Renaissance Astronomers
For this unit, we will be working in groups and individually, use Google Docs and StoryBird, to learn about the astronomers of the Renaissance and understand how they shaped our world today! You will be able to identify the accomplishments of Kepler, Tycho, Gallileo, and Copernicus and understand why their innovations were important and how they affect today's world.
Step 1
First, we will break into 4 groups, with each group choosing one astronomer. Using the links on the Resources tab (and any other credible websites you may find), conduct research to discover important facts about your group's astronomer. Each group member should find at least one important fact and one vocabulary word related to the astronomer. With the vocabulary word, you should also create a definition and find a picture that illustrates the word. After sharing this information with the group, you should work together to determine the best 3-5 vocabulary words and make sure that you have a comprehensive set of notes that cover all of the important information on your astronomer.
Fill in your group astronomer's tab on the notes spreadsheet in Google Docs. (You can see a preview of this sheet on the Documents tab.) Your group should also find 3-5 vocabulary words that are related to your group's astronomer. The word, the definition, and a picture need to be filled in for each of your chosen vocabulary words on the vocab sheet in Google Docs. (There is also a preview of this sheet on the Documents tab.)
Fill in your group astronomer's tab on the notes spreadsheet in Google Docs. (You can see a preview of this sheet on the Documents tab.) Your group should also find 3-5 vocabulary words that are related to your group's astronomer. The word, the definition, and a picture need to be filled in for each of your chosen vocabulary words on the vocab sheet in Google Docs. (There is also a preview of this sheet on the Documents tab.)
Step 2
After all of the groups are finished filling out the notes and vocab sheets in Google Docs, each person in the class will have comprehensive documents containing all the notes on all four astronomers and all of the vocab words, definitions, and pictures from each group. New groups will be formed with each member being an expert on a different astronomer (one group member from the Galileo group, one member from the Kepler group, one member from the Tycho group, and one member from the Copernicus group). Each member of the new group will be responsible for explaining the notes and vocabulary words to the other group members.
Step 3
Respond to the following prompt:
Pick one of the astronomy advancements accomplished by one of the astronomers we have discussed. Pretend like this advancement had never been discovered. Write at least 2 paragraphs about what life would be like and how it would be different from how we live today.
Your response to this prompt will be used to create a StoryBird story. First, you should look through the pictures provided by StoryBird and create a draft of your story in Word. Give your draft to Miss Fisher to read over. Then you can enter the information into the website and create your story.
Go to the StoryBird tab to learn how to use this new website.
Pick one of the astronomy advancements accomplished by one of the astronomers we have discussed. Pretend like this advancement had never been discovered. Write at least 2 paragraphs about what life would be like and how it would be different from how we live today.
Your response to this prompt will be used to create a StoryBird story. First, you should look through the pictures provided by StoryBird and create a draft of your story in Word. Give your draft to Miss Fisher to read over. Then you can enter the information into the website and create your story.
Go to the StoryBird tab to learn how to use this new website.