Exploring Our Universe: From the Classroom to Outer Space I. Spectroscopy Introduction

This series of Educational Kits ``Exploring Our Universe: from The Classroom to Outer Space'', is being developed as an initiative of the FUSE (Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer) Project's Public Outreach and Education program. The purpose of these education kits is to help secondary school students develop an understanding of how the content they are exposed to in science/math classes relates to the world in which they live, and how it applies to modern science and technology. This first kit, ``Spectroscopy: the study of light'' focuses on how astronomers study and use light to learn about the universe, its origin, its evolution, its fate. This puts basic concepts about light and the electromagnetic spectrum into a practical and exciting context, relating classroom activities to a NASA mission that will shortly be launched, and that will provide children the opportunity of following/sharing important exciting events.

One problem commonly encountered in school education is the disassociation of content material from real world applications, and the lack of enthusiasm that can derive from purely academical exercises. In this kit, students will see how the study of light and its properties link to the work of professional astronomers. Many exciting discoveries about the nature of the universe are unfolding on an almost daily basis, largely because of our ability to launch telescopes into orbits above most of the Earth's atmosphere. Astronomy is unique among the sciences in its ability to appeal to a wide audience. People of all ages and backgrounds are fascinated by what we have learned thus far about our place in the universe. Topics in astronomy can be used effectively as a "hook" to capture students' interest, and to communicate many basic scientific principles that have a wide range of applications. It is hoped that this kit, and others in this series, can be used as an effective tool toward this end.

An important event in this field will be the launch of FUSE- the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer satellite, in the spring of 1999. This mission will open a new region of the electromagnetic spectrum to intensive scientific scrutiny. Access to the far-ultraviolet range (which extends beyond the range accessible to the Hubble Space Telescope) will permit the study of many important atoms, ions and molecules existing in the Universe, unable to be investigated by any other means. The launching of a space telescope such as FUSE provides an excellent opportunity to generate enthusiasm for science in young people, and to direct this excitement toward their education.

This kit will help educators introduce basic principles concerning light and spectroscopy, and link them to the scientific objectives of the FUSE mission at levels appropriate to middle and high school science curricula. The fact sheet (background information) and the activities in this kit were developed to conform with the National Science Education Standards (National Academy Press, 1996) and the Benchmarks for Science Literacy (Oxford University Press, 1993). Both of these documents are invaluable resources for all who seek to raise science education in this country to levels of excellence.

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