupiter Activity, Part 1 (MS Word) Activity, Part 2 (MS Word)	In search Of ... Students use a modern starchart to find a missing planet? Activity (MS Word) Star Maps (PDF)	How Bright Are You? Students graph the brightness of asteroids and asteroid size versus their dates of discovery. Activity (MS Word)	Seeing Circles Students use different objects to learn about and model albedo Activity (MS Word)
Where Are You? Students develop a model of asteroid diameters using mathematics and food. Activity(MS Word)	Modeling in 3-D Students experience how models can be made to represent objects in space. Activity (MS Word) Handout(MS Word)