Light Years Away

Author

Texas Instruments

Alignment

Standards Alignment

Textbook Alignment

Subject Area

Math: PreAlgebra: Nonlinear Functions

Level

6-8

Activity Time

60 Minutes

TI Calculator

TI-30 X IIS™ / TI-30Xa

Other Materials

This is Activity 6 from the EXPLORATIONS Book:
Investigating Mathematics with Calculators in the Middle Grades: Activities for the TI-30Xa SE and TI-34

Resource Types

Lessons

Report an Issue

Light Years Away

Activity Overview

Students develop models for a light year and compare numbers written in scientific notation and in standard notation.

Before the Activity

Understand that light travels at 186,000 miles per second and that the distance that light travels in a year is called a light year

See the attached PDF file for detailed instructions for this activity

Print pages 42 - 44 from the attached Student PDF file for the class

During the Activity

Distribute the pages to the class.

Follow the activity procedures:

Calculate how far light travels in a second, in a minute, in an hour, in a day, and in a year; and write the values in both, scientific and standard notations

Determine the exact value of a light year and note the calculator key stroke sequence that gives this value

Calculate the number of light years it would take Chris to travel a distance of 3000 miles each week for a period of 10 years

Compute the number of trips one would need to make around the equator (circumference 24,000 miles) to travel 186,000 miles

Find out how far a space-shuttle could travel in one year, if its speed is 17,500 miles per hour

Determine the number of years it would take to reach the star Alpha Centauri, which is around 4 light years away from Earth

After the Activity

Students complete the Student Activity pages.

Review student results

As a class, discuss questions that appeared to be more challenging

Re-teach concepts as necessary

Download Files

Download All Files (ZIP)

Before the Activity Files

Teacher Notes1 PDF Teacher Notes2 PDF Student Activity PDF

Author

Texas Instruments

Alignment

Standards Alignment

Textbook Alignment

Subject Area

Math: PreAlgebra: Nonlinear Functions

Level

6-8

Activity Time

60 Minutes

TI Calculator

TI-30 X IIS™ / TI-30Xa

Other Materials

This is Activity 6 from the EXPLORATIONS Book:
Investigating Mathematics with Calculators in the Middle Grades: Activities for the TI-30Xa SE and TI-34

Resource Types

Lessons

Report an Issue

iPad is a trademark of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.
Vernier EasyData,Vernier EasyLink and Vernier EasyTemp are registered trademarks of Vernier Science Education.

Control your cookie preferences

You can control your preferences for how we use cookies to collect and use information while you're on TI websites by adjusting the status of these categories.

Category	Description	Allow
Analytics and performance cookies	These cookies, including cookies from Google Analytics, allow us to recognize and count the number of visitors on TI sites and see how visitors navigate our sites. This helps us improve the way TI sites work (for example, by making it easier for you to find information on the site).
Advertising and marketing cookies	These cookies enable interest-based advertising on TI sites and third-party websites using information you make available to us when you interact with our sites. Interest-based ads are displayed to you based on cookies linked to your online activities, such as viewing products on our sites. We may also share this information with third parties for these purposes. These cookies help us tailor advertisements to better match your interests, manage the frequency with which you see an advertisement, and understand the effectiveness of our advertising.
Functional cookies	These cookies help identify who you are and store your activity and account information in order to deliver enhanced functionality, including a more personalized and relevant experience on our sites. If you do not allow these cookies, some or all site features and services may not function properly. If you do not allow these cookies, some or all of the site features and services may not function properly.
Social media cookies	These cookies allow identification of users and content connected to online social media, such as Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms, and help TI improve its social media outreach.
Strictly necessary	These cookies are necessary for the operation of TI sites or to fulfill your requests (for example, to track what items you have placed into your cart on the TI.com, to access secure areas of the TI site, or to manage your configured cookie preferences).	Always On

Category

Description

Allow

Analytics and performance cookies

These cookies, including cookies from Google Analytics, allow us to recognize and count the number of visitors on TI sites and see how visitors navigate our sites. This helps us improve the way TI sites work (for example, by making it easier for you to find information on the site).

Advertising and marketing cookies

These cookies enable interest-based advertising on TI sites and third-party websites using information you make available to us when you interact with our sites. Interest-based ads are displayed to you based on cookies linked to your online activities, such as viewing products on our sites. We may also share this information with third parties for these purposes. These cookies help us tailor advertisements to better match your interests, manage the frequency with which you see an advertisement, and understand the effectiveness of our advertising.

Functional cookies

These cookies help identify who you are and store your activity and account information in order to deliver enhanced functionality, including a more personalized and relevant experience on our sites. If you do not allow these cookies, some or all site features and services may not function properly.

Social media cookies

These cookies allow identification of users and content connected to online social media, such as Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms, and help TI improve its social media outreach.

Strictly necessary

These cookies are necessary for the operation of TI sites or to fulfill your requests (for example, to track what items you have placed into your cart on the TI.com, to access secure areas of the TI site, or to manage your configured cookie preferences).

Always On

Light Years Away

Light Years Away

Before the Activity Files

Control your cookie preferences

Products

Product Support

Teacher Resources

Administrator Resources

Lessons and Activities

General Information