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ASSIGNMENT
Create a mind map in relation to your ideas about space. Please add to your mind map after each module as part of the reflective learning process.
As a reply to this post, introduce yourself on the forum and share your favourite space fact. Then add a reflection (150 words min) on how you would use one inquiry-based activity in your classroom
Also, please respond to at least one other participant’s post in this forum.
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Hi everyone!
I’m Frances, space enthusiast and moderator with my colleagues from Blackrock Castle for this course.
I have loved space since I was tiny – I remember the Mars missions in the 1970s and was fascinated by the idea that we could send missions to the planets.
I was alive when the Apollo missions happened, but don’t remember them at all (I was only 3! in summer 1969).
I just “snopes-ed” my new favourite space fact – and it turns out to be not true at all. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/michael-collins-scream-cut-mic/
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As a reply to this post, introduce yourself on the forum and share your favourite space fact. Then add a reflection (150 words min) on how you would use one inquiry-based activity in your classroom
A lesson that I did before in school was asking the children to find a new home for an alien in space. We talked about what time of home he was looking for, his family members that were also coming with him and the type of environment he would like to live in. This naturally led to research about the different planets. I find it a great lesson to open up conversations about the different planets also there is a huge amount of cross curricular scope. geography for different types of homes, art- designing and creating a home, creating planets etc. There is also scope for this lesson to lead to group work research. Assign a planet to each group and they research which planet would be best for the alien to live on, each group present their ideas and research to the class. I have always found this lesson particularly enjoyable and the kids love it!
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Hello, my name is Michelle. I am currently working in Junior Infants with 4/5 year olds. My favourite space fact, its not really a fact but an idea put forward by Brian Cox in a recent lecture of his that I attended, is that we, as human beings, might be the only beings able to ‘think’ about space and therefore give it meaning.
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I had never heard of Brian Cox before starting this course. I have listened to a few of his videos now and it’s clear straight away how passionate he is about science. I look forward to listening to more of his work as I find children these days are so into science and space so I need to keep up with them!
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Do you know this song? 🙂
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Hi, my name is Rachael and I’m working in a junior school as a SET teacher. I think it’s cool that worms have 5 hearts! We do a lot of Math and Literacy based in class so a lot of the time I’m combining Math and Science lessons together.
My favourite inquiry based lesson to do in school and at home is floating and sinking. An oldie, a classic but you can elicit so much from the children and they usually have a lot of previous knowledge on the topic because of water play in the infants classrooms. I like to introduce this by talking about different objects and predicting if they’re going to float or sink and discussing the language of floating and sinking, like what does it actually mean. I usually bring in the kid’s experiences of swimming in the discussion. We observe and investigate what happens when the children place different classroom items in the water like rubbers, rulers all different materials and heavy and light items. We’ll discuss our findings and take note of them. Usually we would watch a video at the end to sum up our findings. -
Floating and sinking is also one of my favourite lessons! As you say, it’s an oldie, but a goodie! I like throwing in items to throw them such as a golf ball or a sponge! I taught infants for many years and didn’t think that 2nd class would enjoy it or get as much from the lesson, once it’s adapted suitably it’s great for all ages.
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Kathy- the beauty of the inquiry method of learning science is that the teachers is NOT the fount of all knowledge. You can put on an air of slight uncertainty in these activities as you encourage the children to make predictions using:
I think that XXX will happen if we do YY because…
You can help them phrase their thinking, and challenge if they are predicting one thing that is totally at odds with why they think it will happen, but you (and they) don’t need to know the “Right” answer before you start.
So, for forces, a child might say:
I think a big toy car won’t go as far when it goes down a ramp, because it takes more push to throw a heavy ball… and then you test this.
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My name is Eimear and I teach senior infants. I recently completed a dissertation on the use of picture books to promote IBL for science investigations. we read picture books that linked to teaching the children about materials. This led to lots of child led discussions where they came up with that experiments they wanted to do. It was amazing to see the children take autonomy over their learning.
My favourite space fact is that there are apparently more stars in the universe than grains of sand on all the beaches on the Earth! -
Hi Eimear, that sounds like such a great idea. I really like the intention of building what the children are interested in to promote curiosity and autonomy in learning. I am also a fan of using picture books as a base/prompt for science investigations. I feel that it provides something to the children to relate to as they engage in the lessons.
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Hi, my name is Niamh and I will be teaching first class this year. An inquiry based lesson style that I have found successful in the past is creating a challenge as a stimulus. I sometimes use books, videos or something that has come up in classroom discussion for this. One lesson creating ramps and the goal is to figure out how to make it go the furthest. The children are free to use materials in the classroom (once they check it with me first) and they have autonomy over what way they design it. They have opportunities to trial it and make adjustments before the final test. It was really great to see the children take charge and work together to solve this. They came up with such inventive ideas and really thought outside the box.
A space fact I found interesting is you wouldn’t be able to walk on Jupiter as it does not have a solid surface.
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Niamh,
I’ve frequently mentioned how important ramps is as a learning activity, so it is great to hear it from the classroom. My go-to-link for the pedagogy is this from the Ramps and Pathways team.
It is an ideal design and make, and we do it at BCO with pipe insulation cut in half, easy to source, reusable and flexible. Get it from your local builders providers, choosing the widest interior diameter and thinnest outer material to get something that is easy to curve and can accommodate a lot of different size marbles. Give different groups different colour marbles, so if they lose their marble you can check that another group hasn’t collected it before you move every item of furniture looking for it. (that’s from experience!).
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Niamh I am also teaching first class this year and I really want to focus on stem and playful activities surrounding that. I am very interested in your ramp activities especially as it really gives the children agency to create and design through their learning experiences. Now my own wondering is why does gravity pull objects down quicker froma higher ramp?
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Denise,
gravity always pulls with pretty much the same force, at least over the heights you can reach in the classroom. But, gravity keeps something accelerating as it pulls, since it keeps pulling.
So, in the first second that an object falls, it speeds up from no speed, to 10 m/s. In the next second it speeds up another 10 m/s, so is now going 20 meters every second – so has now gone much further in the second second than the first.
You can see this on the ramp in this video:
https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/nvmm-math-fallingbodies/galileos-falling-bodies/
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I love doing floating and sinking with my classes. I work in a junior school so my experience is up to 2nd class age children. We gather objects and experiment at a class level. I just love when the children are so engaged and they ask questions to each other and give their explanations as to why they think it may or may not float before someone is nominated to test it out. After this the children go into groups and decide.what they want to test. They make predictions in both scenarios and record them on whiteboards. Sometimes we record our experiences later in report writing activities. This presenter in the inquiry you tube video was correct to say that no two science lessons are the same. This year for the first time.ever the children set up a little experiment at the back of the class. Some were.cerrain that over time some object will sink despite floating initially. They made a sign asking will it float or sink and stuck it beside the fish tank. Sure enough the paper sank and the wooden dice began to submerge. Additionally they were delighted that the dye from the paper actually colored the water. I.myself had not.anticipated this.
I will be using thw spillage idea from this module for.certain next year. I love how it.expands into waterproof clothing also.
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My name is Aoife and I have been teaching in a Deis school for 20 years.
An interesting Space fact is that Mars has a volcano bigger than the entire state of Hawaii!!
Two years ago I had Junior Infants and I remember doing an activity based on the Stars and the children really enjoyed it and the activity at the end,
Topic- The Stars
Beginning of the lesson- Sing the song ‘Twinkle, twinkle little star’ with the children.
Middle of the lesson- Talk about the song …..drawing their attention to the words: How I wonder what you are?’ What are stars? Can we name any
stars? What do stars do? Why do we call some people Superstars?! How
many stars do we think are in the night sky? Why can we see lots of
stars some nights and very few on other nights?Conclusion- Each child will design their own star and we will create our own milky way on a huge sheet of black card.
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Hi my name is Aideen and I am currently teaching Junior Infants. I am looking forward to completing this course and learning some new ideas about teaching the topic of Space. My favourite space fact is that shooting stars are not actually stars; when you see a shooting star, it’s not a star. It’s actually a tiny piece of rock or dust from space that burns up in Earth’s atmosphere, creating a streak of light.
An inquiry based activity that I have used in the classroom was in relation to observing how different variables affect plant growth. The students were given seeds, soil, and water, and were tasked with designing an experiment to test how different variables (e.g., amount of water, type of soil, amount of light) affect plant growth. They then had to discuss the results in their groups, form hypothesis , collect data, and present their findings. The children really enjoyed the activity and loved comparing their predictions to the results. -
Hi my name is Aideen and I am currently teaching Junior Infants. I am looking forward to completing this course and learning some new ideas about teaching the topic of Space. My favourite space fact is that shooting stars are not actually stars; when you see a shooting star, it’s not a star. It’s actually a tiny piece of rock or dust from space that burns up in Earth’s atmosphere, creating a streak of light.
An inquiry based activity that I have used in the classroom was in relation to observing how different variables affect plant growth. The students were given seeds, soil, and water, and were tasked with designing an experiment to test how different variables (e.g., amount of water, type of soil, amount of light) affect plant growth. They then had to discuss the results in their groups, form hypothesis , collect data, and present their findings. The children really enjoyed the activity and loved comparing their predictions to the results. -
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Hi my name is Eimear and I teach in a vertical DEIS school. My interest in space is that I love that its vastness, blackness and planets and stars are of interest to children from infants to 6th. In my teaching I have found children in infants interested in stars and moon, and love that older children are informed about Neil Armstrong and the moon landings from the senior SESE curriculum.
from this module I loved the ‘oops’ idea as a trigger to grab children attention. I think dropping items to the ground will immediately have children immersed in the idea of gravity and how it pulls objects to earth core.
I think the framework of enquiry sets out a clear path for a lesson that allows children explore and develop ideas and then perform tests and look at data. It makes the learning experiental and allows ways to observe and record data.
I think children enjoy letting objects fall to ground and make observations of each – a feather; a school bag; a book; a marker; a liquid. Can tie in with maths through timing and speed of the fall of items and perform a fair test by dropping items from sane height and recording as video to observe. -
Hi Eimear,
I think if you want the children to actually time something falling that you will need to give them objects with a lot of air resistance, otherwise, it’ll all be too fast.
Or, you could go to ramps, and have them at a very shallow angle and have objects slide down. If you have marbles that roll, or toys that roll, then a shallow shallow ramp may work.
Measuring time appears in the Maths curriculum for 3rd/4th class- would you introduce it much earlier? [compare, approximate and measure time using appropriate units of measurement.]
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Hi Aoife,
I really like the idea of the lesson on the stars. By beginning with the song the children are familiar with and you are also integrating then with music. As all children are familiar to the song they call all relate to the lesson then and it leaves nobody out. I also love the idea of creating your own milky way to display in the classroom.
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Hi when I was teaching junior infants last year we used the Oxford Reading Tree book The Carboard Box as a prompt for waterproof materials. This led the children to carry out a number of experiments on a variety of materials to see which ones were waterproof or not. Before the experiment we engaged in oral discussions about the materials we would use and discussed further to see if the children believed each material would be waterproof or not. They then used a pipette filled with water and recorded the results of the experiment using a happy or sad face beside each material tested. We then discussed the results. As an extension to the activity the children had to create a waterproof jacket for teddy using cut up pieces from each of the waterproof materials they tested.
The children really enjoyed this simple experiment as it led to many discussions and they were able to connect old and new learning together.
