Activity Set: Stars
A comment was made in the forum for the first module about how the simple fact that our Sun is a star can be such a shock. This together with the video about how many stars are out there would be a good way to start the topic with a class. I would then start a discussion with the class about when we see stars and when we see the Sun. This would lead well into an experiment about how we don’t see the other stars during the day by using lights in a dark area in the classroom. The experiment could begin by having lights in a line and getting the children to say what they see. Then get the lights to spread out and get feedback. Finally get one light as the Sun to be up close and get the others to move backwards.
I loved the model created of the constellation. I may get a class to create models of different constellations using straws as a group activivty. As a follow up, I would get the children to move to other tables and sketch what they see and try to label what they feel it is from their own choosen positions. This would lead into the idea of how our position dictates what we see in space.