The latest on self-driving cars
These student questions focus on autonomous vehicles and the nature of research that will support their widespread use.
Educator Guide: Making Waves
About this guide
Science News’ latest issue looks back at impactful research “making waves” in 2016. The No. 1 story of the year, “Gravitational waves offer new view of dynamic cosmos," recounts the direct detection of gravitational waves, reported for the first time in 2016. A special infographic, “The future of cars," examines the challenges in developing and embracing self-driving cars. How will humans share the roads with robotic vehicles that don’t have the instincts and ethics that help us make decisions? Cognitive scientists and robotic engineers are joining forces to overcome problems with sensory perception, spatial awareness, safety and cybersecurity.
This Guide Includes:
Spacetime ripples found at last
These questions focus on gravitational waves, gravitational wave detectors and how observing gravitational waves can improve our understanding of the universe.
Artificial intelligence through the years
Students will search the Science News archive for stories related to artificial intelligence, its applications and potential issues.
Doing the wave
These discussion prompts cover the general properties and types of waves, how humans and other animals detect waves, and the design of laboratory wave detectors.
Wave generation
Students will generate and observe waves in a clear pan of water, drawing connections between these waves and light and gravitational waves.
Wave detection
Students will design, build, test and optmize their own light-based detector for waves (a simple optical seismometer) and will explore how this detector relates to more sophisticated gravitational wave detectors.