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Michelle,
what a great story: The Big Box, Oxford Reading Tree Level 1
https://youtu.be/GS2DHx4jcVA?si=dVzap0DQLzoVGC1u
the illustrations show clearly what happened to the box when it rained, and this is a great prompt for an inquiry.
Plenty of opportunity to ‘explore‘ what happens to a material when it gets wet, in this case in terms of structural integrity. You could link it to the paper towels of Mighty Materials and do they stay strong when they get wet.
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I did a lesson very similar to this with my Junior Infant class last year Aoife. The children were engaged in the lesson instantly when we opened it with the song ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’. We then went on to speak about the stars and I shared some basic facts about them. The children were so interested and fascinated by the idea of stars being so huge and so far away. We spoke about the shape of stars and how bright they are too. We also finished our lesson with the children decorating, designing and cutting out their own stars that we stuck onto large black paper to create our own Space Wall.
I have Junior Infants again in the coming school year so I hope to do the same lesson with them as it was so engaging for them.
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This sounds like such a great learning activity. The scope for inquiry based learning and quality discussion is amazing here. As a teacher in a junior school I think this is just the kind of topic that I would like to introduce with my class to discover their existing knowledge of space and their ability to think creatively.
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Hi Everyone,
My name is Susanne and I’ve taught a range of ages over my 28 year career. I’m currently working in SET and my pupils very much enjoy exploring the world around them. Hence my choice of summer course. I welcome new ideas from fellow colleagues.
I’m fascinated with space and attribute my interest to Captain James T. Kirk and Mr. Spok if I’ m completely honest (that’s Star Trek to those of ye youngsters !!!!)
My interesting space fact is that on Mercury a day is twice as long as a year apparently.
I teach in a rural town in County Monaghan and a lot of our pupils come from a farming background.
So when I’m introducing forces I tend to use tractors instead of toy cars and talk about the farmer’s work with a tractor.
And for Junior classes I could use Tractor Ted videos capture the pupils’ interest.
Many thanks to Susan Molloy for sharing her lesson plan on finding homes for aliens and all the interesting ways it can be integrated into other subject areas. I’ll definitely be trying this out.
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Hi Michelle,
Brian Cox has a real way with words and has some fascinating videos and clips based on space.
My space fun fact for the day is that sunset on Mars appears blue!
I will be teaching senior infants in September and one lesson that I find always gets their interest and imagination going is floating and sinking. They love predicting and then the opportunity to test items out for themselves. They often compare the floating items to themselves floating in the swimming pool! There is also scope then for the conversation to lead into water and different materials that might be waterproof or not which could be a lesson for another day!
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Hi Susan, your idea of a home for an alien is brilliant. The scope for cross curricular opportunities is endless. From arts and crafts to geography to drama and literacy. These cross curricular links are hugely important to children’s learning as they provide excellent avenues to inclusion and diversity
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My name is Rebecca. I will be teaching 1st class this coming September. My favourite space fact is that depending on the elements shooting stars are made from they can shine different colours.
An inquiry-based lesson that I have done is making a volcanic eruption in a jar. The children really enjoyed this and it is such a fun way to show chemical reactions in the junior classes.
Method:
Half-fill a jar with water.
Add a few drops of food colouring.
Fill the rest of the jar with oil.
Allow a few minutes for the oil and water to separate.
Drop the fizzy tablet and watch the magic happen. -
Hi Rebecca,
this demonstration can make a great prompt when looking at Inquiry based learning.
Children could then consolidate their science understanding by posing simple testable questions that they can then verify with an investigation.
A child might suggest: “I think that if there is more oil then it won’t work… because…” and then check out if the more oil scenario does or doesn’t work.
Another child might think – there needs to be lots of water or the tablet won’t fizz- can I try it with only water?
In this way children act as scientists and confirm or refute their own understanding.
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Hi Rebecca,
I love this lesson. I actually completed it for my diploma when I was being inspected about 15 years ago. Although we made volcanoes out a clay first and did not have the reaction in the jar. I love the idea of the jar.
A nice way to introduce the lesson could be a KWL chart and this will maybe keep the children focused and on task.
As a parent myself now, I can see the effect that these inquiry based lessons have on children . My child loves to come home and reenact this type of learning at home. Shame he isn’t as enthusiastic in other areas of the curriculum but it does just prove how important hands on inquiry learning is.
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Hi Rebecca
I’m also very interested in Science-based learning and I love how my own children are curious about the world around us and the solar system!
I can also see how enquiry-based learning can benefit children when investigating science matters. It also helps us as teachers to reflect on the learning at the end of a lesson for progression.
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I totally agree with this from a parents point of view and a teachers point of view. My own children love coming home with an experiment to do for homework and when we had Science week in school my Junior infants couldn’t wait every day for the experiments – they loved predicting what was going to happen and then waiting to see were they right or not. Children love inquiry based learning and experiments lend themselves to playful learning naturally. Children learn so much from play and are the experts in play.!
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I love this lesson idea Susan because there’s so much scope for what you can do. It start with geography but the children could role-play life on the planet, design a the planet including his flag in Art, compose the planet’s anthem in music, etc. It’s very cross curricular and can be fun and child led.
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Inquiry based activity:
”Exploring the moon”
I would start with a prompt like a short story of video of the moon. I would elicit prior knowledge and ask questions about the moon, e.g. What does the surface of the moon look like?
Using a flashlight and a ball we would explore the moon’s phases, how the light changes on the ball (moon) and as it moves around the flashlight (sun). We would discuss the vocab around the different phases. We would then draw the different phases using black paper and chalk. We could also make the surface of the moon using playdoh, focusing on craters.
We would investigate using pictures of the moon, astronauts, etc. The children can reflect in small groups on what they’ve learned. They can share their favourite fact like we did in this forum.
Teacher assessment would be through observation and questioning. Self assessment and peer assessment through their drawings and playdoh models.
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Hi Louise this seems like a fun activity and potential for so many more lessons. With the ball and flashlight you can go and teach about shadows and activities can include making shadows with their hands, tracing their shadows in pairs outside with the Sun, etc.
Pictures and vocab is very important especially as most children are visual learners. And I for one am always amazed doing a KWL chart at the amount of information children know about a topic beforehand and how much info they gather in such a short time. There will always be a space lover in the group of children you’re teaching, or at least one will be born after the topics are taught.
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Yes the KWL is such a solid platform to work from.
We did a space project (first class) during the first term and each table had to split a page in what fact and fiction knowledge they think they have?
We had read a few fiction and non fiction books, and watched a few videos about space (Chris Hadfield). Do aliens really like underpants was a very popular question! What does gravity mean? This introduction / approach encouraged some great positive conversation about space and a good starting point for building on going forward.
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Yes the KWL is such a solid platform to work from.
We had read a few fiction and non fiction books, and watched a few videos about space (Chris Hadfield). Do aliens really like underpants was a very popular question! What does gravity mean? This introduction / approach encouraged some great positive conversation about space and a good starting point for building on going forward.
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Hi Louise, this lesson on the moon seems really good and I think the children would really like it . It would definitely spark their curiousity regarding the moon. I think it’s so important to provide interest based fun lessons in STEM. The chidlren would just love working with the flash light seeing the moons different phases as well as working with playdough exploring craters. I’m definitely going to use this in my own class.
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My name is Rachael and I will be teaching junior infants in September. An interesting fact about space is that it is silent.
Inquiry based lesson I have taught before was creating a model of space using the children themselves. Children were given a planet, star, sun, moon- that they had to become for the model. In order to recreate the solar system they had to investigate as much as they could about their part. What it looks like, how big it is, where it is situated in relation to the sun, does it spin and if so what direction. Questions arose like what does the inside of earth look like which prompted an investigation and discussion about the earth’s crust, the inner and outer core etc. We then created our life picture of the solar system and performed this for our school at assembly.
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Hi Rachael,
welcome to this course, you’ll find a lot of suggestions from other teachers of infants, so I do urge you to explore the forums as well as the course material.
In this course we are specifically referring to the Curious Minds ESERO Framework for Inquiry when we look at inquiry activities. So for making a model of space using children as stars/suns/planets/moons – the actual scenario could be the prompt, they could then share what they know and ask questions that they might use secondary sources to verify.
So – a child who knows that the Moon goes around the Earth, but thinks the Sun also goes around the Earth can share what they think the model should look like, then can check it from books or other sources.
Questions that can lead to further investigations are a sign that the inquiry is at the right level. I heard once that if a class are saying “we get it, we get it” then they don’t – since a class that “gets it” will have lots more questions (whatever ‘it’ is!)
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That’s a great idea Susan and a great wayto get the children’s attention. It’s so exciting for them to be finding a home for an alien. But yes it is essential to know some facts about where the alien is coming from so researching the various planets is crucial. I love how all aspects of the curriculum are used from oral language to art, geography and SPHE too. I will definitely try this out in the future.
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Hello everyone, my name is Pól. I am starting in a new school at the end of August and I will have Junior infants next year. I don’t have one favourite space fact but I do love to learn about space and look forward to learning many new and interesting facts during this course that I will be able to share with my pupils next year
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Hi everyone my name is Eoghan and I teach first class. I am looking forward to learning about how I can teach my students next year about space. An interesting fact I know about space is that the largest volcano is on mars and is three times the size of Mount Everest.
An inquiry-based activity I would use to teach children about space would be a lesson on the effects of gravity.
Engage
Prompt: Drop a bouncy ball.
Wonder: What makes the ball drop?
Explore: Allow the children to drop balls.
Investigate
Starter Question: Do different objects fall at the same speed?
Predicting: Children share their predictions.
Conducting the investigation: The children will drop different objects and will observe whether or not they drop at the same speed.
Taking the next step:
Applying Learning: The children will work together to make a concluding statement on the effects of gravity on objects of different weights.
Making Connections: The children will make connections to real life, movies and stories they have watched where certain objects fall towards the ground and the different speeds that they fall at.
Thoughtful actions: The children will note how their learning will better allow them to understand the world around them in the future. -
Eoghan,
how will you measure the speed? I think it is more likely that you will use a fixed height and drop two objects together and see which one hits the ground first, in essence comparing time.
Note that using the actual formula pushes this activity very much to the upper end of primary.
(Maths has Explores the relationship between time, distance and speed, but as a j).
By using different objects, the variable the children will be investigating is likely to be surface area. If they are also varying mass, then comparing objects will be quite difficult.
This Gravity resource from Engineers Week structures the inquiry slightly and might make it easier to ensure that the learners are building up their knowledge.
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Hi Susan,
I love the idea of asking the children to create a new home for an alien. It’s great that they got to explore the different planets and choose the best. This lesson is so open to cross curricular work. You’ve covered science, engineering, maths (shape and space / number /measures /etc), technology. I might steal this one! You could even use the funny Aliens Love Underpants to spark their interest – what kind of home would they need to store all their stuff !
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Hello,
My name is Robyn. I am currently teaching 1st class. I am really interested in using space as a theme in the classroom and would love to make sure it is used at different class levels but with extension in each class. A space fact that I like is that On Mercury a day is twice as long as a year. I think this would be a good stimulus to teach about space and time.
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Hi Everyone,
My name is Susanne and I’ve taught a range of ages over my 28 year career. I’m currently working in SET and my pupils very much enjoy exploring the world around them. Hence my choice of summer course. I welcome new ideas from fellow colleagues.
I’m fascinated with space and attribute my interest to Captain James T. Kirk and Mr. Spok if I’ m completely honest (that’s Star Trek to those of ye youngsters !!!!)
My interesting space fact is that on Mercury a day is twice as long as a year apparently.
