TERMS OF USE

The designs offered on this page may be downloaded and used by anyone. If you use a design, it must be referenced to indicate Plane Space Design as the source. We only want credit  for the work that we have done.

  1. Create an Atlas of Extrasolar Planets. This one is likely worth a lot of money and I would do it myself if there were someone willing to support the effort by Commissioning the work. To legally use this design you must include an acknowledgement in the work to the effect of “Concept and Layout design provided by Plane Space Design, Savannah, GA 31415.

2. The Billiard Ball Hypothesis. This is the foundation of an instructional design product. It is suitable for advanced high school to post-graduate level students. Its useful range can be widened at both ends of the learners spectrum by selection or augmentation of its content. It contains a  description of  a testable scientific hypothesis in astronomy, relating to the formation of the inner solar system. The document describes to learners the pathway to accomplish the test of the hypothesis. The instructor can create a  rubric to assess the students' performance on the problem, to assess how well they follow the pathway. Elementary learners would require good math skills and understanding of the structure of the solar system. For more advanced learners it further requires computer skills for simulation and modeling, knowledge of physics, particularly dynamics, astronomy, and mathematics.

Objective: To teach learners the processes that are part of the process of hypothesis testing in part or entirely.

Materials: Sources of data about the physical properties of the bodies in our solar system and other solar systems in the universe will be needed. This instruction can be done with paper and pencil in some selected parts and with calculators. For the most advanced learners computers and software will be required.

How to Utilize the Materials: An example of a lesson for elementary students is to provide them with data about the masses of solar system bodies. Explain the differences between the determined data  that is the mass of the planets, and the statistical data that is the mass of the asteroids in the asteroid belt. Then require them to calculate the sum of the masses of Mercury, Venus, Earth and Moon, Mars and its moons, and the asteroids.  Assess that learners have learned the differences between types of data, and understand which solar system bodies' masses are to be added in the hypothesis test.

3. Observe Meteors and Take Professional Quality Data This link takes you to a page where you can download a log sheet in PDF format.

Hit Counter