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Exploring the Solar System with a Human OrreryPeter Newbury1,2, Melanie A. Gendre1, Brett Gladman1, Laura E. Kasian1, Nicole Meger1, Harvey Richer1
1Department of Physics and Astronomy 2CWSEI
It’s not what the instructor does that matters; rather it’s what the students do.Conceptual Astronomy and Physics Education Research (CAPER) Team
Astronomy and physics education research shows, again and again, that interactive instruction increases studentlearning. ASTR 310 (Exploring the Solar System) is a survey course in astronomy offered to 250–300 non-Scienceundergraduates each Term. Students attend three 1-hour lectures each week and, in smaller groups of 40, participatein a 50-minute, hands-on tutorial every 2nd week. We designed an interactive, engaging tutorial activity in which thestudents build and explore a working, scale model of the Solar System.
Part 1: Construction Part 2: Planets in Motion Part 3: Beyond Saturn Part 4: Exploration
Using string, a protractorand blueprints, studentsstick Post-it notes to thefloor marking the positionsof Mercury, Venus, Earth andMars at 16-day intervals andJupiter and Saturn at 160-day intervals.
An orrery is a mechanicalmodel of the Solar Systemwhich shows the motion ofthe planets and moonsaround the Sun. In thehuman orrery, students playthe roles of the planets.
Once complete, volunteersplay the roles of the planetsand take their places in themodel.
The rest of the class watchesfrom the asteroid belt.
The Teaching Assistant startscounting out loud: “One!Two! Three!....” The innerplanets step from marker tomarker along their orbits.Jupiter and Saturn shift onevery 10th count.
Because the markers arespaced at equal intervals oftime, the speeds of theorbiting students correctlymimic the speeds of theplanets – both distance andmotion are properly scaledin the human orrery.
There’s a lot more SolarSystem beyond Saturn. Asthey unwind a 100-metretape, students travel pastUranus and Neptune.
Just outside the doors of theIKBLC, we find Pluto. Next tothe fountain, another dwarfplanet, Eris.
One hundred metres fromthe Sun and halfway to theKoerner Library, the Voyagerspacecraft is the mostdistant man-made object.
Back in the inner SolarSystem, students answer aseries of questions whichrequire them to explore,measure and discover theSolar System for themselves.
Question: How many timesfarther from Earth is Marswhen the two planets are onopposite sides of the Suncompared to when they lineup on the same side?
Question: Proxima Centauri,the nearest star to our SolarSystem, is 267 800 AU away(An astronomical unit, AU, isthe Earth–Sun distance.) Ifwe want to include it in ourmodel where 1 AU = 1 metre,where would we put it: busloop? downtown Vancouver?Kelowna? Toronto?
To support the “learning commons” mission of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre and to celebrate the 2009International Year of Astronomy, the activity was held in the IKBLC Foyer. Nearly 150 “passers-by” stopped towatch and ask questions about the activity and astronomy.
To see the human orrery inaction, search for “humanorrery” on YouTube.