Alien Life: Difference between revisions

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* Acrobat PDF document - for session 6, use pages 201-234 of Astronomy masterclass.pdf at https://www.box.com/shared/aqnk3lvr09 (241Mb)
* Acrobat PDF document - for session 6, use pages 201-234 of Astronomy masterclass.pdf at https://www.box.com/shared/aqnk3lvr09 (241Mb)
* TES Resources link - http://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resource/The-Astronomy-Masterclass-6070303/  This also includes links to other YouTube videos.  
* TES Resources link - http://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resource/The-Astronomy-Masterclass-6070303/  This also includes links to other YouTube videos.  
 
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[[Category:Secondary]] [[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Secondary]] [[Category:Science]]

Revision as of 13:43, 20 September 2012

Alienlife.png
Are we alone?

Lesson idea. This presentation looks at claims of alien encounters and at arguments on whether humanity is alone. It concludes with a probabilistic argument based on the Fermi paradox. This is lesson 6 of a series of 6 entitled 'Astronomy masterclass' (SC0018).

Teaching approach. This last of six presentations to recruit students for A level physics, is more light-hearted and simpler than the two previous resources. It considers the arguments around whether or not humanity is alone and includes an initial look at the bizarre nature of many of the claims of alien encounters - including a fictional one for good measure - before moving onto the more serious side of alien hunting. It concludes with a probabilistic argument based on the Fermi paradox. (edit)

Resource details
Title Alien Life
Topic [[Topics/Astronomy|Astronomy]]
Teaching approach

[[Teaching Approaches/|]]

Learning Objectives
  • appreciate that it is extremely unlikely that there is sentient life elsewhere in our solar system,
  • appreciate that the majority of "encounters" are almost certainly not real and some of the psychological and physiological explanations for this,
  • appreciate that microbial life may be much more common than sentient life, but is also much harder to find
  • understand the SETI organisation and what it has found so far
Format / structure

A 26 minute narrated screencast which is part of the full, six hour 'Astronomy Masterclass'. Also supplied as a Prezi and a Acrobat file should you wish to do the presentation yourself.

Subject

[[Resources/Science|Science]]

Age of students / grade

[[Resources/Secondary|Secondary]],  [[Resources/KS4|KS4]]


Related ORBIT Wiki Resources
Files and resources to view and download

The Teacher's Notes are available here. The resources are available in a choice of formats