I teach in a rural town in County Monaghan and a lot of our pupils come from a farming background.
So when I’m introducing forces I tend to use tractors instead of toy cars and talk about the farmer’s work with a tractor.
And for Junior classes I could use Tractor Ted videos capture the pupils’ interest.
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https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DCqBIfmKdUAk4ZV3rR80HRztt61TO9bz/view?usp=drivesdk
Mind map
I’m not sure if this is the way to upload a picture of my mindmap. I didn’t know how else to do so except through Google drive. I hope it works.
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I love working with materials with the younger classes as it is so hands on and relative to their life. One inquiry lesson I would like to do after reading this module is waterproof clothing. Eg Class teddy needs to prepare himself for the wet Irish winter, what material would be the best. We would test how waterproof different materials are. But it would also open up discussions about flexible materials, cost effective materials for those students who would need to be challenged.
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Hi Michelle,
I completely agree. I think it makes the learning more real world for the children and it is much easier to engage them. It also allows them to take charge of the discovery. I have found that it makes the lessons more enjoyable for everyone and is a great opportunity to support and challenge children working at all levels.
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Hi . my name is Michelle and I am a Junior Infants teacher, heading into my 3rd year teaching this class. I have found that the children have real interest in all things space and planets related in the last few years. My favourite fact is that the sun is a star!
After reading and listening to this module, I would like to try the water proof material lessons, using an enquiry based lesson. I really liked the idea of posing a problem for the children to try and solve, like making a mess or a spill as an introduction and stimulus to the learning. I do think that the children are coming into Junior Infants now with some prior knowledge of science, either from pre school , or possibly watching videos on youtube etc, so making it a real life experience would elevate it for them. The exploration and investigation stage can be very easily managed in a lesson like this, with small amounts of water and materials being used. I think they would really enjoy helping teacher with her problem!
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Hi Michelle,
I agree, children love a good problem to solve. This will really engage them. I love that the new Maths curriculum seems to be taking a similar approach to learning. Problem solving and discussing different ways to solve problems instead of just always trying to find the ‘right’ answer at the end. It’s more about the process and sharing ideas. Teaching problem solving skills like the inquiry based activities here in this lesson.
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My name is Sinéad and I will be teaching Junior Infants in September.
An interesting fact about space…..Mars has dust storms. Often called the red planet, huge dust storms can last for months and make it hard to see the surface.
An inquiry-based activity……. I’ve tried this experiment a couple of times and its very effective ……How to grow a rainbow – science experiment.
Needed: Kitchen roll/paper towel • Markers • Two small bowls of water • Paperclip • Thread
Cut the kitchen roll into the shape of a rainbow. At each end, use markers to colour a rainbow about 2cm up from the bottom…..red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. Attach the paperclip to the top of the rainbow and tie a piece of thread to it. This will allow you to hold your rainbow. Add water to the two bowls. Hold the rainbow with both ends slightly submerged into each bowl of water and watch your rainbow grow.
Explanation: The fibres in kitchen roll have lots of little holes. Water is absorbed through the kitchen roll because when the first water molecule adheres to it and begins to move upward, it pulls the next water molecule up with it, like a chain. This same action is how water moves up into plants from the roots.
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Hi Sinéad,
You could adapt that demonstration to become more inquiry focused by showing the rainbow happening, then asking the children what they wonder or would like to try differently (and why they think it would make a difference).
for example: ” I wonder if we could make the rainbow faster… what would happen if we used different paper (like greaseproof paper)? or put the colours in a different order or ….”
These set demonstrations can serve as a wonderful prompt, but the science learning by inquiry is based on the children using their own understanding to develop their ideas further. For that they need to have familiarity and some working mental model of the scenario and be challenged to explain it further and to use it to predict what will happen.
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Hi Sinéad,
Thank you for sharing your introduction and the fascinating fact about Mars. Junior Infants are lucky to have such an engaging teacher!
I love the inquiry-based activity you’ve suggested. “How to grow a rainbow” sounds like a wonderful way to combine art and science, and it’s perfect for capturing the curiosity of young learners. The explanation about capillary action in the kitchen roll is clear and easy to understand, making it a great educational moment.
I would say the kids will have a great reaction to these exciting activities!
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Hi Sinead,
Many thanks for sharing this inquiry-based activity on growing a rainbows. I teach senior infants so I will be definitely noting this one down in my learning record for my senior infants. I think I might get the children to try different types of paper to see if the rainbow grows faster or slower. Or maybe get the children to come up with some ‘I wonder’ questions around this activity.
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Hi , my name is Orla and an interesting space fact which is so simple is that the sun is a star! It’s my4th year teaching a multi grade JI and SI class and they still find this fact fascinating !
enquiry based activity about space :
All stars are not white ? True or falsefirst we need discover what a star is ? We could extend this by finding out the size of the largest, smallest star , any names of stars that are familiar eg the sun!
next we can discover what colours stars can be. Red, yes slow, white and blue and what these colours represent, red is hot, yellow is hotter , white is even hotter and blue is the hottest ! The children can first predict which colour is the hottest. Using clay and play dough we can then make different coloured stars to represent our new knowledge
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Hi my name is Olivia, I just had second class and will have them again this upcoming year. My favourite space fact is that the moon is lemon shaped!
I am very passionate about inquiry based learning, children naturally are very inquisitive and are ready to explore and learn more about the world around them. One of my favourite lessons to see the students critical thinking skills is making boats. The students are provided with a variety of materials and using critical thinking they must figure out which boats could float/sink and why this might happen. The students work in groups and this encourages critical thinking. It is always a brilliant lesson to see how the students work together, problem solve and use critical thinking. The lesson is very hands on and the students are able to explain their logic/reasoning in the end. -
Hi my name is Olivia, I just had second class and will have them again this upcoming year. My favourite space fact is that the moon is lemon shaped!
I am very passionate about inquiry based learning, children naturally are very inquisitive and are ready to explore and learn more about the world around them. One of my favourite lessons to see the students critical thinking skills is making boats. The students are provided with a variety of materials and using critical thinking they must figure out which boats could float/sink and why this might happen. The students work in groups and this encourages critical thinking. It is always a brilliant lesson to see how the students work together, problem solve and use critical thinking. The lesson is very hands on and the students are able to explain their logic/reasoning in the end. -
Hi Olivia,
giving 2nd class children a taste of the 3rd/4th class ideas of
investigate the pushing force of water / design and make a boat or raft using an increasing variety of materials, tools and craft-handling skills.
can be super. I tend to use just paper, and see if they can work out the 1st requirement of not letting the water in! Paper is also lightweight, so will float pretty much. Since the science behind why boats float is quite tricky (getting into the volume of the displaced water provides an upwards force called buoyancy) – I tend to like to make rafts first that pretty much float on the surface.
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My name is Sinead and I am working in a Junior School about to go into my second year of SET. I have always been interested in space and find it fascinating. I am really looking forward to participating in this course. My favourite space fact is that there has been a storm raging on Jupiter for hundreds of years (The Great Red Spot).
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Hi my name is Sarah and I will be teaching 1st class next year. I enjoy the lessons surrounded by Space and I find there are so many interesting ideas and lessons to introduce to children that allow for active learning. My favourite fact about space is that the sun is a star.
Inquiry based activity that I has been done in my classroom expolored a variety of stars. I started by assessing and exploring the children’s previous knowledge on stars asking questions like; ‘What is a star? Where would we see stars? What colours are stars? etc.’ Then based on this knowledge we watched a slideshow showing different stars. After discussing stars and their colours and shapes the children were given clay to create their own stars.
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Hi my name is Sarah and I will be teaching 1st class next year. I enjoy the lessons surrounded by Space and I find there are so many interesting ideas and lessons to introduce to children that allow for active learning. My favourite fact about space is that the sun is a star.
Inquiry based activity that I has been done in my classroom expolored a variety of stars. I introduced the lesson by assessing and exploring the children’s previous knowledge on stars asking questions like; ‘What is a star? Where would we see stars? What colours are stars? Are all stars the same size and shape? etc.’ Then based on this knowledge we watched a slideshow showing different stars and highlighting that different colours mean different levels of heat. We discussed different facts about stars. After discussing stars and their colours and shapes the children were given clay to create their own stars. The children then talked about the star they created in groups and their undertsanding of what a star is.
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Hi Sarah,
knowing that the Sun is a star is something that many of us (who studied astronomy at college and love the topic) take for granted. My twin sister turned to me once, when we were in our 40s, and said “you know what, Frances, the Sun is a star!!” she hadn’t realised it until then. She has 2 masters degrees!
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Module One assignment
I would begin with a simple brainstorming lesson to gauge the children’s current knowledge of gravity. Then I will show some of the videos from the module and explaining that gravity is a force that pulls everything down towards the ground. I will then ask the children if they have noticed how things fall to the ground when they drop them. A whole class discussion will take place.
We will then make our own inquiry about gravity. We will decide what objects to use and the equipment that is needed. I can list them on the whiteboard and the children can gather them.
One by one we will make observe the object and make predictions on which objects they think will fall faster or slower. I will record the children’s predictions on the whiteboards.
To perform the experiment I will stand on a chair to get some height. I will hold two different objects at the same height and I will drop both objects at the same time while the children observe from a safe distance which objects hit the ground first. We will record the results on the whiteboard. We continue this with all the objects we gathered.
We will discuss the results at the end. I will ask questions like did all the objects fall at the same speed or different speeds? We will see if their predictions correct or incorrect and discuss this.
Finally we can conclude that gravity pulls objects down towards the earth and that all objects fall at the same rate.
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An Inquiry-based lesson I like is constructing boats to test if they will float when placed on a body of water.
Show the children different pictures of/models of boats: large, small, sailboats, boats with engines, etc. Discuss how boats can float on water.
Can we build a boat that can float in the water? What materials can we try? Predict what materials will be successful in floating. Children use a variety of materials to construct their own boat before testing it in the water to see if it will float.
Children reflect on their learning and what they may do differently next time/what worked well.
The children in my class really enjoyed this lesson and some of their creations were really well thought out and effective. There was lots of fun had and ideas shared making this a hands-on, collaborative lesson, even for junior classes.
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Sinead,
making boats is a lot of fun, but the science can be a little bit tricky. I find it best to start with rafts – where they have to float on the top of the water, and in later classes look at boats that displace water and hence float.
For those type of boats you can make a simple currach out of plain printer paper and it will last long enough to be tested a few times.
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Hi, My name is Bridget and I am teaching Early Start.
My favorite space fact is that there are more stars in the sky than grains of sand on all the beaches on earth.
For my inquiry base activity we could look at what material will soak up water best.
Trigger:Water spill on table or floor .
What can we use to clean up the spillage.
Look for suggestions of what will work best from a range of materials presented.
Will I use, newspaper, tinfoil, cling film, kitchen towel, toilet paper , tea-towel. ???
Predict which will be the most effective.
Conduct the investigation by using the various materials to try and wipe up the spill.
Out all the various materials used which worked best.
Record results by putting a smiley face on the material that worked best.
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Hi, My name is Aoife and I am currently teaching Junior Infants. My favourite fact about space is that space is completely silent.
I enjoyed the suggestions for the lesson on gravity in Module 1 and I think that the children would really enjoy it too. In my infant classroom I would follow a plan like this for the lesson.
• Introducing the trigger, wondering, discussing, exploring
• Exploring different types of forces – pulling a chair, jumping etc.
