At-Home Activities

Ask family members and acquaintances if they have ever seen the Northern Lights and, if so, under what conditions. Ask them to describe what they saw.

Ask family members to suggest why the sun is at the centre of the solar system instead of Earth. What evidence demonstrates that the sun is much bigger than Earth?

Discuss the issue presented on page 441 with family members and acquaintances. Their perspectives may be useful to you as you prepare your presentation for this lesson.

With the assistance of adult family members, measure the dimensions of your house or apartment lot using the triangulation method you learned about in this lesson.

On a clear night, locate a bright star in the sky. Identify the name of the star using a star chart or Starry Night software. Research the distance of the star in light-years.

You might find it interesting to survey older family members or acquaintances about their perceptions of distances in the universe. Ask questions such as: What is a light-year? How big is a light-year compared to the distance across Canada, or compared to the distance from Earth to the Moon? How big do you think the universe is?

If you have access to an old pair of binoculars that are no longer work properly, try taking them apart to study how the lenses are used. How are binoculars similar to refracting telescopes? How are the different? What could you do to repair the binoculars so that they will work properly?

Through television documentaries, newspapers and magazines, locate the names of other Canadian science journalists like Ivan Semeniuk. Write a letter to one of them asking about their educational background, what they enjoy about their job, etc.

Repeat Part 1 of this investigation at home, focusing on another major constellation. (See Skills Handbook, page 543 for the names of other constellations.)

On a clear night, try to observe stars of different colours. Make a list of the colours (other than white) you see. (Note: When the coloured light that reaches our eyes from stars is very faint, our eye often interprets the light as white.)

Look around your home and community to identify product names, company names and fictional character names that are related to astronomy.

The Chapter Review (pp.464-465) in your textbook lists all the Key Expectations you have covered in the chapter and identifies the specific lessons in which the knowledge and skills have been developed.

You can use the Key Expectations list to help you create a personal study guide in preparation for an end-of-chapter test:

1. Copy down the list of learning expectations from your textbook.
2. For each learning expectation, locate the appropriate lesson(s) in the unit where the expectation was covered. These are identified in parentheses at the end of each expectation (e.g., 14.2).
3. Flip to the appropriate lesson(s) for each expectation and make study notes of the key ideas or skills you learned.