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AcknowledgementsBethany BlackwoodLaura BoyleGretchen BrinzaWilliam BrownJoanna CalandrielloEu ChoiKevin ConnollyFitzgerald CrameJames EdstromMelinet EllisonJeffrey EricksonLaura FrckaKatleya HealyTracy IammartinoLeigha InghamSandra JacksonMarianna JenningsEdward KaniaMolly Lahart

Albert LangChris LaytonPreston LewisSushma LohitsaShuJuana LovettJuven MaciasKendra MalloryDaphne MooreOscar NewmanTim NuttleLidia OrtizTasia PenaKyle RadcliffBessie RahmanLibby RobertsonJennifer SchultzHalyna SendounKaroline SharpThomas Sherlock

Lucas SmithAndrew StrickerValia ThompsonStephen TowAurora TyagiTracey Walker-HinesDelora WashingtonJeanettra WatkinsDarnella WesleyMelanie YauLucy Young

Punya MishraMissy CosbyAkesha HortonCandace MarcotteRohit MehtaKyle Shack

Cosmos: Carl Sagans

A personal voyage

The educators perspective

The Shores of the Cosmic OceanThe Shores of the Cosmic Ocean

The known is finite, the unknown infinite; intellectually we stand on an islet in the midst of an illimitable ocean of inexplicability. Our business in every generation is to reclaim a little more land. -T.H. Huxley, 1887 pg. 1

Image courtesy of NASA http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view.php?id=59538

Ch. 1

THE BIG

IDEA(S)

The scale of the universe is beyond ordinary human comprehension.

Humans have adapted to search for meaning and making sense of where we are in the universe has been important throughout history.

WHAT THIS MEANS

STEMEDUCATORS

FOR We need to explicitly introduce the ideas of astronomical distance and geologic time to our

students.

Students need to become familiar with the types of evidence used to establish dates and distances - the types of evidence required to discuss these ideas.

Science requires habits of mind such as curiosity and skepticism in order to advance knowledge. For example, Eratosthenes was able to derive a method for determining the size of the Earth based on a shrewd observation of shadows.

Students need to become familiar with conventions for large (and small) numbers.

Educators need to explicitly make students familiar with examples of scientific thinking across cultures.Ch. 1

PERFORMANCES OFUNDERSTANDING

Students will ask lots of questions.

Students will develop the capacity to answer their questions independently.

Students will expand their definition of what resources they have to answer questions to include: family members, observations, thought experiments, and peers in addition to traditional resources like texts and the Interweb.

Students will become more adept at sharing what they have learned.

Students will become confident with quantitative reasoning in order to engage in conversations about STEM

Students will exhibit habits of mind like curiosity, skepticism, and openness to new ideas.

As a result of these developments, students will begin to view their school as a forum to explore curiosity.

Ch. 1

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Ch. 2 One Voice in the Cosmic Fugue

Construction of the Origin of Life

WHAT THIS MEANS

STEMEDUCATORS

FOR

Discusses the creation of life through natural mutations.

People believed that God created the Earth for us or could believe that we adapted to the Earth as it is.

Knowledge component focusing on EVOLUTION, NATURAL SELECTION, and ARTIFICIAL SELECTION that have students to use Cosmos as basis so that they will then have enough knowledge to form their own decision around this Big Idea.

Students make an argument and use this knowledge as Evidence to support their argument

THE BIG

IDEA(S)

Ch. 2

PERFORMANCES OFUNDERSTANDING Create a brochure based on conflicting viewpoints of the scientist.

Create an video where you are being interviewed about your ideals Create an organism that demonstrate adaptation over time. Create a newspaper article that would reflect that period of time Students could debate ideals around a common piece of content Create a timemachine activity where students explore what life would be like during that

time period. Technology of the time Use Curriculum from the Evolution MegaLab stem.org.uk/cx3v4

Ch. 2

And if we live in an unpredictable world, where things change in random, or very complex ways, we would not be able to figure

things out. Again, there would be no such thing as

science.The Harmony of Worlds, page 41

Image retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phyllotaxis

Ch. 3

Math and science are interconnected and do not stand alone. One concept lends itself to understanding another, especially as we acknowledge how they connect across disciplines.

WHAT THIS MEANS

STEMEDUCATORS

FOR

Patterns are EVERYWHERE...

They allow us to question about the relationships around us and the factors that influence them.

The more things change, the more they stay the same because everything is based on patterns. The building blocks of math and science allow for sequential learning, determining how cause and effect relate to understanding the world around us.

