RESOURCES

Classroom Activities
The following resources provide a variety of activities and other information suitable for classroom use:

• Color Analyzers. Teacher's Guide, LHS GEMS, University of California, Berkeley, CA. (message decoding activities using color filters)
• Colors from Space, Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California, Berkeley, CA. (suggests demonstrations of fluorescence; gives template to build a spectroscope)
• Investigating Astronomy, McNamara et al., Mosby, St. Louis, MO. (excellent blackline masters for a wide range of astronomy-based activities; good applications of high school-level math)
• Seeing in a New Light: Astro-1 Teachers Guide with Activities, NASA, EP-294, January 1990. (a wide range of simple activities on color, light and astronomy)
• Space Based Astronomy: Teacher's Guide with Activities, NASA, EG-102, August 1994. (activities on the atmosphere, the electromagnetic spectrum and related topics)

Other Suggested Activities Related to Spectroscopy:

Displaying the "rainbow" spectrum using a slide or overhead projector:

• "Projecting Spectra," from Space Based Astronomy: Teacher's Guide with Activities, NASA, EG-102, August 1994, p. 30.

Exercises on scientific notation:

• Metric Math Challenge- Making Long Numbers Short," from Seeing in a New Light: Astro-1 Teachers Guide with Activities, NASA, EP-294, January 1990, p. 19.

Demonstrations to prove the existence of UV light:

• "Ultraviolet Absorption", from Space Based Astronomy: Teacher's Guide with Activities, NASA, EG-102, August 1994, p. 16. [shows how window glass blocks UV rays and prevents fluorescence]

• "Ritter's Experiment", from Seeing in a New Light: Astro-1 Teachers Guide with Activities, NASA, EP-274, January 1990, p.11. [UV light develops blueprint paper]

Background Information
The following books and magazines can provide further information to students and teachers about space-based astronomy:

• Kaufmann, W.J. (1996), Discovering the Universe, W.H. Freeman, New York, NY.

Websites
There is a tremendous amount of valuable material on the Internet! The following sites are a few good places to begin looking:

• http://fuse.pha.jhu.edu

  • (homepage for the FUSE mission)
• http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/science.html
  • (general information about the Universe, including the electromagnetic spectrum, with lesson plans and additional resources for each topic)
• http://violet.pha.jhu.edu/~wpb/spectroscopy/spec_home.html
  • (information about light and spectroscopy)
• http://www.lmsal.com/YPOP/Classroom/Lessons/Filters/filterprint.html
  • (how to construct a filter wheel; viewing the Crab Nebula using color filters; viewing the Sun at different wavelengths) www.spacelink.nasa.gov (a guide to all of NASA's Internet resources)

Materials
Materials for classroom activities can be obtained from the following sources: