Cepheid stars

From OER in Education

Astronomy - presentations
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Cepheidstars1.png
How we know what we know: a slide presentation to explain how Goodricke and Leavitt measured the stars.

Lesson idea. This is the third and final slide presentation lesson of a series on the calculation of the distances of stars. Traditionally a challenging lesson for students, this takes a step by step approach. The teacher provides (The next lesson considers how we know about the chemistry and characteristics of stars).

Teaching approach. The lesson model is that of active note-making. Students are provided with mini-diagrams* around which they build up personalised notes about the lesson. Students must not take notes from the board but instead must use their creativity to develop their own notes. They are encouraged to use colour, image, symbols, humour and metaphor to lead them through a richer learning experience. Students need help in achieving this but soon catch onto the idea. They become more independent with taking notes and more attentive to the subject at hand. (edit)

Resource details
Title Cepheid stars
Topic
Teaching approach
Learning Objectives
  • recall parallax and luminosity as methods to calculate the distance of stars
  • recount the discovery of variable stars
  • how Henrietta Leavitt’s discovery of the relationship between period and luminosity allows star distances to be calculated
Format / structure
Subject
Age of students / grade
Table of contents
Additional Resources/material needed
Useful information
Related ORBIT Wiki Resources

Read the Wikipedia article on Henrietta Leavitt

Other (e.g. time frame)
Files and resources to view and download

The presentation has been converted to a number of different formats. You can download

Or you can download the files individually:

Alternative download: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3ehh21bjv85yiym/AAD_jmQiqKIQu8TUvHepVQTna?dl=0

Acknowledgement
License