Joseph Murray November 8-9, 2012 Just How Big Is Our Solar System? Purpose: Use a 5-E Learning Model to have students investigate the relative sizes and distances between our planets. The 5-E Learning Model has the students engage, explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate. Upon completion of the lesson, students will be able to identify and arrange the planets by size and grasp the size of our solar system. SOLs: 6.1 The student will demonstrate an understanding of scientific reasoning, logic, and the nature of science by planning and conducting investigations in which b) precise and approximate measurements are recorded; c) scale models are used to estimate distance, volume, and quantity; 6.8 The student will investigate and understand the organization of the solar system and the interactions among the various bodies that comprise it. Key concepts include a) the sun, moon, Earth, other planets and their moons, dwarf planets, meteors, asteroids, and comets; b) relative size of and distance between planets; Materials and Resources: SmartBoard Receipt Paper Paper Coloring Pencils Pencil Meter Stick Safety / Accommodations: I have considered all safety concerns, and there are no necessary safety steps in this activity. Students will be placed in groups to accommodate any disabilities. Procedure [1x 50min class + 1x 90min class]: 1. Engage [30mins (Day 1)] Class will begin with a daily warm up activity. The warm up for the day will have the planets from our solar system blacked out, scaled to size, and numbered (Figure 1). Using a word bank of the planets, the students will try to match the planets with their name. This will introduce the planets and there relative size to the students. Students in groups of 2-3 will then receive a sheet of receipt paper approximately 4 meters long. They will be told to dot all the planets on one side of where they think the planets are placed in our solar system.
2. Explore [20mins (Day 1)] After students have made there estimates on where the planets are relative to each other, a YouTube video on Bill Nye will played showing the size of our solar system. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97ob0xr0ut8} Next each student will receive a table of the planets and there AU distance from the Sun (see Figure 2). In the table, students will have to convert the distance to CM by hand. 3. Explain [80mins (Day 2)] Groups will be returned their receipt paper with their solar system estimates. On the opposite side of the paper, students will use their converted measurements to measure out the planets distances from the Sun. Students will be required to draw the planets and recommended to draw their sizes relative to each other (though not required). 4. Expand [10mins (Day 2)] The teacher will have a completed solar system with the planets accurately scaled to each other. The students will be able to bring up their completed solar systems to compare and see how accurately they drew their planets. 5. Evaluate Students will be evaluated on their completed solar system model/drawings. Grade (40 pts) A B C D F Solar System Model Rubric Criteria Evidence Clear, accurate model. Planets are Completed assignment with no error. labeled neatly and correctly. Model is finished. Three or less Completed assignment with little planets are inaccurate in the error. measurement. Planets are included and labeled correctly. Model is finished. More than three Completed assignment with some planets are inaccurate in the errors. measurement. All planets are included with only minor mistakes. Model is finished with major errors in Completed assignment with many measurement or labeling or model is errors. unfinished. Three or less planets are missing OR are incorrectly labeled. Model unfinished. More than three Incomplete assignment. planets are missing OR are incorrectly labeled.
Grade (20 pts) A B C D F Solar System Model Participation Evidence Used time well and focused attention on the project. Used time pretty well. Stayed focus on the project most of time. Did the project, but did not use time well. Focus was lost on several occasions. Participation was minimal or student was argumentative about participating. Lacked any participation on the assignment. Figure 1: Warm Up Image: Key: 1. Jupiter 2. Pluto 3. Earth 4. Venus 5. Uranus 6. Saturn 7. Mercury 8. Mars 9. Neptune Figure 2:
Reflection Before my prior knowledge lesson, my cooperating teacher and I brainstormed up common misconceptions in the 6th grade science. Finally, we came to the conclusion that many students do not grasp the enormity of our solar system. Using this misconception, I brainstormed up some questions to ask my interviewees. These questions ranged from how does our solar system appear, how large is our solar system, and whether or not they could draw the solar system for me. The three students I interviewed ranged from lower level to our highest performing student. During my interviews with the students, I got a wide range of responses. For one, our highest performing student did an excellent job with scaling the planets relative to size and labeling and drawing the planets correctly, but the student ignored the distances between the planets drawing them spaced equally (See Figure 1). The other two students didn t have as much of an extensive knowledge on our solar system. Our mid-level performing student knew there were eight planets plus Pluto and the Sun was the largest object in our solar system, however they believed the Earth was the largest planet and that the planets were evenly spaced (see Figure 2). The student who had been performing at the lowest level only knew a few of the planets and the Sun was a the center of the solar system, but the student also believed the Earth was the largest object in the solar system and that the planets revolved together at one specific distance away from the sun (Figure 3). After interviewing the students, I knew I had my work cut out for me for my lesson. My lesson was initially supposed to only address the scope and magnitude of our solar system, but after the interviews I wanted to look at the planets relative size. Also, I wanted to make sure the students could name and list all the planets starting from the sun and going out. I started the lesson by engage the students by comparing the planets sizes. Then the students had to compare the planets distances from the sun. I had a little bit of help from Bill Nye to show the enormity of our solar system. The student eventually drew out all the planets to scale on a 4m long strip of paper. Once I completed my interviews, I re-interviewed the same three students to see their progression. I started out by interviewing the high performing student once again. This student was initially almost completely accurate with his drawing, so this time around it was almost as if he was fine-tuning. The student ended up drawing everything accurately and now spacing the planets correctly from the sun and even taking up two sides of the paper (see Figure 4). Next the mid-level performing student drew their picture of the solar system. For their sketch, they emphasize the enormity of the sun, planets relative size and order. This student had an idea of spacing by mentioning AU s but they ignored it when drawing (see Figure 5). Finally, the last student saw a major improvement. This student drew all the planets relative in size and labeled them correctly, and drew the sun significantly larger. Though, when it came to the spacing of the planets, the student ignored it (figure 6). Looking back on the lesson and the interviews, I was pleased with the results. The lesson initially was geared towards the size of the planets but ended up also focusing on the planets and their relative sizes. After the post-lesson interviews, it appeared most students knew all the planets and could rank them by size if necessary. The students still continued to struggle with spacing the planets. I am content with this because it can be hard at a young age to grasp the enormity of the solar system, especially when the very planet they live on appears endless. If I were to go back and revise the lesson, I would of allowed more time after the solar system
models for the students to reflect and discuss the size of the solar system. I could of done this by having the students present their models. The students seem to soak in knowledge presented by their peers more than instructor s teachings. Figure 1: Figure 2: Figure 3:
Figure 4: Figure 5: Figure 6: