Determining the Motion of Galaxies Using Doppler Redshift

The purpose of this curriculum unit is to increase a high school student’s waves, specifically sound and light.  The unit strives to promote critical thinking and discussion in a class that is often mathematically focused.  It allows students to collect authentic data and use that data to draw conclusions about our universe.

After learning basic properties of waves, students will investigate the Doppler effect of sound.  They will then use what they learned to make predictions about what will happen to light waves.  Finally, students will analyze data from distant galaxies in order to describe the motion of our universe.

The hope for the unit is that students will learn to think for themselves and will gain a better understanding of what it is like to work in a research field.