For fifth grade teachers in NGSS states, or who are teaching units that include the big idea that our Sun is a star (and the stars are all Suns), this series of activities about spectroscopy—and especially the activity in which students build and use a "fancy" spectroscope—helps students understand the evidence for the argument behind this standard. Before the use of spectroscopes to observe the Sun it was impossible to determine what the Sun was made from. And in fact, many people believed that we'd never find out. But the spectroscope made it possible not only to determine the Sun's composition, but to also discover that it's composition was very similar to many other stars. (The development of methods to determine the distance to the stars was the other major piece of evidence to support the conclusion that the Sun is a star. )

But don't stop there!!! One of the other important ideas in the Framework and NGSS is that engineering and technology helps science advance, and science helps engineers create new and better technologies. The spectroscope is a perfect example. Students can research how scientists used spectroscopes, which were designed by engineers, to make discoveries about the Sun and stars, and how the science of light enabled engineers to create spectroscopes in the first place.