Module 5 Assignment: Teaching Space in Junior Classes
Space Week takes place in October, so Space Travel would also be a fantastic theme for the week.
The children could be exposed to lots of videos and images of Space Travel. I have just spent an hour looking at Chris Hadfield videos and always find him so engaging. I have shown him to the kids before, so I know they would enjoy it. So, I’d engage and motivate the children with a book based on Space Travel – like Aliens in Underpants save the World, or show them some images from the ISS and get them asking questions.
My favourite quote from this module is that Every Science Lesson should start with a question that needs to be answered by exploring and investigating, so this would be a good start. Most children want to know about how to travel in space and what it’s like. The many questions the children would want to ask regarding life in Space are asked and answered in a lot of the Chris Hadfield videos.
I would then get the children discussing the ways we can fly to, or travel in, Space. We would then carry out a Rocket Launching activity, as it is hands on and would encourage so much prediction and oral language.
I particularly like the Mouse Rocket described here – it seems to be accessible to Infants, which I am teaching. Of course, we might need to help a few with the rocket’s pointy nose arrow, but my SNA is fantastic in these situations! Once we’ve carried out the experiment, this would lead to a discussion on how we got the rocket to launch, could we make it go higher or fly further?
We would watch a video of the rockets taking off and ask questions. There are lots on Youtube, but the https://www.esa.int/kids/en/home has some recent ones.
Then I might demonstrate the Fizzy Rocket launcher, or get some of the older and able students to make one too.
Once the children have a basic understanding of how a rocket takes off, that’s enough for me at this level. There will always be some children who want to know more and I would answer them to the best of my ability, even encouraging them to research with their parents at home. Again, the https://www.esa.int/kids/en/home has lots of information and videos, as well as competitions which children can get involved in.
Of course, it would be important to get the children thinking about what we need on a Space Rocket -what food, clothing, etc. Chris Hadfield does a great video on eating in space! Fun Fact – his favourite space food was dried Shrimp and something! TWe would then design and make space rockets with recyclable materials or clay. Maths could be incorporated here, by sorting the rockets in groups by colour, size, etc.
The children could then use role play to fly into space themelves!
I think that if the children are engaged and excited enough about the activities we do in class, then they will be motivated to find out more. That’s our job in teaching science, to make them want to find out MORE!