Science Curriculum Preview Committee Clarification of Learning Results

Curriculum Organizing Questions	What are stars? What is our closest star? What is a galaxy? Are all galaxies the same?
Elaboration	Stars are not scattered at random throughout the universe: all stars are gathered into clumps called galaxies. Science Matters p. 142. The sun is a medium-sized star located near the edge of a disk-shaped galaxy of stars, part of which can be seen as a glowing band of light that spans the sky on a very clear night. The universe contains many billions of galaxies, and each galaxy contains many billions of stars. To the naked eye, even the closest of these galaxies is not more than a dim fuzzy spot. Benchmarks 4A.
Specific Ideas	Technology is essential to science for such purposes as access to outer space and other remote locations, sample collection and treatment, measurement, data collection and storage, computation, and communication. Benchmarks 3A. Telescopes reveal that there are many more stars in the night sky than are evident to the unaided eye. Benchmarks 10A. Some distant galaxies are so far away that their light takes several billion years to reach the earth. People on earth, therefore, see them as they were that long ago in the past. Benchmarks 4A.
Developmental & Instructional Implications	Be sure to remain developmentally appropriate as many of the concepts around studies of the universe are very abstract. Students should add more detail to their picture of the universe, pay increasing attention to matters of scale, and back up their understanding with activities using a variety of astronomical tools. Student access to star finders, telescopes, computer simulations fo planetary orbits, or a planetarium can be useful at this level. Benchmarks p. 63
Examples