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In Your Classroom: Meteorite Hunters
by This is a wonderful show to introduce meteorites in an Astronomy class. I have used it with my own students and they were absolutely in awe with the program. The thought of having a career as a meteorite hunter driving around the plains of Kansas in a four wheeler for money is pure kid fantasy.The thrill of Adam's discovery of the meteorite several feet under the soil makes everyone's day!
In this piece I just want to introduce Astronomy teachers to several resources to make your lesson on meteorites a bit more interesting for the students. First, by all means purchase a few meteorites, and make sure to get a mixed collection of stoney and nickel-iron ones. The latter have the widmanstatten patterns that kids love to see and they are incredibly awesome to hold in your hand.
You should take advantage of kids' natural penchant for extreme disaster and show this animated clip of a super large meteor striking the earth. While the physics leaves a little to be desired I think it is a great way to get kids hooked into your lesson. You can easily transition into a discussion about the iridium layer as evidence of a major meteor impact on earth, and this video of the Barringer crater in Arizona should make them think twice that it will not happen again. Kids might ask when they can see the next meteor shower, and a list of the major showers and links to more details can be found here.
The show mentions how difficult it is to find meteorites in Kansas, and says that it is easier to find them in Antarctica where everything is white with snow. That is somewhat of a misconception, as the meteorites are largely found in the Trans-Antarctic Mountains. I had the great fortune of being down in Antarctica to do ozone research and spoke to many of the teachers assigned to the Antarctic Search for Meteorites program. These teachers have put together fantastic lessons for you and some of the teachers can be accessed live from Antarctica! (during the Southern Hemisphere summer only). I strongly recommend you visit the The Antarctic Search For Meteorites web site where you will find a complete set of resources on meteorites. By the way, tell the kids they can get jobs in Antarctica, just type those key words into Google and join the eclectic group of people down there. They are a joy to work with.
The time honored lesson plan for meteorites is to collect micro-meteorites from snow or rain water. I have not tried this and wonder how well it works. Essentially you collect them with a magnet and then look under a microscope for tell tale shapes. You might have the ambitious student who wants to build a metal detector. As you place a coil over a chunk of metal the inductance of the coil changes and the circuitry detects this.
To be brief, here are a few more interesting sites:
Books:
"Rocks from space: Meteorites and Meteorite Hunters" by O. Richard Norton, available on Amazon.
Lesson Plans:
An excellent presentation of meteorites you can show in your classroom. This JPL site includes many photos of how meteorites are processed.
You can find many slides of meteorites and activities for teachers at this NASA site.
Videos:
Seeing in the Dark is a great PBS film that introduces people to star gazing. It does not have very much on meteorites but it is an excellent resource for video "how to's" in Astronomy.
A really good clip from "NOVA Now" on hunting for meteors is hosted by space scientist Rob Matson and Neil deGrasse Tyson. Tyson is an astrophysicist and the director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York City.
A whole series of meteorite videos from identification to etching (showing widmanstatten patterns) are posted by "mr. meteorite"
Additional WIRED Science Video Segments
Don't forget to check out our Video Section for other segments from WIRED Science that you can use in your classroom.
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