• Exploring how objects fall
• Discussion/reflection on what happened during the experiment.We like to use a buddy system in our school with 6th class so I think we could extend the lesson by using the older children to help the younger ones design and create a parachute. They would have lots of fun working together to create the parachute and also testing their creations together outside. It would be a good way to show them how a parachute lessens the effect of gravity.
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Hi I am Sinead.
My favourite fact about space is Mars is the first nearby world that people from Earth will eventually visit. I am interested in the fact that mars is said to have four season similar to earth .
For Junior infants I like to learn about materials and what materials would be best to make a raincoat/ umbrella and why for our teddy bear.
The children are given a pack with different materials such as tin foil, paper towels, blue roll, plastic, felt. They are given water and are asked to investigate what material will be best to make the umbrella/ coat. How did they decided on this and why.
Or can they think of a better material that would make a perfect raincoat for teddy.
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Hi Sinead,
if you want to read more about timekeeping on Mars, see this article from 2021.
I hadn’t realised that the calendar started in April 1955, but I do know that I am still in my 20s if I count my age in Mars Years.
At the start of each Mars mission the science teams tries to keep on Mars time – so they come to work 40 minutes later each day. See this article about it.
https://science.nasa.gov/resource/living-on-mars-time/
https://www.space.com/perseverance-rover-mission-on-mars-time
Teddy’s raincoat can be a great prompt for inquiry learning, particularly if you have a range of materials for the children to use to make the raincoat. I find that cultivating a slightly befuddled air is good – and resist the urge to tell the children which is waterproof or not. Claim that you used different materials last time your class did this and you don’t know which of these are waterproof…
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Hi Sinead!
I love your enthusiasm for space and materials science! Mars being our next destination for exploration is such an exciting concept, especially with its seasons that might be similar to Earth’s. It makes the idea of traveling to Mars feel even more real and tangible.
Your inquiry-based activity with Junior Infants sounds fantastic! Investigating materials for a teddy bear’s raincoat or umbrella is a wonderful hands-on approach to learning. The variety of materials you’ve provided—tin foil, paper towels, blue roll, plastic, and felt—gives the children a great opportunity to experiment and discover which ones are most effective at keeping teddy dry. I think it’s especially engaging to have the children not only test these materials but also think critically about why some work better than others, tapping into their creativity and problem-solving skills.
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Hi everyone, I’m Katie-Jo and I have been teaching infants for a number of years now. I absolutely love enquiry based learning especially with the younger classes.
My favourite space fact is that 1 million earths can fit inside the sun. Even though the sun is merely considered an average sized star!
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Hi everyone, I’m Katie-Jo and have been teaching infants for a number of years. This coming September I will be teaching junior & senior.
My favourite space fact would be that you can fit 1 million Earths inside of the sun. I think it really heals visualise the scale.
I absolutely love enquiry based learning and I feel that the problem solving and idea that come from it are never something you could have planned for.
A lesson I thoroughly enjoy is exploring materials and specifically waterproof materials. We explore some materials that may or may not change within water first to create a discussion. I always have a sample few materials at the ready but kids can choose things from around the classroom.
We then look at the materials that did not change in water, explore pouring water over them etc usually a child will use the word ‘waterproof’ then we discuss what this means? why do we need waterproof materials? we think of times we’ve used waterproof materials eg on the farm wearing wellys and in the rain using umbrellas.
I then introduce Teddy – he wants to go to the farm but doesn’t want his beautiful fluffy feet getting wet and has asked the children to help him solve this problem.
Kids then problem solve as to how he could walk through the mucky pig pen or go to the pond to feed the ducks without getting wet.
We then use our knowledge gained from our materials and change experiment to create welly boots and a coat. Children test materials and record results then together we create a farm proof outfit for Teddy that we have tested and are sure will keep him dry. I then take Teddy to my family farm and share images of him in his waterproof materials nears the pigs and the pond.
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Katie- Jo,
what a super context for the children to engage with for this Design and Make activity. Teddy’s boots are a great prompt and I think it is just brilliant that you take a pic of Teddy on the farm at the end!
I am still on the endless hunt for a decent waterproof jacket that doesn’t leave me too sweaty when I wear it, but I guess Teddy doesn’t sweat so he’ll be ok.
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Sharon, if you wanted to make explicit the new vocabulary, you might use something like this “New Words” poster from SFI.
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An inquiry based activity that I have enjoyed doing with my class in the past is making a rainbow and showing the distribution of colours within the rainbow.
Materials:
coffee filter paper
water-based markers
water spray bottle
Method:
The children open up the coffee filter paper and lay it out flat. It naturally makes a butterfly shape so I usually add a pipe cleaner down the middle as the butterfly’s body at the end. I then encourage the children to use different coloured markers to create a pattern on the filter paper. When they are finished we spray water all over the filter paper butterfly with the spray bottle. I then hang the filter paper up and we watch as the colours begin to separate and bleed into each other to create a beautiful butterfly pattern. Young children are always intrigued with this process and the end result is always stunning. They particularly like to see the black separating into all the colours of the rainbow.
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Hi everyone,
My name is Alex and I will be teaching in our middle autism class next year. My favourite space fact is that stars twinkle because their light has to travel through Earth’s atmosphere, which is like a big, moving ocean of air. This air is full of different temperatures and densities, which bend the light in various directions. This bending makes the stars look like they’re twinkling, just like how a penny at the bottom of a swimming pool looks like it’s dancing when you look at it through the moving water.I would use inquiry based learning through exploration and investigating.I Use a flashlight to represent a star and a clear glass of water mixed with oil to represent Earth’s atmosphere. I would then shine the flashlight through the glass and gently stir the water and observe how the light twinkles.
I would then ask students to draw a picture or write a sentence about what they learned. They could draw Twinkle the star dancing or write about how the air makes stars twinkle.
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Alexandra,
flashlight / water as star and atmosphere makes a lovely demonstration that can be a prompt for further investigation. You’ve planned for the children to wonder and explore by writing what they think is going on. Then their questions could pose a starter question for an investigation.
Does the size of the jar make a difference? Does a ‘star’ twinkle more if it goes through more ‘atmosphere’ ?
{Yes, in the case of real stars, which is why Sirius, the brightest star, which is always quite near the horizon from Ireland, looks so twinkly}
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Hi everyone,
My name is Katie and I teach Senior Infants. My favourite space fact is that the Voyager 1 contains a golden record with pictures of Earth in case it bumps into some aliens.
An inquiry based activity I did with senior infants last year was learning about exoplanets. After learning about what they were I told them that they were going to become space explorers trying to discover new planets. I divided the class into pairs and gave each class a picture I had made on canva. The picture had a mixture of tiny stars and small circles speckled all around it. The children used flashlights to try and find the tiny circles that were new planets. When they found a planet they circled it. Afterwards the children took turns coming up to the interactive whiteboard where I had the picture on display and marked planets they had found. We ended the activity by each child coming up with a name for one of the planets they found.
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The inquiry based lesson I plan to introduce is the Glitter Germ Experiment. It helps children to actually be able to see the ‘germs’ and give them a more concrete understanding of how handwashing and germ prevention work. Younger children can find it difficult to understand that germs are everywhere! Only four ingredients are required to explore how germs work. We want to emphasise that even though we can’t see them, they’re everywhere. A shallow dish, water, blue washing up liquid and gold glitter. Pour water into the dish almost to the edge. Sprinkle glitter generously over the surface. Squirt liquid directly into a mass of glitter. The children will see when liquid soap is added to the water the germs(glitter) moves away. The more soap the faster the reaction. The children could also coat a finger in soap and try to touch the ‘germs’. A follow up activity could be to read a book on the importance of handwashing and practice good handwashing. I think this would be an extremely worthwhile activity, particularly with younger classes!
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Siobhan,
The Glitter Germ can be an excellent prompt for the children to start an investigation inquiry.
After they have seen the demonstration they should try to construct an explanation of what they have seen. Then they will have questions that they can investigate to confirm their understanding.
You might consider offering a range of liquids that could be added to the glitter water – The Children’s Museum of New Hampshire has a nice description of some possibles (toothpaste, cooking oil, hand soap) and outlines the science behind why different liquids behave differently.
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My name is Veronica and I am currently teaching in SET
I would use the following inquiry based activity in the classroom-Floating and sinkingEngage: Present the children with a wide range of materials.
Pose various questions to the children such as “ Do you think this plastic will float or sink?” Materials: Container of water
Various objects (wooden block, plastic toy, metal spoon, rubber ball, foam ball)
Notebook or chart paper
Pencil or markers
Wondering- The children will brainstorm ideas on what makes an object float or sink. Exploring- Allow the children to go through the items and try classify objects according to whether they float or sink Investigate: Starter question-why do some things float and why do some things sink? Prediction-Do you think the items will float or sink-record your predictions on worksheet
Have children predict whether each object will sink or float based on its characteristics.
Fill the container with water and invite children to take turns placing objects in it.
Record observations in notebooks or on chart paper.
Facilitate a discussion on similarities between sinking and floating objects.
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Veronica,
a nice set of materials for this activity are the set from the module, these are used in a few of the ESERO activities.
The floating and sinking from ESERO appears as “Does Saturn Float?” This includes an attractive poster for children to use to record their predictions.
Which characteristics would you expect children to identify as making a difference to floating and sinking? Please note that density is not used in primary science, rather objects can be described as heavy for their size. Would you have materials that can be shaped, such as tin foil? In this case you can find that it both sinks and floats, depending on shape that could lead to an interesting “take the next step.”
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My name is Veronica and I am teaching in SET.
Inquiry based activity A Magnetic Race
Materials: Paper and scissors, A large sheet of cardboard, Crayons or markers, 2 steel paper clips, 2 pencils, 2 small magnets / fridge magnets, 4 thick books or 4 glasses, A table
Exploring Facts Magnets attract magnetic objects through other materials.
Objects made from iron, steel, nickel or cobalt will stick or be attracted to magnets. These are called magnetic objects or magnetic materials. Magnets attract magnetic objects through other materials, for example cardboard, water, glass or plastic. Let’s use these facts to make a fun magnetic game.
How to make
1. Draw 2 small cars about 5cm long and 2cm wide.
2. Colour each car.
3. Tape the steel paperclip to the bottom of each car.
4. Draw two courses on the cardboard. Mark the start and finish on each course. Colour in. Place the cardboard on the glasses or books. This will allow you to put your magnet wand underneath the cardboard.
5. Tape the magnets to the end of each ruler. This is your magnetic wand.
6. Position the two magnetic wands underneath the cardboard, under the two cars, so that you can move the cars along the courses with the magnetic wands. Invite one of your family to race with you. Enjoy! What is happening? The magnet attracts the steel clips through the cardboard, moving them along the race course.
Finally I encourage students to ask more questions and think about other challenges and solutions.
Challenge Place a paper clip in a glass of water. Challenge somebody to take the paper clip out, but without putting a hand in the water.
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Veronica,
this is another nice example of a prompt to stimulate further inquiry. The children can play with the game material and then quickly explore their own questions about “how far away can the magnet be and still be able to pull the car?”
We do a similar activity in workshops at Blackrock Castle and ask children to make a maze for a bug to move through. The bug is drawn on paper and attached to a paper clip. Magnets are held by hand under plastic art trays, or under the table. The children can engage in maths talk as they describe their mazes and see if they can go faster through one type of maze rather than another.
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Create a mind map in relation to your ideas about space. Please add to your mind map after each module as part of the reflective learning process.
