Astronomy and Planetary Science:

Test Structure:
Minnesota teacher licensure standards require all elementary teachers to know and apply the fundamental concepts and principles of earth and space science.   Quizzes are in two parts, the first part to measure knowledge, the second to practice and test your application of that knowledge.  In general, the application questions are harder than the knowledge ones.  Knowledge questions will comprise about 60% of each quiz, application questions about 40%.

K-6 Content Knowledge Standards Covered:

Standard:  Know and apply fundamental concepts concerning objects in the sky
    1)  Understand how we measure distances to objects in space.

    2)  Understand how we measure the composition and temperature of objects in space.

Standard:  Understand changes in earth and sky
    1)  Understand and illustrate how phases of the Moon and eclipses occur.

    2)  Understand and illustrate what causes seasons on Earth.

Standard:  Understand Earth in the Solar System
    1)  Know the processes that cause change on planets in our solar system, including Earth.

    2)  Understand how to interpret features that reflect processes of change on planets, including Earth.

    3)  Understand how crater densities reflect ages of planetary surfaces.
 

Example Test Questions for Knowledge Part

1)  Draw and label a sketch which illustrates conceptually how we determine the true distance to a nearby star.

2)  Draw a sketch of the Earth-Moon-Sun system as though viewed from above the North Pole showing
a)  The situation during New Moon
b)  The situation during a Solar Eclipse

3)  Explain one example of how change on a planet other than Earth (name the planet) differs from that on Earth.

Example Test Questions for Application Part

1)  One night, at midnight, you look up at the Moon and notice that it has reached zenith in its trek across the sky.  What phase is it in?

2)  You decide to measure the height of a radio tower by the length of its shadow.  At 4pm, the length of the shadow is 150 feet.  At the same time, you measure  the shadow of a 4 foot post and find it to be 6 feet long.  How tall is the tower?

3)  One day, while in your super-duper planetmobile with its slicing-dicing planet sampler, you sample a cube of average icy planet.  The cube is 3 cm on each side.  What would you expect to be the mass of the cube (in grams)?

Answers to Application Questions:
(These particular questions are either right or wrong, and so I don't give any "weak" answer possibilities for them)

1) Since it is midnight, the Sun must be directly on the other side of the Earth.  In that position, its light would fall full on the side of the Moon towards Earth.  It will be a full moon.

2)  Since the triangle defined by the height and shadow of the post must be the same shape, and have the same angles as the triangle defined by the tower and its shadow, the ratio 4/6 must be the same as the ratio of radio tower height/shadow length.  Therefore, 0.6667 = tower height/150 feet.  Or tower height = 100 feet.

3)  The volume of the cube is 3x3x3 = 27cc.  An icy planet will have a density somewhere in the range 1-3 g/cc.  Therefore the mass of the cube will be between 27 and 81g.

  Home Page (est.htm)   Previous Page (est3.htm)