Unit 2, Lesson 6: Claim Testing the Big Bang
Learning Target: I can apply claim testing methods to the Big Bang Theory
Class Activities:
1. Students picked up two handouts: "Claim Testing the Big Bang" and "Claim Testing the Big Bang-- Do Now".
2. For the Do Now, students copied a definition on their vocab sheets: "galaxy: a group of stars held together by gravity", and answered the first two questions on the "Claim Testing the Big Bang-- Do Now" worksheet. We had really good class discussions about those first two questions. Lots of people believe the Big Bang Theory, lots of people don't, and lots aren't sure what to think yet.
3. I explained that we're going to evaluate the Big Bang Theory as a claim for how the universe began. When asked for evidence for the Big Bang, scientists inevitably point to two major topics: red shift and cosmic microwave background.
4. In their groups of 3, students used the "Claim Testing the Big Bang_Class Materials" sheets and filled out the Claim Testing the Big Bang sheet (the questions and the chart.)
5. We went over the worksheet as a class. Red shift basically is a theory demonstrating that galaxies are moving away from us, and the universe is still expanding. If it's expanding, it must have expanded from a single point, which scientists call the singularity.
Scientists also theorized that if the Big Bang happened, then there should be some kind of leftover energy that we can observe. In the 1960s, two scientists picked up some super faint noise. They calculated that "noise", that energy, to be about 13.8 billion years old.
Both of those things support the big bang, but students came up with a lot of really great questions that the Big Bang Theory can't answer. Some of the most common ones were:
What caused the singularity?
What existed before the Big Bang?
How can the Big Bang have caused time to exist? Isn't time manmade?
These questions, and more, blew my mind. I'm excited to discuss them in a more structured way, maybe next week.
Papers handed in today:
None
Homework:
Finish the final two questions on the "Claim Testing the Big Bang-- Do Now" worksheet (it says End of Class on it. Make sure you talk about redshift in your answers.)
Class Activities:
1. Students picked up two handouts: "Claim Testing the Big Bang" and "Claim Testing the Big Bang-- Do Now".
2. For the Do Now, students copied a definition on their vocab sheets: "galaxy: a group of stars held together by gravity", and answered the first two questions on the "Claim Testing the Big Bang-- Do Now" worksheet. We had really good class discussions about those first two questions. Lots of people believe the Big Bang Theory, lots of people don't, and lots aren't sure what to think yet.
3. I explained that we're going to evaluate the Big Bang Theory as a claim for how the universe began. When asked for evidence for the Big Bang, scientists inevitably point to two major topics: red shift and cosmic microwave background.
4. In their groups of 3, students used the "Claim Testing the Big Bang_Class Materials" sheets and filled out the Claim Testing the Big Bang sheet (the questions and the chart.)
5. We went over the worksheet as a class. Red shift basically is a theory demonstrating that galaxies are moving away from us, and the universe is still expanding. If it's expanding, it must have expanded from a single point, which scientists call the singularity.
Scientists also theorized that if the Big Bang happened, then there should be some kind of leftover energy that we can observe. In the 1960s, two scientists picked up some super faint noise. They calculated that "noise", that energy, to be about 13.8 billion years old.
Both of those things support the big bang, but students came up with a lot of really great questions that the Big Bang Theory can't answer. Some of the most common ones were:
What caused the singularity?
What existed before the Big Bang?
How can the Big Bang have caused time to exist? Isn't time manmade?
These questions, and more, blew my mind. I'm excited to discuss them in a more structured way, maybe next week.
Papers handed in today:
None
Homework:
Finish the final two questions on the "Claim Testing the Big Bang-- Do Now" worksheet (it says End of Class on it. Make sure you talk about redshift in your answers.)
9global_claim_testing_the_big_bang_handouts.pdf | |
File Size: | 46 kb |
File Type: |
9global_claim_testing_the_big_bang_red_shift.pdf | |
File Size: | 64 kb |
File Type: |