Unlocking the Solar System Grade 5 Pre-Visit Activities Howard B. Owens Science Center
Unlocking the Solar System (5 th grade) DESCRIPTION What *IS* a solar system? What does it look like? What SHOULD it look like? How do planetary missions such as the New Horizons Pluto Encounter help us unlock these questions about our own solar system, and about worlds beyond? Since the Pluto Encounter in July 2015, what have scientists revealed about the origins of the solar system? Is it too soon to tell? Examine the data and images yourself to create your own storyline of the early solar system. Compare our solar system to exoplanetary systems and determine if there is a typical system of planets. Use Earth as a baseline to understand the interaction between Pluto s geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere and to make predictions about how these systems might interact on other worlds. Discover how unlocking our own solar system unlocks mysteries about the universe itself! STANDARDS NGSS: Unit 1: Earth and Space Science; Module 2: Earth Materials and Systems 5.ESS2. Earth s Systems 5-ESS2-1: Develop a model using an example to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact. MS. Space Systems MS-ESS1-2: Develop and use a model to describe the role of gravity in the motions within galaxies and the solar system. MS-ESS1-3: Analyze and interpret data to determine scale properties of objects in the solar system. ESS1.B: Earth and the Solar System. The solar system consists of the sun and a collection of objects, including planets, their moons, and asteroids that are held in orbit around the sun by its gravitational pull on them. MCCRS- RELA & Math: ELA/Literacy - RI.5.7: Draw on information from multiple print or digital sources, demonstrating the ability to locate an answer to a question quickly or to solve a problem efficiently. RST.6-8.1: Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts. RST.6-8.7: Integrate quantitative or technical information expressed in words in a text with a version of that information expressed visually (e.g., in a flowchart, diagram, model, graph, or table). SL.8.5: Integrate multimedia and visual displays into presentations to clarify information, strengthen claims and evidence, and add interest.
W.5.8: Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information from print and digital sources; summarize or paraphrase information in notes and finished work, and provide a list of sources. SL.5.5: Include multimedia components (e.g., graphics, sound) and visual displays in presentations when appropriate to enhance the development of main ideas or themes. Mathematics - MP.2 Reason abstractly and quantitatively MP.4 Model with mathematics.
Program Title: Unlocking the Solar System Grade Level: 5 Science/Mathematics Standard: Date: Quarter 4 Program Lesson Planner Statement of Objective: What should students know and be able to do as a result of the lesson? 15 min. Students will develop an understanding of how exoplanet systems compare to our own solar system by observing and evaluating mission data from the New Horizons, Dawn, Kepler, and other exoplanet survey missions. They will use Earth as a baseline to understand the interaction between Pluto s geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere and to make predictions about how these systems might interact on other worlds. Engagement Warm-Up: How will you engage students in learning? How will you connect the lesson to their prior knowledge? As a whole group, students will observe images of Pluto from the New Horizons mission and Ceres from the Dawn mission to compare/contrast characteristics of these dwarf planets to make predictions about the early solar system. Ideas will be captured for a post-visit writing prompt. Teacher Monitored Activities: What will students do together to use new concepts or skills? How will you assist them in this process? Exploration 60 min. Part I: Exoplanet Systems I Students will observe the night sky to identify locations of many exoplanetary systems. Then they will work in groups of no more than four students to explore specific exoplanet systems, collecting data using the ipads and the exoplanet app. They will compare these systems to our solar system to look for patterns in the structure of planetary systems. Part II: Exoplanet Systems II Students will identify gases found in Earth s atmosphere by observing their spectra. They will use Earth as a baseline to understand the interaction of Pluto s systems and make predictions for how the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and atmospheres of exoplanets might work. Unlocking the Solar System Pre-Visit page 1
Program Title: Unlocking the Solar System Grade Level: 5 Science/Mathematics Standard: Date: Quarter 4 Program Lesson Planner Explanation (part of 60 min. explorat ion) Teacher Directed Activities: How will you aid students in constructing the meaning of new concepts? How will you introduce/model new skills or procedures? Part I: Exoplanet Systems I The host teacher will help guide the students through their comparisons of exoplanet systems. The host teacher will point out how the characteristics of the host star of a planetary system affects the habitability of its planets. Part II: Exoplanet Systems II The host teacher will reveal the correct matches for the atmospheric gases to their spectra and guide the students to consider the similarities and differences between Earth s and Pluto s atmosphere. Elaboration 30-45 min. Extension, Refinement, and Practice Activities: What opportunities will students have to use the new skills and concepts in a meaningful way? How will students expand and solidify their understanding of the concept and apply it to a real-world situation? How will students demonstrate their mastery of the essential learning outcomes? Students will use Earth as a baseline to make predictions for exoplanet systems by applying the knowledge gained from their experiments/investigations. Unlocking the Solar System Pre-Visit page 2
