Science was not my favorite subject in high school. In fact, it wasn\u2019t until my late 20s that I fell in love with science and changed careers. Before that I couldn\u2019t have cared less about it, but that\u2019s another story. This story is about how I molded art, research, dimensional analysis, and SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) into an engaging project in a high school physics class.<\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019m not a big fan of the traditional because tradition hasn’t done me any good in life and definitely didn\u2019t do me any good in high school. Therefore, I feel called to create experiences for my students that they will remember\u2014experiences that would have excited me as a teenager. I feel that these experiences should not just teach them something, but also do the following:<\/span><\/p>\n The inspiration for this project came last summer during my first visit to the SETI Institute in Mountain View, CA to meet with my new PhD advisor, Franck Marchis. During this visit, I was drawn to the Drake equation artwork in the lobby\u2019s entrance. I first learned about the Drake equation years ago when I went back to school for science and was immediately fascinated by the idea of SETI and the idea of looking for life elsewhere in the cosmos.<\/span><\/p>\n The<\/span> Drake equation<\/span><\/a>, created by Frank Drake, former director of the Carl Sagan Center at the SETI Institute, is not an equation in the traditional sense, but a way of organizing the focus of SETI researchers seeking an answer to N, which is the possible number of civilizations in our galaxy that could have detectable communication. There are seven factors in the equation that, when multiplied together, yield a probable answer for N. That value varies greatly depending on which researchers you talk to.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Drake equation: N = R<\/span>*<\/span> f<\/span>p<\/span> n<\/span>e<\/span> f<\/span>l<\/span> f<\/span>i<\/span> f<\/span>c<\/span> L<\/span><\/p>\n I wanted to begin this school year with a fun and engaging project that would also allow me to get to know my students and build a strong community for the year. The idea that I initially had after my visit to the SETI Institute was to have all my students paint a mural of the Drake equation on the exterior wall of my tenth-grade high school physics class at the MIT Academy in Vallejo, CA.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I discussed this idea with another science teacher at my school, Michael Wee, and he suggested I consider having them paint on separate wooden boards to make the mechanics of the whole project simpler, and also mobile. It turns out that the number of groups I have in each of my five physics classes equals the total number of letters in the Drake equation (eight) so I could have each group focus on one letter. Perfect!<\/span><\/p>\n Wee\u2019s idea also made the project more interesting because it meant that I would have five different groups across each section working on the same board for each letter at different times. I believe obstacles should be turned into opportunities and this was a perfect one for some major creativity!\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Teachers, this is your lesson plan if you want to try it out!<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Here\u2019s a rough outline of the project:<\/span><\/p>\n For step two above, I had students work individually to research the Drake equation as opposed to me attempting to tell them about it. I\u2019m trying to make it a habit to have the students construct their own knowledge versus me trying to give it to them because I find that works much better!<\/span><\/p>\n For their research, I had students compile their research in Google slide presentations with the following:<\/span><\/p>\n Franck suggested that we try to get some SETI researchers to have a live videoconference with my classes to talk about how their work contributes to the Drake equation. The response from the SETI Institute was fantastic and we were able to get one SETI researcher to videoconference with each of my sections!<\/span><\/p>\n We used Zoom to have the following researchers videoconference with my physics classes: Pascal Lee, Franck Marchis, Douglas Caldwell, Margaret Race, and Dana Backman. This was very exciting for both me and my students. Many of my students told me that they had never experienced this, i.e. having a professional scientist videoconference their class.<\/span><\/p>\n The researchers were instructed to introduce themselves, talk broadly about what the Drake equation is, discuss how their work contributes to the equation, and then hold a Q&A with the students. The students were instructed to take notes and each group had to have one question prepared beforehand. Students were allowed to use these notes in their research slides.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n After the research was complete, each student shared their research slides on their Chromebooks using the<\/span> round-robin teaching strategy<\/span><\/a>. Next, they used whiteboards to brainstorm their designs and took pictures of their ideas to share with other sections via online collaboration tool,<\/span> Padlet<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n\n
Inspiration for the Project and the Drake Equation<\/b><\/h2>\n
The Idea<\/b><\/h2>\n
The Mechanics of my Drake Equation Mural Project
\n<\/b><\/h2>\n\n
\n
Wait, something cool happened in the middle of their research time!<\/b><\/h3>\n
Sharing research and art in a physics class?!<\/b><\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/cosmicdiary.org\/dpeluso\/files\/2019\/10\/MITA_Drake_Mural_Front-300x169.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/cosmicdiary.org\/dpeluso\/files\/2019\/10\/MITA_Drake_Mural_CloseAngle-300x225.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/cosmicdiary.org\/dpeluso\/files\/2019\/10\/MITA_Drake_N-300x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/cosmicdiary.org\/dpeluso\/files\/2019\/10\/MITA_Drake_Equal-300x225.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/cosmicdiary.org\/dpeluso\/files\/2019\/10\/MITA_Drake_R-300x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/cosmicdiary.org\/dpeluso\/files\/2019\/10\/MITA_Drake_fp-300x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/cosmicdiary.org\/dpeluso\/files\/2019\/10\/MITA_Drake_ne-300x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/cosmicdiary.org\/dpeluso\/files\/2019\/10\/MITA_Drake_fl-300x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/cosmicdiary.org\/dpeluso\/files\/2019\/10\/MITA_Drake_fi-300x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/cosmicdiary.org\/dpeluso\/files\/2019\/10\/MITA_Drake_fc-300x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/cosmicdiary.org\/dpeluso\/files\/2019\/10\/MITA_Drake_L-300x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\n