THE BIG

IDEA(S)

Ch. 3

PERFORMANCES OFUNDERSTANDING

Understanding of performances can be identified in several ways:

Create your own patterns Create your own mathematical patterns Role-play repeated patterns to create harmony Concept Mapping Sequence Mapping Comparing phenomena across disciplines Analyze scientific data to determine patterns and relationships Design challenges Classification sorts

Ch. 3

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The Earth is a tiny and fragile world. It needs to be cherished. - Carl Sagan pg. 107

"Earth Egg." Flickr. Yahoo!, n.d. Web. 09 July 2015.

Ch. 4

Heaven and Hell

The Cosmos is full of planets with their own conditions however the Earth is the only planet that we know of that has the unique conditions to support many versions of life.

WHAT THIS MEANS

STEMEDUCATORS

FOR

Our planet has a unique atmosphere that not only sustains life but protects it; the composition of gases in the atmosphere and how these gases moderate temperature. These gases protect the planet from solar radiation and cosmic debris.

The atmosphere of Venus and Mars and how their atmospheres make those planets barren of life.

Certain conditions are needed to sustain; this includes chemical compositions. There must be an appreciation of just how unique Earth is within the Cosmos. The

conditions on Earth (how far away we are from the sun, relative size of the Earth, relative size of the Sun, the star stage of our Sun) make it unique.

Humans impact the Earth in many ways; those human impacts affect its atmosphere and ecosystems.

The Earth is affected by random cosmic events.

THE BIG

IDEA(S)

Ch. 4

PERFORMANCES OFUNDERSTANDING When given data sets (atmospheric conditions of various planets, distance from the sun,

relative size of the planet compared to the sun), determine whether life as we know can exist on said planets.

Create an organism that can live on Venus and Mars as it currently exists.

Journal about two factors that could be changed on Venus and Mars so the planets are able to support life. Include an explanation of what would change about the organism created.

Debate the immediate and long term effects of a cosmic event on Earth.

Ch. 4

Ch. 5If life on Mars exists, we will have a unique opportunity to test the generality of our form of life. And if there is not life on Mars, we must understand whywe have the classic scientific confrontation of the experiment and the control. - Cosmos, pg. 133

If life on Mars exists, we will have a unique opportunity to test the generality of our form of life. And if there is not life on Mars, we must understand whywe have the classic scientific confrontation of the experiment and the control. - Cosmos, pg. 133

http://en.source.wikipedia/wiki/victoria_(crater)

Blues for a Red Planet

What is the definition of life? Cross-contamination Results can be disproven at any time

WHAT THIS MEANS

STEMEDUCATORS

FOR

Introduce concepts in relationship to the cosmos, the unknown. We dont know what we are going to find. We are venturing to the unknown.

Our preconceived idea of what life is may be different from what we will find out. Is there more for you to learn?

There is so much out there that we dont know, and that is okay. There are multiple ways to get from the known to the unknown (problem solving). Be persistent. The cosmos is so vast, but if we together study and discover more about it, the cosmos

do not seem so large. You have to focus to get more out of it.

THE BIG

IDEA(S)

Ch. 5

PERFORMANCES OFUNDERSTANDING

Life is the concepts or topics in the curriculum - testing the instrumental knowledge and the relational understanding. Be able to support ideas and understanding by analyzing, discussing, and making meaningful connections. Expand upon basic understanding of the concept of idea.

Various activities or lab experiments looking at cross-contamination.

Show students how different inventions were developed for different reasons. (Example, silly putty was developed during WWII to find a different way to manufacture rubber w/o petroleum). Students would then come up with other ideas.

Ch. 5

The microscope and telescope represent an extension

of human vision to the realms of the very small and the

very large.p. 151

Travelers Tales

https://flic.kr/p/6Jgw6vJD Hancock Large Order of Toast

Ch. 6

The journey is more important than the destination

WHAT THIS MEANS

STEMEDUCATORS

FOR

As educators, we should allow students to question, internalize, and synthesize the results of their explorations.

THE BIG

IDEA(S)

Ch. 6

PERFORMANCES OFUNDERSTANDING

Keep a journal Generate a list of observations What do these observations mean to you?

Produce an artifact This would communicate understanding from their journey Peer reflection

Ch. 6

The Backbone of NightThe sky is important. It covers us. It speaks to us. Before the time we found the flame, we would lie back in the dark and look up at all the points of light. Some points would come together to make a picture in the sky... Could they be the pictures of the powerful beings in the sky, the ones who make the storms when angry? (Sagan, page 176).

https://www.flickr.com/photos/29233640@N07/3731507326

Ch. 7

In spite of the best efforts of the mystics to contain scientific inquiry, science trumps mythology through QUESTIONING and EXPERIMENTATION to make sense of the Cosmos.

