Frankfurt 2014 – scientific programme

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DD: Fachverband Didaktik der Physik

DD 18: Astronomie

DD 18.4: Talk

Wednesday, March 19, 2014, 15:00–15:20, Casino 1.801

How Old is the Universe? A Teaching Unit Using the Novel Software Spectrarium — •Ellen Carmesin¹ and Hans-Otto Carmesin^2,3,4 — ¹TU Darmstadt, Fachbereich Mathematik, Karolinenplatz 5, 64289 Darmstadt — ²Gymnasium Athenaeum, Harsefelder Straße 40, 21680 Stade — ³Studienseminar Stade, Bahnhofstraße 5, 21682 Stade — ⁴Universität Bremen, Fachbereich 1, Pf 330440, 28334

Students discover all required physical laws by performing experiments. Then students make all necessary observations with two software tools: They make photometric observations with Stellarium. Then they make spectroscopic observations based on various cities and telescopes simulated with Spectrarium. From their observations they discover the concept of the Big Bang and calculate the age of the universe. There are three versions, an elementary level, an expert level and a mathematical level. A set of worksheets is provided for each level in English as well as in German. We report about experiences with students corresponding to three age groups, age 10 to 11, age 12 to 15 and age 15 to 18. We report about a teacher training with Portuguese teachers in Lisbon.