Program Title: Unlocking the Solar System Grade Level: 5 Science/Mathematics Standard: Date: Quarter 4 Program Lesson Planner Evaluation Closure (through out class) 5-10 min. 10-15 min. Ongoing Assessment: How will you monitor student progress throughout the lesson? Students will be evaluated on their participation in question/answering sessions, as well as assessing their worksheets (to be done by the classroom teacher). Culminating Assessment: How will you ensure that all students have mastered the identified learning indicators? How will you assess their learning? Post-Visit activities will be provided to assist the teacher in assessing student mastery of key indicators. Closure Activities: Through this teacher-guided activity, how will you assist students in reflecting upon what they learned today and preparing for tomorrow s lesson? What homework will be assigned to help students practice, prepare, or elaborate on a concept or skill taught? The host teacher will take the students on a guided tour of the current night sky, identifying more of the exoplanetary systems locations. Imagined landscapes of exoplanet worlds can also be displayed. Unlocking the Solar System Pre-Visit page 3
Activity 1: Solar System Scale Activity By Pam Whiffen (2006) with modifications for the Howard B. Owens Science Center Planetarium Materials: 24 long sentence strip and pencil for each student 1. Write Sun on one end of the strip and DP Pluto (for Dwarf Planet Pluto ) on the other. Encourage kids to use small print for the Sun and NO circles to depict it only letters. Use your strip vertically with Sun at the top and Pluto on the bottom. 2. Fold strip in half and open up showing the creases. Ask students what they think is in the middle of our Solar System. Is there a planet? Maybe there isn t an object there. Ask what other astronomical objects make up our Solar System. Usually kids will respond with the order of the planets My Very Efficient Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas Sometimes kids will mention the Asteroid Belt. Depending on your class, you can use the opportunity to have students guide you to write M, V, E, M, J, S, U, N, P on the board as a reminder. 3. Have students write the name of the object in the crease if they think there is one. I sometimes collect a few strips and tape them to the board then we, as a class, take a vote on which one they think is accurate. Next, I reveal the answer and hand back the strips. 4. Then, ask them what they think you are going to ask them to do next. Yep, write the planets in order and in their relative distance from each other down the strip of paper. 5. After they have completed their strips have them turn it over and make their answer key so they can see how close they came. Unlocking the Solar System Pre-Visit page 4
To make key: 1. Turn strip over and refold halfway between the Sun and Pluto. Write Uranus. 2. Fold Pluto to Uranus. Write Neptune. 3. Fold Sun to Neptune. Write Saturn. 4. Fold Sun to Saturn. Write Jupiter. 5. Fold Sun to Jupiter. Write No Planet or Asteroid Belt. 6. Fold Sun to Asteroid Belt. Write Mars. 7. Fold Sun to Mars. Write Venus. 8. Write in Mercury in between Sun and Venus. 9. Ask students which planet is missing. Write in Earth in between Venus and Mars. Why is this scale model of the solar system useful? Make the students answer this overarching question by generating their own questions that can be answered from this model. Questions can include: Which planet(s) is(/are) closer to/farther from the Sun than the Asteroid Belt? Adding known characteristics of each planet can help generate further questions in this model, such as: Where are the largest planets of the Solar System found? Where are the rocky planets found? Where are the gas giant planets found? Where are the ice dwarfs found? Hopefully students will see that this is a very limited model of the solar system which we will often refer to as the 1D model of the solar system. To learn more, we need more information, such as the movement of the planets around the Sun. Unlocking the Solar System Pre-Visit page 5
Activity 2: Tracking Planets Student Worksheet Pluto was discovered by noting a star-like object which moved with respect to the background stars. These are images of the actual photographic plates used. The position of Pluto is marked in each photo. Now it s your turn to discover a planet! Turn to the next page and test your observation skills! Unlocking the Solar System Pre-Visit page 6
Tracking Planets Student Worksheet Name Below are two images of the same part of the sky, taken several days apart. Circle the object which moved between September 15 and October 4. September 15, 2005 October 4, 2005 Circle the object which moved between April 27 and May 8. April 27, 2005 May 8, 2005 Congratulations! You just discovered the planet Mars!! Unlocking the Solar System Pre-Visit page 7
Tracking Planets Answers Below are two images of the same part of the sky, taken several days apart. Circle the object which moved between September 15 and October 4. September 15, 2005 October 4, 2005 Circle the object which moved between April 27 and May 8. April 27, 2005 May 8, 2005 Unlocking the Solar System Pre-Visit page 8