HOU High School Curriculum

Reach for the Stars!

What Is the Hands-On Universe High School Curriculum?

With HOU high school curriculum, teachers and students at all ability levels use high quality astronomical images to explore science, math, and technology concepts. By analyzing genuine astronomical images, students become more excited about math and science.

Read the new draft A Changing Cosmos

Student book revised 1 Nov 2007.
Teacher Guide revised 1 Nov 2007.

A Changing Cosmos is a new product: the "Best" of the 7 books described below, in a single book, in the format of Global System Science (http://lhs.berkeley.edu/gss). GSS is a series of books that can form the basis of a high school integrated science course, Earth science course, or be used as supplemental materials for physics, biology and chemistry courses. Field test drafts linked above are not print enabled. Only field test teachers receive print versions.

Please contact Alan Gould <agould@berkeley.edu> if you are interested in field testing any or all of this new material. Many of the investigations involve students using HOU Image Processing Software -- easy-to-use software is similar to that which professional astronomers use..

Additional Units:
HOU Modeling Unit (Newton's Universal Law of Gravitation and Kepler's 3rd Law; summer 2005)
HOU Transit Unit (Discovering New Planets)

The original TERC-developed HOU materials include seven student workbooks, plus a Teachers' Guide, used in tandem with the HOU Image Processing Software CD. HOU curriculum materials have been in use in hundreds of high school classrooms in the U.S.A. since 1994. They have proven effective with a wide range of students. The open-ended explorations make learning fun for the less interested student, as well as appealing to the high achiever.

The original HOU TERC modules:

Introduction to Image Processing
Explains how to use the HOU Image Processing Software toolbars. Students learn how a CCD detector digitizes celestial images and adjust their own images to bring out unseen features.

Finding Features
Enjoy a Browser's Guide to the Universe. Play with images of lunar features and a solar eclipse. Travel through an atlas of galaxies displaying amazingly different structures.

Measuring Size *
Use the pixel plate scale to measure a lunar cratar. Track Jupiter's moons from night to night; calculate the moons' mass from the mass of Jupiter and the moons' orbital radii.

Measuring Color *
Learn about the colors of stars, the HR diagram, and how stars evolve according to their mass. See how astronomers use color filters to reveal features of stars, and use the image processing software to see those features. See how colors of stars reveal their life history.

Measuring Distance *
Learn how the cosmological distance ladder is used to determine the distance to far away objects. Practice using spherical geometry. Determine the luminosity of distant objects using their apparent brightness. See how Cepheid Variable stars are used to measure their distance.

Measuring Brightness *
Learn about photometry -- measurement of light from a celestial object. Calculate stellar magnitudes using logarithms. Follow in the footsteps of Pennsyvania high school students who used the HOU software to discover a supernova.

Searching for Supernovae
See how astronomers find supernovae -- exploding stars. Learn to manipulate pairs of digital sky images to reveal changes from night to night. This unit helps equip students to join genuine research projects, whether through HOU or in future college work.

Teachers' Reference Guide
This manual provides a description of how teachers can use the tools of modern astronomy in the classroom. Teacher notes are provided for each of the seven modules in the HOU curriculum, with guidelines for student outcomes. Answer sheets for module exercises are also included.

* The four "Measuring" modules support national standards for high school science and mathematics as outlined in the AAAS Benchmarks and the National Research Council National Science Education Standards.
For more information on HOU topics correlated with TIMSS coding system.

Introduction to Image Processing	Explains how to use the HOU Image Processing Software toolbars. Students learn how a CCD detector digitizes celestial images and adjust their own images to bring out unseen features.
Finding Features	Enjoy a Browser's Guide to the Universe. Play with images of lunar features and a solar eclipse. Travel through an atlas of galaxies displaying amazingly different structures.
Measuring Size *	Use the pixel plate scale to measure a lunar cratar. Track Jupiter's moons from night to night; calculate the moons' mass from the mass of Jupiter and the moons' orbital radii.
Measuring Color *	Learn about the colors of stars, the HR diagram, and how stars evolve according to their mass. See how astronomers use color filters to reveal features of stars, and use the image processing software to see those features. See how colors of stars reveal their life history.
Measuring Distance *	Learn how the cosmological distance ladder is used to determine the distance to far away objects. Practice using spherical geometry. Determine the luminosity of distant objects using their apparent brightness. See how Cepheid Variable stars are used to measure their distance.
Measuring Brightness *	Learn about photometry -- measurement of light from a celestial object. Calculate stellar magnitudes using logarithms. Follow in the footsteps of Pennsyvania high school students who used the HOU software to discover a supernova.
Searching for Supernovae	See how astronomers find supernovae -- exploding stars. Learn to manipulate pairs of digital sky images to reveal changes from night to night. This unit helps equip students to join genuine research projects, whether through HOU or in future college work.
Teachers' Reference Guide	This manual provides a description of how teachers can use the tools of modern astronomy in the classroom. Teacher notes are provided for each of the seven modules in the HOU curriculum, with guidelines for student outcomes. Answer sheets for module exercises are also included.