WHAT THIS MEANS

STEMEDUCATORS

FOR

Scientific Method: wonder, explore, evaluate Scientific Inquiry: ask questions, do research Collaboration: work with peers to further their understanding Historical knowledge: know origins of scientific method, inquiry Use a variety of tools to research ideas/concepts Identify opposing views and present them: craft arguments to address and challenge

misconceptions Disciplined mind: keep an open mind and challenge dogma

THE BIG

IDEA(S)

Ch. 7

PERFORMANCES OFUNDERSTANDING

Presentations with substance (i.e position paper) Ask why with supporting reasoning/thought Perseverance through the cloud. Being okay with having a question and not finding the

pre-selected answer, but being stuck Questions transform from thin to thick, open-ended Tweeting about their questions and discoveries to make learning interactive and public Fluent in using technology to research ideas and to advance their discoveries

Ch. 7

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Ch. 8

-Carl Sagan-pg. 228

Time is relative to the speed with which you are traveling. All celestial beings are born, they live and they die. Space is immense and mostly empty.

WHAT THIS MEANS

STEMEDUCATORS

FOR

THE BIG

IDEA(S)

We need to help our students build an understanding... of the speed of light. that time is the interval between two events. that light travels at the same rate from an object whether that object is stationary or

moving? in the Perception of time and how it changes relative to the speed that you are traveling. that immense distances allow us to see the past. We dont see events in real time. of the age of the sun.

Ch. 8

PERFORMANCES OFUNDERSTANDING

Use a cinema study to investigate the theme of the Theory of Relativity. using science & pop culture films, i.e. Interstellar, Contact

Conduct laboratory experiments to study life spans. Students debate: Has our solar system always existed? Age appropriate distance graphing exercises/labs. Use NASA database to investigate the universe.

Hubble Telescope images of the birth of a star.

Ch. 8

The Lives of the StarsIt would be clear from such a world, as it is from ours, how our matter, our form, and much of our character is determined by the deep connection between life and the Cosmos. (pg. 255)

-Carl Sagan

Paranal Nights". ESO Picture of the Week. Retrieved7 January 2014

Ch. 9

Everything in the universe is related; from the smallest piece of matter to the largest collection of matter that has yet to be discovered.

At our very core life is all related, we are all built using common parts.

WHAT THIS MEANS

STEMEDUCATORS

FOR

Concepts have a connection that can be used to relate information to students. Observations of patterns and cycles can help us understand how things work; both old and

new. All interdisciplinary concepts can be connected to further student understanding.

THE BIG

IDEA(S)

Ch. 9

PERFORMANCES OFUNDERSTANDING

Compare and contrast you and the sun. Google slide presentation on the evolution of the atom. Compare and contrast multiplying two polynomials. Use results from Mendels experiments to explain what possible children could be

produced from two Sesame Street characters. Peer constructive questioning Modeling of Using Venn diagrams to show the relationship of Presentation on the history of...

Ch. 9

The Edge of Forever

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Almost all of modern cosmology - and especially the idea of an expanding universe and a Big Bang - is based on the idea that the redshift of distant galaxies is a Doppler effect and arises from their speed of recession. (p 268)

- Carl Sagan

ESO/M. Kornmesser - http://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1122a/

Ch. 10

http://traceywalkerhines.weebly.com/

Observed evidence tells us that the universe is expanding and has been doing so since the big bang.

Theories about the fate of the universe are constantly being argued and revised. All cultures have myths about the creation of the universe.

WHAT THIS MEANS

STEMEDUCATORS

FOR

The universe began with the big bang. This theory is based on the doppler effect: Light from objects that move away from an observer appear more red (redshift) Aside from a few local galaxies, all of the galaxies observed have a redshift and are

moving away from the Earth This means that the universe is expanding equally in all directions Extrapolating this back through time, we rationally arrive at the Big Bang (pop!)

The fate of the universe is still unknown, (expanding infinitely vs. oscillating between big bangs and big crunches). Much data has been gathered since this book was published which has supported

the expansion theory but left us with many new questions. Every culture has a myth about the creation of the universe

These are often beautiful, but are ultimately based on premonitions Understanding the mind blowing nature of the cosmos requires an understanding of multiple

dimensions (which is inherently very difficult!).

THE BIG

IDEA(S)

Ch. 10

PERFORMANCES OFUNDERSTANDING Students group up and debate on the origins of the universe.