As a reply to this post, introduce yourself on the forum and share your favourite space fact. Then add a reflection (150 words min) on how you would use one inquiry-based activity in your classroom
My name is Cillian and my favourite space fact is Einsteins Theory of Special Relativity. I can’t say I fully grasp the concept but am fascinated how many years later Einstein’s theory still holds up today. I saw the film ‘Insterstellar’ and it the scence about flying towards the Black Hole ‘Gargantua’ was incredible. And also how the main character had only aged a few years while when he came back to Earth his children were older them him!
I saw a lesson before where the teacher used lemon juice and the heat from a light bulb (lamp) for the students to write ‘invisible messages’. Lemon was squeezed into a small bowl. A toothpick was then dipped into the bowl. The toothpick becomes the ‘pen’ and the child can draw a picture on a piece of paper. Once the paper ‘dries’ you will not be able to see the ink. The teacher then shines a heat source on the paper and the drawing is revealed!
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Hi everyone, my name is Sinéad. I teach first class and I have always had an interest in space. When I was younger we had a telescope and I used to be fascinated with the moon and its craters. My favourite space fact is the one about Jupiter’s storm. It had been in existence for years and continues to circle the planet. It is the spot you can see in pictures of Jupiter – so I can only imagine how big it is!
One inquiry-based lesson I would enjoy implementing in my classroom would be how light travels through various surfaces – opaque, translucent and transparent. Using torches and classroom materials the children can explore how light travels and if you provide mirrors/coloured plastics the learning becomes even more exciting.
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Stand : Living Things, Energy and Forces
Strand Unit :Myself, Sound
Curriculum Objectives :Use all the senses to become aware of and explore
environmentsSkills : Questioning Investigating, Observing
Equipment : Various foods (cereal, salad leaves, seeds). Plastic tubs or containers.
Starter questions – How good are our ears at identifying something that normally does not create a lot of sound? Why do we need our ears? What do we hear everyday?
The children have their eyes closed and the teacher shakes the container with various food
e.g. breakfast cereal.Shake the container and have the learners
predict what the item is before it is revealed.
Reveal the contents and see how many were
correct.
Now have the learners break into groups and
repeat the investigation themselves with
different materials.Focus Questions
What do we use our ears for? Can we identify things using our ears? What things are best identified using sound?
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Hi,
I already posted about why I’m doing the course and a favourite space fact, but I’m not sure how to find it now!
As regards Inquiry Based learning. I have done a few investigations here and there – never enough. One simmple one we did in Winter, was figuring out how to get rid of the frost and ice outside the front door of school. I started with showing them the ice and I wondered how to get rid if quickly to make it safe for everyone to walk in. The children brainstormed ideas and they wanted to make it disappear.
We came up with suggestions of what to throw on it. Hot water was a bit uinsafe for them to use, so we needed something else. One of the childrrn said they used salt, so we asked if throwing different substances on the ice would get rid of it. The children suggested different substances and we included the salt.
I brought in bowls of ice from the school fridge. We placed salt on one bowl clay on another and sugar on another. We compared the ice after a few minutes and the salt had melted it very quickly. Simple, but they enjoyed it.
We also tried to find the best material to keep teacher’s cup of tea warm and we found out why it is important to wear gloves when playing in the ice and snow – how it keeps our hands from freezing ! Everything was hands on and lots of chat.
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A recent article has a theory about white holes, but they are very much a science fiction idea at the minute.
https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/space-science/white-hole
https://www.sciencefocus.com/space/what-is-a-white-hole
https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/black-holes-white-holes/
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Hi, my name is Brenda and I am currently teaching infants. I am looking forward to completing this course as Space is topic I struggle with. I find it’s a very engaging topic for the children so I would like to improve my teaching methodologies for the future. My favourite space fact is the moon is not actually round, it is shaped like a lemon.
An enquiry based lesson I have conducted in infants was planting bulbs and observing how different variables affect growth such as the amount of light, soil and water. The children planted the blubs and we blocked the light access of one plant by placing it in a dark storage press, we didn’t water one and one we looked after as normal. We observed all the results and compiled it into a chart which the children used to present the results to the senior infant classes. The children really enjoy this lesson and couldn’t wait to get into the classroom in the morning to observe the plants daily and observe and discuss the results and findings.
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Hi I’m Ciara and I am going to be teaching 2nd class for the first time this year.
My favourite space fact is that there are more stars than there are grains of sand on all the beaches on earth!
An activity that I am looking forward to using is the inquiry-based activity we saw in this module with the missing sweets and fingerprinting! I thought this lesson was fun and engaging for students of all ages. I think the children would love using magnifying glasses to examine their fingerprints. I’m realizing that science doesn’t have to be so tough and overwhelming. It can actually be simple and fun. This activity has shown me that hands-on learning is a great way to get students excited about science. I’m looking forward to trying out this lesson in my class and seeing my students become detectives, solving mysteries while learning about science. This whole experience has really reminded me that teaching science can be both educational and enjoyable and doesn’t always require alot of equipment.
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Hi Ciara,
You’ll find the majority of resources from Curious Minds can be used with classes and are designed to not require a lot of equipment.
The fingerprints prompt is great for getting the children interested and then active in wondering and exploring how fingerprints are viewed and a little bit about how they are different for different people. The task of viewing the fingerprints could be the subject of an investigation itself, as the children might suggest trying different ways to get a good look at a fingerprint. Younger children could consider how much you should blow up the balloon, older children might consider the material that should be used to make the prints, using perhaps different amounts of pencil or perhaps a different colour contrast.
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Hi Everyone, my name is Julie and I have taught Junior Infants and Junior/Senior Infants over the last few years. I will have a straight Junior Infant class this coming school year. My favourite space fun fact is that the sun weighs about 330,000 more than earth. I really enjoy incorporating active and hands on learning within the classroom and I feel that this usually leads to inquiry based learning. I find magnets are a great resource in the infant classroom and children really enjoy trying them out and finding things that are magnetic. We normally go on a little trail around the school to explore different materials. I also like the lesson in relation to making a waterproof raincoat. I normally ask the children to make the raincoat for a teddy but this year I will introduce the alien and we can make a raincoat for the alien through exploring different materials that would be suitable etc.
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Hi Julie,
magnets are a favourite of mine as well. I find it is vital to give the children time to play with the magnets and notice the patterns in what is attracted to a magnet and what is not. Since many metals that are easily found in a classroom contain iron, some children may erroneously conclude that all metals are attracted to magnets. I find it useful to have some coins, tin foil and some jewellery (silver or gold) to offer for testing.
Once children have played, ask them to generalise what they have found out (ie Only metals go to the magnet) – and from that make a starter question (Do all metals go to magnets?) and then investigate.
A fun next step is to make ‘bugs’ from pipecleaners (that have steel in their centres) and make a bug maze. Use the magnets under the table to pull the bug along the maze.
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Hi my name is Anna. I teach Junior Infants! My favourite fact about Space that my pupil’s always love is that one million Earths can fit inside the sun.
One of my favourite enquiry based learning lessons to see the students critical thinking skills is floating and sinking. The students are provided with a variety of materials and using critical thinking they must figure out which objects float/sink and why this might happen. The children make predictions and then carry out the experiment. The lesson is child-centred and encourages collaborative learning/thinking. The results provide a stimulus for our lesson about why objects float/sink. The students are able to explain their logic/reasoning in the end for their predictions and see if they match the results.
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Anna,
I’d change the order slightly in the activity, and give the children some experience with floating and sinking actual objects before asking them to
using critical thinking they must figure out which objects float/sink
Their own mental models of why things float and sink can be built up through play and observing a range of toys or other items in the classroom.
ESERO have a suggested range of objects (the ones that are dropped in this module) that can also be floated (see https://esero.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/04_Does-Saturn-float.pdf). In this case, they can explore, draw generalisations, then make predictions for other objects to float and sink.
I’d actually disagree with the statement at the end of the Saturn sheet –
It is important that the children discover that whether an object sinks or floats depends on the material it is made from and not its shape; it is not dependent on the size of the object.
Since you can shape plasticine to float by making it into a boat or raft shape.
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My name is Leeanne and I’ll be working with Senior Infants this year.
An interesting space fact (to me!) is that, since it’s discovery almost 100 years ago, Pluto hasn’t yet made a full orbit of the sun.
One example of an inquiry based lesson I would do is have the children design their own space suits. To introduce the lesson I would have a range of different clothing in the centre of a circle, and ask the children what clothes they would choose for a hot day, a wet day, a cold day, a windy day. I’d ask them about the properties of the clothes and why they’re most suitable for the given conditions. I’d then show pictures of more specialist clothing like that of a bee keeper, a diver, a fire fighter, an astronaut and discuss them.
For the main body of the lesson I’d explain to the children that they’re going to design their own space suits. We’d discuss the requirements of this suit (keep them warm, keep oxygen in). To do this with infant classes, I’d give them the outline of an astronaut that they can cut out and stick the necessary materials to. I’d leave out a range of paper, fabrics, cotton wool, foil, etc, and have them choose what they think is best.
To conclude the lesson we’d recap on the requirements of a good space suit and the children can share their designs with the class and explain why they chose the materials they did.
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Hi Leeanne
ESERO’s Design a Spacesuit has some nice images that would support this activity.
To bring out the inquiry aspect of this, (referencing the Curious Minds ESERO Framework for Inquiry) I would use the scenario of designing a spacesuit as the prompt, encourage the children to wonder and explore the different types of clothing. As you have mentioned, one criteria is “keep them warm”, so the children could carry out an investigation as to which of the materials you have provided keep something warm the longest. In a typical classroom this often means having something hot inside the fabric – which can be a bit hazardous (at second level this is often hot water inside metal cans with different layers of insulation, a thermometer measuring the temperature), so this could be modified to “keep something cold” – (the heat from outside can’t get in). Then you can look at keeping an ice cube cold – and will a thick warm sock keep it cold or will a thin tight be better? This can be the starter question and they can share their thinking as they make a prediction.
Once they have shared results, they can consider their next step, which could be their design of the suit using the materials that they have found best to keep the heat out (which is the same as heat in).
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As a reply to this post, introduce yourself on the forum and share your favourite space fact. Then add a reflection (150 words min) on how you would use one inquiry-based activity in your classroom
Dia Daoibh, My name is Deirdre and I’m based in hospital school so I have all age groups and abilities 🙂
A space fun fact I think is interesting is that the sunset on Mars appears blue!
In our school setting our lessons often depend on how our pupils are feeling on that particular day, I find Chris Hadfield’s youtube videos about space a brilliant resource to use. His videos are full of facts and fun, such as ‘How do you brush your teeth in space?’ The children really enjoy watching these short videos. They are short and sweet but that is perfect in our school setting and really appeals to the pupils. Mystery Science is another of my Go to websites for Science, they have fantastic space videos and once again are short, sweet but very informative. These videos can offer great discussion opportunities for the children and we can add to our classroom KWL charts.
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Is this the site Deirdre? https://mysteryscience.com/
Short and sweet videos are a great prompt for inquiry work and I’m a big Chris Hadfield fan. I like his Chris Kitchen videos, including how to make a peanut butter tortilla
https://youtu.be/AZx0RIV0wss?si=af-aybkOtw99uGxf
and rehydrating dried spinach
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Hi, my name is Jessica Markey and I am a Junior Infant teacher in a DEIS Junior school. I have been an infant teacher for the past two years. I decided to do this course to expand my knowledge on space and hopefully use this new understanding of space in my current teaching position. My favourite fact about space is that it is completely quiet.
