University Role-Playing Exercises for Teaching Astronomy and
Physics: Copies
Paul J. Francis
[The Australian National University]
[Department of Physics]
[Paul Francis]
[Main Roleplay Page]
Introduction
This page provides information about, and copies of the
role-playing exercises I use
in my undergraduate Astronomy classes.
You are very welcome to use, copy and modify these exercises.
I only ask that you cite me as the source, and that you let me know that
you are using them, and how the exercises went.
These exercises have now been used successfully in three other
Australian universities, at least ten US universities, a university
in Eire, and in several UK, US and Australian high-schools to date.
How They Work
In these exercises, I divided my class into small teams typically of
three students). Each team is then given a briefing paper, describing
some facet of a particular astronomical mystery. The teams have to
wander around the classroom, exchanging information with other
groups, until they can piece together a complete solution to the
astronomical mystery. They can then present their solution and win
a prize.
The exercises have been run successfully in classes as large as 150
students, and as small as 12 students. I see no reason why they should
no work equally well in larger classes still. They have been run with
students as young as Year 10, and as old as grad students.
For more details on how to run these exercises, some of the pitfalls,
and a guide to the underlying theory, see my paper in PASA:
I have carried out a careful assessment of the effectiveness of
these exercises, which is written up here:
Copies of the Exercises
Most exercises were written for a 1st Year university astronomy class
for students with no maths or physics background.
Many of these exercises have also been successfully run with
year 10-12 high school students, and with the general public. They
can also be used with more advanced students, who still seem to find
them challenging.
Case Study: Star and Planet Formation Exercise for 1st Year
Astronomy Students.
You are the world authorities of the formation of stars and planets,
gathered together here at enormous expense by NASA to solve this perplexing
puzzle...
This is the exercise described in my paper. It is designed to teach
students how solar systems form. I prepare students by describing some of
the clues to the formation of the solar system (all the planets
in circular, co-planar orbits, gassy ones further out, Sun in the
middle). I start the exercise by posing the problem: how do you turn
a giant molecular cloud into a star and planets? The class then divide
themselves into groups of 3. Each group is given one of the briefing papers.
If there are more groups than briefing papers, I give each paper to
more than one group. They then have to exchange information to try and
come up with a complete theory, and win a prize (usually chocolate or
a glow-in-the-dark star). See my paper for more details.
(HTML)
Understanding the Sky Exercise for 1st Year Astronomy Students.
The city of Mog lies on a perfectly flat plain in the middle of a swamp.
The inhabitants of Mog are highly intelligent and scientific, but have
no concept of astronomy, because the clouds over Mog have never broken in
recorded history. Recently, some perplexing facts have come to light that seem
to go against the orhtodox theory of Mog's universe. Your mission: to sort out
these facts, without being burnt by the inquisition in the process...
I use this exercise in the first lecture of class, to introduce students
to the sky, and how difficult it can be to study. Notes on how to run
it are included in the exercise. Basically students play the role of
inhabitants of a planet on which the clouds have never broken. They
have to figure out what the sky is like.
This exercise can get very rowdy! I don't normally have problems with
it, but one user in the USA reported that some students became very
aggressive and confrontational towards each other in playing their
roles. It might be worth removing the "inquisition" briefing paper, if
you think your class might do this.
(Word)
I also wrote a couple of follow-up exercises set in the same imaginary universe:
Exercise 1(Powerpoint)
Exercise 2(Powerpoint)
These teach about planets and how they appear in the sky.
Runaway Greenhouse Effect Exercise
Why is Venus so much hotter than the Earth? You are a group of experts
gathered from around the world to solve this long-standing mystery...
This exercise teaches students about the greenhouse effect. I pose
the question of why Venus is so ridiculously hot, when it isn't that
much closer to the Sun than us: its equilibrium temperature should be
around 50C, not 400+C.
(Word)
Captain Cook Exercise
It is the year 1760. You are the cabinet of England. Some obscure sailor
by the name of Captain Cook is asking for funding to go exploring in the
south seas. Should you give it to him?
The aim is to get them to think about the long term benefits or otherwise of
space travel. I start off the session by describing some of the arguments
for and against ventures such as colonising Mars, pointing out that it
is technically quite feasible - the sticking points are economic and
political. The class then have to play the role of members of the British
Cabinet in the 1760s, trying to decide whether to send Captain Cook to
explore the south seas. Once they are well and truly stuck into this
argument, I ask them to move forward a few hundred years and transpose
the same issues into space exploration.
It seems to work best if each role is given to a group of 2-3 students
rather than to an individual.
(Word).
Life in Space Exercise
Is there intelligent life in space? You are world experts on this question
gathered together to try and solve it.
The aim of this exercise is to teach the basic concepts behind the Drake
equation. Full notes are included.
(Word
International Space Law
You are the UN committee on international space law. An American
company is asking for permission to "own" an asteroid. This would set
a precedent for private property in space. What should the law be?
This exercise is designed to teach students about international space law, or
the lack thereof. I ran it in a tute, with 2-3 people in a group playing
each role. A set of notes on international space law are included.
(WORD)
Mystery Cosmology Exercise
You live on a far-away planet in a distant universe. You have been studying
distant galaxies, and finding some remarkable and disturbing results. What do
they tell you about your universe?
An exercise designed to teach students about the Hubble Law, spectra and
the Milky Way.
(pdf)
Exercises for More Advanced Students
The following exercises are for more advanced students.
Our Galaxy
This exercise was designed for a 1st year class, but one which was
assumed to have at least a little maths and physics background. It teaches
about the discovery that we live in a galaxy, and the size and shape of
our galaxy (the Milky Way).
As usual, the class are divided up into rival groups and given one
briefing paper each. They have to exchange information to explain
the bizarre facts of the night sky and win a prize.
(PDF).
Nuclear Configuration Exercise for 3rd Year Nuclear Physics Students.
Aidan Byrne contributed this exercise, which he uses with his 3rd
year nuclear physics class. It is used not to teach material but to
consolidate the material already taught.
(HTML) ,
(LaTeX) ,
(Postscript)
High Redshift Galaxy Exercise for Astronomy Graduate Students.
This exercise was used at a winter school of graduate and honours students.
They had to play the role of an astronomy conference trying to decide which
new telescope projects to fund. It teaches them about future telescope
projects and about galaxy formation.
(HTML) ,
(LaTeX) ,
(Postscript)
Telescope Time Allocation Committee Exercise for
Astronomy Graduate Students
This exercise too was used at a winter school of graduate and honours
students. It was designed to help students write better telescope
proposals, by exposing them to the way time assignment committees
(TACs) work. The class were divided up into teacms of six, each of
which played the role of the TAC for the Lunar Farside Telescope,
in the year 2100. Each of the six students was given one of
the roles, as described in the roles briefing papers.
The students then had to grade a bunch of fake telescope proposals, and
choose which (if any) got time. they were allowed to allocate only one
farside night.
Last updated 15th April 2004.
Maintainer:
Paul Francis,