Mathematical Activities Using the Aurora.

  The one thing I love about living in Alaska is seeing the Auroral displays in winter.  Yes, it can be extremely cold but many times the displays are so awesome, its worth standing in -40 degree weather to enjoy.

Its always nice to have activities lined up to help students understand more about the mathematics behind the aurora.

Before starting either lesson, I'd show the videos from this page as a way of introducing these beautiful phenomena to students who might not have a chance to see the lights in person.

For instance, NASA has a lovely 56 page activity guide geared for grades 7 and 8 with several mathematical activities such as plotting satellite data on a polar map to see where the auroral belt is located.  Another uses geometry to find observing latitude for auroral displays.  There is an activity using a clinometer to find the height of an object in the classroom while another has students using triangulation to find the height of the aurora.  There are four more activities which use math and deal with the aurora.

Each activity comes complete with objectives, sample questions, a list of materials, worksheets, demonstration information and teacher notes.  Although it is geared for 7th and 8th graders, this could easily be used in the high school with little alternation.

The Utah Education Network has a great activity that uses a circular grid to plot zones of auroral activities.  It takes the students step by step through the activity to analyze the northern nights.  When they've completed this one, there is a worksheet for students to use to analyze the southern lights in the same way.  I like that this activity has them using a geographic circular grid to provide a reference. 

Most of the activities in both sets of activities have students learning to find points on a geographic coordinate grid which gives them exposure to a different use of coordinate points.  In this case, the x and y values represent longitude and latitude, a use most of our students are never exposed to .  It puts the graphing into a real contextual use.

Let me know what you think.  I'd love to hear.