An inquiry based activity that I would like to do with my Junior Infants is ‘Storm in a Glass’. I have done this experiment with older children (SI, FC and SC) and think it would be a great hands-on activity for an Aistear based lesson.
The trigger for this lesson would be a previous Literacy lesson about the book ‘One Stormy Night’ and a follow up lesson geared towards Winter/Weather.
Throughout my years of teaching, I have seen how children question or often wonder where rain comes from or why is there more/less rain on different days or in different areas. I would begin this lesson by showing the children a wet sponge and tell them to pretend that the sponge is a cloud. I would tell them to notice that by adding more water to the sponge, more water comes out. This would give the children more of an idea of what happens when it rains more – the cloud is bigger so more rain falls. We would then move onto a glass or clear container filled with 3/4 water. We would create a ‘cloud’ using shaving foam. I would ask thought provoking questions such as “what do you think will happen if I add water to the cloud?”, “what would happen if I now added more water?” Eventually, the children should be able to identify what happens if we add more water or “rain”.
I think this is a brilliant hands-on and messy water activity for young children.
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Jessica,
I like how you have structured this inquiry, from a suitable prompt (the story), with explore and wonder built around the behaviour of the sponge.
Would you use food colouring as in this video version?
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Hi everyone, My name is Laura and I have been teaching a mixed second class for the past 3 years. I will also have second class for this school year 2024/2025. My favourite space fact is “A day on Venus is longer than a year!”
### Reflection on Science Inquiry-Based Activity in the Classroom
One particular activity that stood out was our exploration of plant growth under different conditions. The objective was to understand what plants need to thrive, which aligned perfectly with our unit on living organisms.
I introduced the activity by posing a question: “What happens to a plant if we change the amount of light, water, or soil it gets?” This sparked curiosity and led to the formulation of hypotheses. Each group of students planted seeds and varied one condition while keeping the others constant. Over several weeks, they observed and recorded the growth of their plants, eagerly sharing their findings and adjusting their hypotheses as necessary.
The hands-on nature of this experiment allowed the students to engage deeply with the scientific method. They learned to make observations, ask questions, and draw conclusions based on empirical evidence. It was rewarding to see their excitement and sense of ownership over their learning. They developed critical thinking skills and a better understanding of how scientific inquiry works.
This activity underscored the importance of active learning and the effectiveness of inquiry-based approaches in fostering a deeper understanding of scientific concepts. It also highlighted the value of collaborative learning, as students worked in groups, shared their ideas, and learned from each other. This experience has encouraged me to incorporate more inquiry-based activities in the future, as it promotes engagement, curiosity, and a love for learning.
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Laura,
You have described the inquiry process for an activity on plant growth. If we frame it using the Framework for Inquiry outlined in this module you have introduced a prompt = What happens to a plant when…
The children then can share what they know as they wonder and explore – and exploring can include looking at the planned equipment for the activity so that they can make up their own starter question that is directly relevant.
I’d draw attention to fair testing, which is vital in this case, since “Each group of students planted seeds and varied one condition while keeping the others constant.” which sounds as if each group could compare to the other groups, which would be valid if the seeds that were watered, had the same amount of water, and each group had the same amount of soil, the same shape container, planted the seeds to the same depth etc.
I note that you had the plants growing from seeds – so there are two different processes under examination. Did any group find that their seeds germinated in darkness, but then the plant didn’t grow the same as others?
Depending on the type of seed you have, some will not germinate unless they are in darkness, so did you try scattering seeds on the top of the soil vs planting?
“and adjusting their hypotheses as necessary.” is the learning happening. As the children observed different growths they would revise their undertanding.
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Hi everyone, my name is Robyn and I’m am infant teacher, juniors into seniors every second year for six years now.
My favourite space fact is one I leaned in this module and it’s that the gravity on the moon is less than that on earth because the moon is smaller. I always thought there was no gravity on the moon so that stood out to me and I am no longer misinformed.
One of the activities I enjoy the idea of is exploring the potential real estate on the different planets. When I taught second class, we learned about the different planets by scoping out which one would be the most suitable for a family of aliens to buy a house on. We looked at what the planets were made of, their landscapes, climates, etc. and compared the planets to each other, creating fact files on each of them. We then had in depth discussions about what planets the children thought would be the most suitable for the aliens to buy a house on and live out their lives on. The children had great knowledge of the different planets after this exploration and it led to wonderful debates on which planet they deemed most appropriate.
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hi my name is Claire and I will be teaching second class in September for the third year in a row.
my favourite space fact is that sunsets on Mars are blue.Are use enquiry base learning in my classroom all of the time it is very very beneficial for the younger children as they love to explore and they get lots of new ideas. The enquiry based learning that I have used over the last number of years is based upon the story of the three little pigs and which house we stay standing against the big bad Wolf. We always start off with straw sticks and bricks, but once the children understand the concept of we moved to different materials to see and compare which material holds up the best.
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Claire,
what a fun prompt! Stories that the children are familiar with can serve such a great purpose. How do you test the “blow your house down?”
Do you have a hair dryer that you use so that there is the same force each time? There could be a nice link to fair testing in this activity, particularly if you demonstrated blowing the house down with the wolf giving only a tiny puff to one house and bigger puff to another!
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Hi
My mane is Mark King. I teach in O’Connells Primary school in North East Inner City Dublin. Science is a subject that has fascinated me from childhood. The magic of science caught my attention as a child and it is brilliant to see children experience that same awe and fascination. My favorite fun fact from science is that there is no sound in space
Classroom Activity; Sound in Space
Children find it very difficult to comprehend that there is no sound in space. Video games and films contradict this with booming lasers and space ships blowing each other up. I find the a lesson on how sound works is an ideal way of helping them to understand the lack of noise in space.
Simple ways to do this are lessons that show that sound is caused by vibrations through the air. Ask children to gently scrape a coin on their desk . Their partner has to listen to see if they can hear the scraping. They will hear a feint scraping sound as the vibrations have to travel through the air. The child then puts their ear to the table while their partner scrapes the coin on the table. The vibrations are more intense and the sound is louder. After the lesson explain to the children that the coin caused vibrations in the air to make the sound. There is no air in space therefor the are no vibrations. No air means no sound
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Hi Mark,
those of us of a certain age remember the tag line of the first Alien film.
I’m not suggesting you use that as your prompt! Scare the wits out of me when I eventually got around to seeing the film.
You have described an engaging task, and one that the children can extend with their own understanding coming into play. Once they find out that sound can travel through materials they can explore different materials that absorb or more clearly transmit sounds.
From Curious Minds you can find:
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My name is Catherine and I will be teaching 1st/2nd class this year.
My interesting fact is that 95% of the universe is invisible!
Teaching an enquiry based lesson on electricity is enjoyable for all.
Introduction/Prompt: Picture book on a stormy day/night when the house loses its electricity.
Wonder/Explore: Elicit prior knowledge on the sources of electricity in the house, what uses electricity & the importance of electricity. Explain that electricity is everywhere!
Investigate- How we can create electricity!
Predict: Can we create electricity with a balloon and various items. Show Magnets and how they have positive & negative ends (North & south poles)
Experiment:
Rub an inflated balloon on your head for about 10 seconds.
Slowly move it away – what happens?
What happens when you hold the balloon near small pieces of paper, an empty drink/soda can, or a thin stream of water running from a tap?
If you do it right you can even place the balloon on a wall or door and leave it stuck there!Explanation:
When you rub the balloon on your hair you are giving it a small electric charge. What’s actually happening is you are rubbing tiny particles called electrons from your hair and onto the balloon. This gives the balloon a slightly negative charge and you and your hair a slightly positive charge, and opposite charges attract each other and try to stick to each other. This is why when you move the balloon away from your hair, your hair stands on end and tries to go with it!You might notice that your hair carries on standing up after you take the balloon away – that’s because you’ve left each hair with a positive charge!
Explain to the children that this electric charge is very small and eventually the electrons will balance out again and the balloon loses its magical sticky powers. But if the air is dry enough you can leave the balloon on a wall and it can stay there for days!
Discuss the experiment & their predictions.
Conclusion: What if questions?
What would happen if you:Had wet hair?
Rubbed the balloon on a woolly jumper instead of your hair?
Rubbed two balloons on your hair and then brought them together? -
Hi Catherine,
Static Electricity is a great topic for 1st/2nd class (and addresses :Energy and forces >Magnetism and electricity • explore the effects of static electricity) and it is explored in this Curious Minds Junior class resource:
https://www.sfi.ie/site-files/primary-science/media/pdfs/col/static_electricity_activity.pdf
and in Irish: https://www.sfi.ie/site-files/primary-science/media/pdfs/col/static_electricity_activity_irish.pdf
I don’t think you need magnets, and, as you have said, the balloon will stick best on a dry, non-humid day.
I wasn’t too sure what the soft drink can was going to be used for, but found this explanation: https://www.experimentarchive.com/experiments/rolling-static-soda-can/
I’d be careful on the language used, electrons are only mentioned in the teacher’s glossary. Charges themselves are a tricky enough concept. The charges will balance on a humid day more quickly, since water molecules in the atmosphere are able to neutralise charges.
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Hi. My name is Paula and I will be teaching first class in September.
A space fact that I like is that the moon is the shape of a lemon. While I appreciate that it is more of a slightly flattened sphere, I love the reaction from children when you say this to them and their curiosity about why this is the case. -
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Hi
My name is Patrick, I teach 1st and 2nd class.
My favourite thing about space is the fact that while we know some amount about it, there is still so much that is yet to be discovered if only we could travel far enough to see it.
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Hi all,
I’m Sinéad and I am currently teaching Senior Infants.
My Favourite Space Facts are that Venus spins in the opposite direction to the rest of the planets in our Solar system and also that Black Holes have an opposite White Holes!
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Teaching an inquiry-based activity on gravity can be a fun and engaging way for students to learn. Here’s how I would teach it in my classroom.
1.Introduction: Introduce the concept of gravity to students. Explain that gravity is the force that pulls objects towards each other. Use simple and relatable examples to help them understand.
2.Ask Questions: Encourage students to ask questions about gravity. What do they already know? What do they want to learn more about? This will help spark curiosity and guide the direction of the activity.
3.Hands-on Experiment: Plan a hands-on experiment that demonstrates the effects of gravity. For example, you can drop objects of different weights and sizes to observe how they fall to the ground. Encourage students to make predictions and record their observations.
4.Research: Have students research more about gravity. They can explore how gravity works in space, why objects fall at the same rate regardless of weight, or even the history of our understanding of gravity.
5.Discussion: Facilitate a group discussion where students can share their findings, ask questions, and reflect on what they’ve learned. Encourage critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
6.Creative Projects: Allow students to showcase their understanding of gravity through creative projects. They can create models, posters, or even skits to demonstrate their knowledge.
7.Conclusion: Conclude the activity by summarizing key points about gravity and its importance. Encourage students to continue exploring and asking questions about this fascinating force.
My goal in this activity is to encourage curiosity, critical thinking, and active learning.
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Saoirse,
Have you thought about how the framework for inquiry might be used for gravity activities?
Here is an example of a senior infant class, with a demonstration of a spinning bucket and how the spinning can balance gravity and stop the water from coming out of the bucket – this could be a great prompt to get the ideas going.
The module gives the example of the very simple ESERO Activity of dropping things – would that be too simple for your Senior Infants?
Could you say a bit more about your step 4?
Research: Have students research more about gravity. They can explore how gravity works in space, why objects fall at the same rate regardless of weight, or even the history of our understanding of gravity.
