The Return of Halley's Comet

Resource Corner

Books:

Branley, F.: Comets (1984, T.Y. Crowell) — good picture book for students in grades K-3.

Krupp, E.: The Comet and You (1985. Macmillan) — an illustrated book for students grades K-4; ready in February 1985.

Schatz, D.: The Comet Cometh: An Activity Book for the Return of Comet Halley — (a teacher's guide to be published in 1985).

Articles for Teachers (or High-School Students):

Glenn, W.: "Halley's Comet Makes a Comeback'' in The Science Teacher Jan. 1984, p. 38.

Neugebauer, M.: "The Comet Fleet'' in Mercury, May/June 1984, p. 66.

Slides:

Computer Software:

Halley's Comet on Your Home Computer (S & T Software. 13361 Frati Lane, Sebastopol. CA 95472; for Apple computers)

(Both of these provide information and plot the position of the comet).

Note: An illustrated catalog of useful educational materials in astronomy is available from the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (390 Ashton Ave., San Francisco, CA 94112) and includes a number of the above resources.

Activity Corner: "Invent an Alien''

(c) 1985 by Dennis Schatz. While teachers may copy freely for classroom use no commercial reproduction is permitted.

This activity is ideal to enhance a unit concerning the solar system for grades 4-8. It helps students learn about the planets and moons, uses their language and art skills, encourages use of library resources, and promotes creative thinking.

Objective:

To construct a model of an Alien Being that could exist on another planet or satellite in our solar system.

Materials:

Any common items found around the house.
Paper and pencil

Place the name of each planet or satellite the class will be studying (except the Earth) on separate slips of paper. Make enough slips so there is one for each student in the class. Place the slips of paper in a hat or box and have each student pick a world. The students should not reveal to other members of the class which world they have.

Tell the students that their goal is to construct the model of an Alien Being that could live on the world they picked. These should be three-dimensional models made from any material they can find around the house. Give the students a week to ten days to complete the task. Ask them also to write half-page to one page descriptions of their Alien Beings, stating why they have the characteristics the students have selected. The day you assign the project is an appropriate time to discuss what some of the requirements are for a "Being'' to exist on a given world. These should include:

1. a means to get food
2. possibly a way to move around the planet
3. a way to breathe
4. other means to sense the environment, equivalent to our five senses
5. other suggestions they may have, such as the effects of a gravitational pull that is much larger or smaller than we experience

This activity will require that the students use the library resources available at the school and in the community to determine the characteristics of the planets. If possible you should examine what references the libraries in your area have. Good resources could include:

1. Encyclopedias (preferably no more than three years old)
2. Odyssey Magazine
3. National Geographic (see list below)
4. Recent books about the planets

After the Alien Beings are reviewed, you might have the students talk about the difficulties they ran into designing life on other worlds and discuss with them the reasons our space probes have not found evidence of life elsewhere in the solar system.

Articles on the Solar System in National Geographic

A good general book:

Miller, R. and Hartmann, W.: The Grand Tour: A Traveler's Guide to the Solar System. (Workman, 1981)

<< previous page | 1 | 2 |

back to Teachers' Newsletter Main Page