Students develop explanatory models of the big bang Presentations on culture myths of the origins of the universe Video/sound scavenger hunt for demonstrations of the doppler effect. Students can be given new information to explore how the models of the universe have

changed and been refined since the time Sagan wrote this book.

Ch. 10

Ch. 11

Intelligence can be seen in computers, whales, DNA, human brains, and man-made structures such as cities, libraries, books and satellites). Can it exist in other worlds?

WHAT THIS MEANS

STEMEDUCATORS

FOR

Allows us to to see intelligence as being contained in broader contexts than merely the brain. Computers and intelligence - bits and bytes as basic units of information Consider animal intelligence (as exhibited by whales and their unique mode of

communication) The role of DNA and other genetic forms of intelligence

Intelligence lies in the brain The evolutionary aspects of developing human intelligence

Intelligence lies in structures made by humans Cities, libraries, books, computers, satellites as all being forms of inhabiting

collective intelligence. The distinct possibility of alien intelligence

The odds for and against Communicating with alien intelligences (how can it be done)

THE BIG

IDEA(S)

Ch. 11

PERFORMANCES OFUNDERSTANDING

Define intelligence And its many manifestations on this planet Recognizing intelligent behavior

Provide examples of intelligence in humans, animals, cities and computers Discuss how this has implications for the development of alien intelligence

Life on other worlds Challenges to the origin of life on other worlds The probability of life on other worlds

Communicating with alien intelligences Mathematics v.s. Music

Ch. 11

Ch. 12

Can there be intelligent life elsewhere in the universe How can we find out

Learning to distinguish between fact and fiction with respect of alien civilizations

WHAT THIS MEANS

STEMEDUCATORS

FOR

Students research the internet and debate the definition of life? How can be recognize life or intelligent life in other parts of the universe Truth and fraud in the search for intelligent life The nature of science and the distinguishing non-science from science Find examples in the news of non-science and science

Students study the electromagnetic spectrum and the importance of of radio waves for the search for intelligent life

Students seek to identify the variables that can help predict the evolution of life Can one compute the probability of intelligent, technologically sophisticated

civilizations in the universe (Drake equation) Students study the discovery of planets across neighboring stars and the presence

of planets in the Goldilocks zone Students develop their own messages to send to aliens.

THE BIG

IDEA(S)

Ch. 12

PERFORMANCES OFUNDERSTANDING

Students debate and attempt define life. How can we distinguish life from non-life? Students debate and attempt to define intelligence? Students explore the idea that computers can be intelligent?

Students play the Turing Test against bots on the Internet? Watch the moving The imitation game and debate the value of the Turing test

Students explore on the internet and find examples of animal intelligence. Students attempt to define what makes it different from human intelligence?

Debate questions: Is intelligence an inevitable consequence of evolution? Does intelligence necessarily mean technological proficiency? How can one communicate with intelligent beings? Animals? Aliens?

Ch. 12

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Chapter 13Ch. 13

Who Speaks

for Earth?

There is no other species that does science...its not perfect, it can be misused, it is only a tool, but is by far the best tool that we have. It is self-correcting, on-going, applicable to

everything. pg. 352 Value knowledge and act wisely to pass this knowledge on. Apply your understanding and share your passion with others to create enthusiasm. We cannot

stand alone.

WHAT THIS MEANS

STEMEDUCATORS

FOR We need to help students...

Understand that science is always evolving. Critically examine what is known as truth. Question authority, ask why, explore how. Develop a passion for the discipline and share it with others. Apply their understanding, as they are aware that they are a part of a bigger system. Understand that science is a powerful tool that needs to be wielded responsibly. See the evolution of technology and its significance in science. Consider how they impact the system and respond appropriately.

THE BIG

IDEA(S)

Ch. 13

PERFORMANCES OFUNDERSTANDING

Research and present theories that have been disproved. Working in pairs, students are provided a fact. One student provides evidence and

proof that the fact is true. The other student contradicts the evidence to weaken the validity of the claim.

Students share their curiosities on a Wonder Wall in the classroom. Students tweet or connect with a field expert around a STEM topic of interest.

Through their discussion with the expert, students are able to explore new levels of understanding by utilizing probing questions.

Students create independent passion projects (20% time, Genius Hour, etc.). They then share their inquiry with other students through presentation as well as with family and community members.

Class participates in a science social activist campaign and educates the community on environmental issues that challenge them. Students provide potential solutions to better educate community members.

Students create a social media campaign (YouTube Channel, Instagram hashtag) to document and share their scientific understanding in an accessible way.

Students role play to debate ethical issues in science.Ch. 13

The End