What books or supports might senior infants need to do this research? Have you videos that you might show them that you can recommend? Please note that ideas of rate of fall and it being independent of mass is something that would be covered at leaving certificate level in Ireland.
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Hi Frances, I would use a variety of different items with the children and let them see that no matter what weight they still fall at the same speed from the same height. When I say research, I mean the children listening to a story and actively trialling different classroom items such as paper, pens, copybooks, glue-sticks, workbooks etc. The ups and down of gravity is a book I’ve used before by David A Adler.
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Hello I really like your lesson idea on gravity you have it very well structured and it is very well and clearly laid out. It is definitely a lesson I would be hoping to use in my own classroom in the future. I think the children would really enjoy learning but gravity and you’ve given a lot of ideas to support this.
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Hi, I’m Mary and I am (and will be) teaching junior and senior infants. Some love space and know loads, others are mystified but interested.
My current favourite space fact is that Black Holes don’t look like what we thought they did when I was young, and that it took years and years of studying distant points in space (as well as millions of dollars filming Interstellar) to find a more current representation of how light bends around a black hole.
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And teams of scientists with the combined light from telescopes around the world have imaged the area around black holes, including the one at the centre of our own Milky Way. You can read more here.
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Hi, my name is Ashling and I work in SET with Senior Infants and 1st class.
An interesting fact about space is that if you were to fly to Pluto it would take over 800 years.
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I love Pluto! Still a planet to me.
You can see the images of Pluto sent back by the New Horizons mission, launched in 2006 and passing Pluto in 2015. Of course, this was a fly-by, if we had wanted to put the spacecraft into orbit then the journey would have taken much longer.
I sometimes describe Fly-By missions as: “have you ever been on holiday, and you want to see as many sights as possible, so your parent won’t even stop the car and just tells you to take a picture so you can get on to the next destination?”
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Hi, my name is Seán and I teach 2nd class. My favourite space fact is that scientists estimate there are about 500,000 pieces of space junk today, including fragments from rockets and satellites, and everyday items like spanners dropped during construction of the International Space Station!
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Michelle – there are some ESA activities on space debris for primary children.
There is a Framework for Inquiry to support their use here.
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An inquiry based lesson for Infant classes – Exploring the planet Jupiter.
-Warm up introduction with familiar song to the class: The Solar System Song
1. Ask the children to listen to the song again with just the excerpt about Jupiter – this time trying to recall a new fact they have heard.
2.Gather the children in a circle and introduce the topic of Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system. Show pictures or models of Jupiter and ask if anyone has heard of it before.
3. Using different sized balls, create a planet earth and planet jupiter to show the children an idea of the size difference.
4.Practical exploration: Using Playdough or clay, children engage in making a planet Jupiter and the largest moon – with volcano.Discuss the size and features of Jupiter as they create their playdough planets.
5.Looking at images of Jupiter from https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/all-about-jupiter/en/ – discussing how it looks, describing by size, colour, texture words.
6.Read “Jupiter, the gassy giant” aloud in circle time with the class. Encourage the children to listen for interesting facts about Jupiter and ask questions about what they have learned.
7. Practise singing the Jupiter facts from the Solar system song. Pairwork – in twos ask pupils to share a fact they know with a friend/ Share their favourite fact with the class.
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Hi Ursula,
is this the book you recommend? https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/161179929-jupiter-the-gassy-giant
The framework of inquiry has been designed to help you planning for inquiry activities that help children learn science through the inquiry process. You might go deeper into the children’s understanding of colour with Jupiter as your theme with this resource from spaceweek.ie https://www.spaceweek.ie/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Gas-Planet-Clouds.pdf
The children could predict which colours they would get when they mix the food colouring – perhaps referring to their understanding of paint. Then the inquiry process would show them if their understanding was correct.
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An inquiry-based lesson using Bee-Bots to simulate space exploration
1.Introduction: Start by introducing the Bee-Bots and explaining the goal of the activity – reaching different planets. They will be displayed on charts in the classroom, Programme your BeeBot to go to Neptune, Jupiter…
2. I will elicit information from the children about the solar system and the planets. They can gather information about each planet’s size, distance from the sun, and unique characteristics.
3.The children will programme the Bee-Bots to simulate traveling to different planets. They can create a map or layout representing the solar system and use the Bee-Bots to navigate to each planet.
4.I will encourage students to think critically about the distance between planets, obstacles in space, and how the Bee-Bots can overcome challenges to reach their destination.
5. After the activity, the children will reflect on their experience. I will ask them what they learned about the solar system, coding, and problem-solving.
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Yvonne – I love this idea. It really mirrors actual space missions where the instructions have to be sent to the missions in advance because of signal time delays.
I have done a similar analog with children, where they have to choose from a set of cards which instruction to send to the ‘spacecraft’ and then one child is the ‘radio wave’ and they have to walk to the ‘spacecraft’ who continues moving.
It was a lot of fun when ‘turn left’ arrived at the space craft long after the spacecraft had passed the planet. The activity was originally part of the New Horizons education resources, I’ll see if I can find the original link.
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<p class=”MsoNormal”>Hi, my name is Eleanor. I am working in a DEIS 1 school and will be working with Infants in September. I am really looking forward to getting stuck into this course and learning about some fun ways to teach space in infants. I feel that space is often brushed over in the Junior end of the school based and in my own experience only done thoroughly at the senior end of primary school.</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”></p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>My favourite space fact is that the core of a star reaches 16 million degrees celsius!</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”></p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>Inquiry based activity: I would do a lesson with infants to figure out what materials are waterproof. I would give this a fun context e.g. help the teddy bear to find a coat that would be suitable for the rain! I would put children into pairs and give them packs. In the packs I would have droppers, squares of material e.g. plastic, tinfoil, tissue, paper. Children will test the materials to figure out which materials are waterproof and which are not. We will discuss afterwards, which material would suit best plastic v tinfoil as both are waterproof.</p>-
Hi Eleanor,
Teddy raincoats is a lovely way to bring the Inquiry process to the infant classroom.
The prompt is appropriate and visual – we don’t want teddy to get wet!
The materials for investigation are easy to source and only small quantities are needed. Droppers can make it feel ‘sciencey’ and are easy to get if you save children’s medicine droppers.
Pair work allows the children to chat to each other about what they think will happen and to share their predictions.
Class discussion at the end leads to a ‘next step’ that is suitable and can be a new investigation.
You can see this in English and Irish from Curious Minds.
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Hi Eleanor,
I think this is a lovely extension lesson to the materials lesson in module one. It definitely allows the children to apply their learning from that lesson to your one above. I would also like to note the importance of collaborative work during STEM and science lessons particularly in developing the science skills. Pair work and group work are vital to allow the children to discuss, share ideas, challenge themselves and others, promoting critical thinking and problem solving skills. It encourages active learning and inclusion for all.
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Hi, I’m Laura, I have worked in Senior Infants for three years since I’ve come out of college! A fact I find interesting about space is that there is no sound in space!
In the context of junior classroom education, particularly with concepts such as “push” and “pull,” this method can be exceptionally powerful. These fundamental physics concepts form the basis for understanding force and motion, offering young learners a hands-on and intuitive grasp of the world around them. This reflection explores the implementation and impact of an inquiry-based lesson on push and pull in a junior classroom, while also bringing in the concepts of gravity etc in an informal way.
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Teaching second class students about push and pull forces through an inquiry-based activity can be engaging and effective. It is a topic that is already taught in second class and this has made me think more critically about this topic. You could start by introducing the concept of push and pull forces using simple language and relatable examples, like pushing a toy car as mentioned. Encourage students to share their own experiences of push and pull in everyday life to make the topic more relevant and understandable.
Next, set up hands-on activities where students can explore push and pull forces. For example, provide materials like toy cars, ramps, strings, and balloons for students to experiment with different scenarios. Ask guiding questions to prompt critical thinking, such as “What happens when you push the car harder?” or “How can you make the balloon move faster?” This could be furthered by using a ramp to explore push forces or expanded to include friction from different materials when pushing/ pulling.
Encourage students to work in small groups to observe, test, and record their findings. Whiteboards could be used to plan or sketch diagrams of experiments or to record predictions. Finally, gather students together to discuss their observations, share their conclusions, and reflect on their learning experiences.
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Hi Sean,
Ramps are a key component for child centred learning about forces.
There is a Curious Minds resource on slopes.
This article is from the US, but clearly describes how ramps can be used with young children in an inquiry style.
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Creating an inquiry-based activity on gravity for 7-year-olds can be both fun and educational. The key is to keep the concepts simple and engaging while encouraging curiosity and exploration.
Activity: Exploring gravity with falling objects.
Materials needed:
A variety of small toys
stopwatch or timer
ruler or measuring tape
a note book for recording
a large open space to test your objects
Introduction:
- Begin with a simple explanation of gravity: “Gravity is a force that pulls everything down towards the ground.”
- Ask the children if they have noticed how things fall to the ground when they drop them. Encourage them to share their observations.
Predictions:
- Show the children the different objects you have. Ask them to predict which objects they think will fall faster or slower and why.
- Write down these predictions in the notebook.
- Experiment – Dropping Objects:
- Stand on a chair or a small step to get some height.
- Hold two different objects at the same height.
- Count down and drop both objects at the same time while another child uses the stopwatch to measure the time it takes for each to hit the ground.
- Record the times in the notebook.
- Observation and Discussion:
- Repeat the experiment with different pairs of objects
- Ask the children to observe which objects fall faster or slower.
- Discuss the results: Did the objects fall at the same speed or different speeds? Were their predictions correct
- Conclusion and Reflection:
- Summarize the key points:
- Gravity pulls objects down, and all objects fall at the same rate if we ignore air resistance.
- Ask the children what they learned and if there were any surprises
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Hi Irene,
dropping objects is always fun and lots of learning can happen. I’m not so sure about using a stop watch unless you have some sort of parachute, since the objects will be falling quite quickly and the errors in stop and starting the timer will be greater than the difference between the two objects.
I’d suggest just having a race- and the one that hits the ground first is the winner.
With a much older class you might use the acoustic timer from phyphox and make a sound as the object is dropped and then the phone can pick up the sound of the landing and stop the timer. When I tried this just now, the time for the object to drop was 0.64 seconds.
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Teaching an inquiry based activity
Strand :Energy and Force Strand Unit : Force
Learning objective :The children should be enabled to investigate how forces act on objects
Engage : I’m going to Smyths to buy a fast vehicle for my 5 year old son. Using toy cars/trucks/lorries etc from play box I’d ask the children which one should I buy that would be the fastest. Use the question ‘I wonder?’ Invite the children to explore.
Investigate : Present different size ,weight ,shape, number of wheeled vehicle Predict : Get the children to predict the fastest over a smooth surface /rough surface /on an incline -record their predictions on the board
Conduct the investigation : Divide the children into small groups to conduct their investigation
Share /Interpret data ; Report back their findings
Reflect :Teacher reflect if children achieved the learning objective /Adapt in future to improve results
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Hi Claire,
you can see the same article I mentioned earlier, that shows an American example of implementing children’s ideas about forces with ramp and toys.
Fair testing may go out the window with such a range of ideas, but this can be included in teacher discussion with each group – by asking “how do you know that the size of the truck made the difference – could it have been the how steep the ramp was?”
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Hi all.
My name is Kate. I was in SET this year and will be in Junior Infants in September.
My favourite space fact is that Earth is that it is the only known planet where water exists in all three states- solid (ice), liquid (water), and gas (water vapour) naturally on its surface.
