Introduction
Why are some stars so bright?
A WebQuest for 5th Grade in Stars
Maureen Asadoorian
Have you ever wondered why some stars are brighter than others? Why is that particular star become our Sun? You are going to be an astronomer for the next couple days and determine what makes some stars appear brighter than others.
Task
You and your classmates will read about stars, explore the galaxy, conduct an experiment on brightness, and watch a video about the brightness of stars.
At the end of this WebQuest, you will be able to complete an entry in your science journal explaining why some stars appear brighter than others and why we have the Sun for our solar system and not another star. You will also be able to explain how the flashlight experiment helped you to discover this.
Process
1. By yourself, you will read an introductory page about the number of stars we have in our solar system. When you are done reading it, click "Test your knowledge" to the right for a 3-question quiz. Your goal is 100%; retake if necessary.
https://wonderopolis.org/wonder/how-many-stars-are-in-the-sky
2. Go to http://stars.chromeexperiments.com/ to take a tour of all the stars in our galaxy. Press the play button in the top left-hand corner and then follow directions to explore. Click on different stars to read about them. Pay special attention to the different levels of brightness between the stars.
3. In a small group, you are going to perform a flashlight experiment. You will use a small flashlight and a large flashlight and use the empty bulletin board in the back of the classroom for the experiment. You have a lab report to fill out, including both your hypothesis and your findings. Which size flashlight do you expect to be brighter? Experiment with shining the light in different ways and distances to see how the brightness changes.
4. By yourself, you will watch a video that reviews and explains why some stars are brighter than others.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zo-sKzMWYFA
5.. Finally, you are going to write an entry in your science journal explaining why some stars are brighter than others and why our Sun is the brightest star that we see. You may use drawings to help with your explanation.
Evaluation
You will be evaluated on both your lab report and your science journal entry. For your lab report, to get total credit, your group must have a hypothesis, some observations, and some conclusions. For your science journal, both questions must be addressed, have few grammatical errors, and show scientific thinking.