I have always loved space and love teaching it to hear all the questions kids have on the mystical place that Space is. -
Post a reflective piece on how you would use one inquiry-based activity in your
classroom to the forum (150 words min).
“Solar System Adventure.”
Start:
A brief storytelling session where students learn about different planets and space objects.
Middle:
Each student given a specific planet, moon, or other space body to investigate. Provided with resources, such as books, interactive websites, and videos.
Students will question their planet. “What is the weather like on Venus?” or “What are the rings of Saturn made of?”
Use the resources to gather information, draw pictures, and create simple models or dioramas to represent their findings.
Collaboration: students will be grouped into “space teams”.
Share their discoveries and discuss the unique features of their planets etc.
Creates a poster- include drawings, fun facts, and any models they’ve made.
Present their findings to the class, explaining what they have learned and answer questions.
Reflection: ask children what they’ve learned and ask them if they have portrayed all important information in their drawings. This hands-on approach makes learning fun and memorable. It also teaches important skills like teamwork, creativity, and critical thinking, which are essential for their overall development.-
Kate,
would this work for Junior Infants? Are there specific websites or videos that you would recommend for them to use as resources?
There is a lovely way to engage the children around the question of the weather on Venus – developed by Dr Elizabeth Tasker of JAXA. She compares Venus to a person who is in the Sahara (where it is hot) but is wearing a thick coat (the atmosphere of Venus is really thick!). This could be linked to the children’s coats and how their coats should be chosen with weather in mind. Curious Minds explores this more fully with “Investigating Children’s Coats” in English and Irish.
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Hi all, my name is Fiona. I am a senior infant teacher who is looking forward to learning lots about space. My favourite space fact is that it takes on average only 3 days to reach the moon by spacecraft!
Inquiry based activity:
Creating mice-rockets
Each pair will be given a round piece of coloured card which they will fold into a 3D cone shape. The children can then use their imagination to add decoration and design to their cone to create a mouse (ears, tail, nose, whiskers). This allows for individuality.
Challenge: how far can you shoot your mice rocket using an empty bottle?
The children will have to explore the various ways they can move their mice rockets and share with the class.
Aim: using the empty bottle, place the mouse rocket on top of open empty bottle. Using two hands bang either side of the bottle, causing the force of the air to leave through the top of the bottle and send the little mice rockets flying!!
Lots of laughs and giggles as mice fly all over the place. This can be furthered into a classroom challenge of which mouse can travel furthest! Also another further enquiry could be ‘if we change the size/shape of the bottle will the rocket travel further or less?’
Results: The harder the bang/push of air from the bottle i.e. the force, the further the rocket will travel.-
Hi Fiona,
I love rocket mice – it is a favourite of our “Move It” workshop for Junior and Senior Infants.
I like to give the children different colour mice, so that they can then respond to “what colour mouse works best?” and explore the difference between different children launching vs the colour.
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Rocket Mice, i think my class would love this and i love seeing the individuality in each creation and the deign element would give a sense of ownership. Could be interesting to see the differences in those that add big ears, long tails etc and see is there a difference in the height. Great discussions to be had afterwards I reckon
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An Inquiry Based Lesson for My Classroom. ‘ A Safer landing’ How can I change the speed of a rolling object as it falls towards the ground? Inspiration- Marble runs
Strand: Energy and Forces Strand Unit: Forces Curriculum Objective: investigate how forces act on objects through experimenting with different materials Skills Development:Questioning, Investigating, ExperimentingTrigger: Oops a lego ball drops to the ground and smashes.
Wonder: I wonder could we help the ball to get to the ground a safer way using some of our junk materials. (toilet roll tubes, masking tape, egg cartons, cardboard.
Explore the materials and discuss ideas.
Starter question: Can we build a some ramps and tunnels to help the ball travel to the ground in a slower safer manner using our materials along a wall.
Predictions: Children state and record ideas and their reasoning.
Conducting the investigation by constructing ramps/runs for the lego ball to fall safely to the ground without breaking.
Share and interpret the results. What worked best?
Applying our learning and making connections to build class marble runs in Aistear.
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An inquiry based activity to explore the different distances to the Sun based on planet location in 2nd class.
I would introduce the lesson by showing the children a photograph of the different planets. I would question the children on the distance of each Planet to the Sun.
Questioning: would occur surrounding closest planets to the sun and furthest away planets and how this could effect the planet.
Questioning would also provide me with an opportunity to elicit the children’s prior knowledge on the planets and the Sun.
Next, I would call up different children and provide them with a photograph of a planet. The children need to rearrange themselves in order of closest and furthest away to the sun.
The other children would then be provided with distance in kilometeres on cards.
Together, the children need to predict which distance corresponds to which planet.
Seeing the children stand at the top of the classroom with the planet pictures would help and this activity would also encourage co-operative learning and teamwork.
Throughtout the lesson, the teacher would question the children on their choices and ask them to explain their reasoning.
At the end of the lesson, the teacher will call out the distance with the correct planet.
This lesson incorporates Maths and measures. It also provides endless opportunites for integration.-
Hi Alyson,
You can find some activities on solar system and scales here and in Irish.
and the club resource from spaceweek.ie has a table with the steps for a walking solar system.
This might be useful to extend the learning to show the spacing of the planets, which is very unexpected.
so instead of just
The children need to rearrange themselves in order of closest and furthest away to the sun.”
ordering themselves, they can try to space themselves out as well.
This can then link nicely to your question of “how this could effect the planet.” Children might find out about how temperature varies with distance from a heat source – and they could use a radiator in winter as the heat source. Children’s predictions could be tested to develop and confirm their scientific understanding.
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HHi, I’m Criona.
I will be teaching junior/senior infants in September. I think teaching space to infants will be fun and engaging and look forward to learning more by completing this course.Mindmap
Space
/ | \
Planets Stars
/ | \
Earth Sun Moon
/ | /
Mars Venus
\ /
Satellite
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Asteroid
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GalaxyComets
| |
NebulaeInternational Space station.
An Interesting space fact:
The international space station is visible from Earth: After the moon, the ISS is the second brightest object in our night sky. You can even see it without a telescope as it flies 320 kilometers above us. -
Reflection:
1. Engage:
o I introduce the topic of space using captivating images or short videos related to astronauts, planets, or stars.
o I encourage children to discuss and predict methods astronauts might use to purify and recycle water in space.
2. Investigate:
o I pose a starter question: “How do astronauts purify water in space?”
o In groups, children simulate the purifying process by removing solid dirt from a mixture.
o We discuss reasons behind predictions and record our thoughts.
3. Take the Next Step:
o We explore how invisible impurities might be removed from the mixture.
o I emphasize the importance of fair testing (consistent conditions, controlled variables).
4. Reflect:
o After the activity, we reflect on what went well and how we could improve next time.-
Hi Criona,
The Curious Minds ESERO CPD which has been offered to schools has a workshop “The Journey to Space” which touches on this exact activity.
We haven’t included the full activity in this course, since I felt some of it was a bit too much for Junior Classes.
The video we used in that is the Chris Hadfield talking about recycling water aboard the ISS – you can find it here.
The cleaning dirty water outline is “Can You Live on Mars?” from esero.ie.
I think it works well as a Design and Make activity, with children testing their predictions by making a filtration system.
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Hi
I’m Fiona, although I’m teaching 6th Class on September I am very interested in learning about Space and using what I learn in tye future. I’m sure I might be able to adapt some of the resources and information for an older class. I don’t have a favourite Space fact but I find the whole universe fascinating.
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Objective: Children will explore the concept of gravity by observing and discussing how and why objects fall to the ground.
Materials:
-A variety of small objects (e.g., feather, paperclip, toy car, ball) (if outside, use natural object like leaves, sticks, and stones)
-A clear container filled with water
-A heavy object and a light object (e.g., a rock and a feather)
-A picture book about gravity (The Gravity Tree: The True Story of a Tree That Inspired the World)Introduction:
-Begin by asking the children if they’ve ever dropped something and watched it fall to the ground.
-Show them a ball and ask, “What do you think will happen if I let go of this ball?” Let them predict.Activity 1: Drop and Observe:
-One by one, drop different objects from the same height and let the children observe what happens.
-Ask guiding questions like:
—-“Did it fall fast or slow?”
—-“Did it go straight down or did it float?”
-After each drop, discuss their observations.Activity 2: Floating and Sinking:
-Show the children the clear container filled with water.
-Drop a heavy object and a light object into the water.
-Ask, “What do you notice? Why do you think the objects behave differently in water?”Discussion:
-Explain in simple terms that gravity is a force that pulls objects toward the ground.
-Read “The Gravity Tree: The True Story of a Tree That Inspired the World” to reinforce the concept with illustrations and stories.Closing Activity:
-Let the children each choose an object to drop and describe what they think will happen and why.
-Encourage them to share their thoughts and discoveries with the group.Wrap-Up:
-Ask, “What new thing did we learn today about why things fall down?”
-Recap the day’s activities and what they learned about gravity.(PS – for those interested, link to the book: https://annacrowleyredding.com/books/the-gravity-tree-the-true-story-of-a-tree-that-inspired-the-world/)
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Module 1: How I would use one inquiry-based activity in my classroom.
Strand- Materials
Strand Unit- Properties and Characteristics of Materials
Learning Objective- . Explore, investigate, identify and recognise ways of keeping things cool.
Trigger- Picture of icelollies in the sun, melting.
Wonder- Why are they melting? How can we stop them from melting? What are insulators? What are conductors?
Exploring- Discuss how quickly/ slowly the ice-lollies melts? Examine cool bags, items that are used for keeping things cool. Show the children the various materials which you have brought in and ask them: “Which of these materials do you think would be the best for keeping ice lollies cool?” “Next best”, etc. “How do you think we could carry out a fair test to try to answer this question?
Starter Question- What material do you think will slow down the melting of the ice lolly?
Predictions- Record these
Investigation- Groups of children use a different material and cover the icelollies. Discuss fair testing. What will be the same (layers of material, size of material, same icelolly type, all in the shade or all in the sunlight? What will be different, materials used?. Control: unwrapped icelolly.
Sharing- What happened? Sharing and interpreting results.
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Hi,
I’m Laura and I teach Junior Infants in a school in Carlow. My favourite space fact that there are more stars in the universe than grains of sand on all the beaches on Earth!
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Hi Laura,
I love this space fact, and even more the riff on it from the science cartoon XKCD “What If?“
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Hi my name is Mary. I am currently a SET teacher. I do a lot of in class teaching and I thought this course would be very helpful especially in the area of Aistear.
My interesting space fact-The hottest planet in our solar system is 450C
.How you would use one enquiry based activity in your classroom.
Students have questions that they are hungry to answer.
Use Trigger question –Oops I have spilled water what will I use to clean it up?
Brainstorm ideas
Exploring the materials you have to clean up the spillage
What are the materials like
Similarities/ Differences
Have you seen or used the materials before
Predict- Which material would work best?
Conduct the Investigation
Spill water on table /Tray
Use a material at a time to soak up the water
Observe which one they think works best
Record results-Put a smiley face next to the material that worked best . Put a sad face next to the material that worked worst.
Interpret the results
Make a pictogram using smiley faces of the results.
Extension- Which material would you use to make a coat for Teddy?
Teacher Reflection on activity.
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Mary,
is there a particular way you might use this activity in Aistear teaching?
The prompt might arise from tidying up the classroom, or you might place a plastic cup in a precarious position and give it a nudge when the time is right.
What materials would you have handy in the classroom or would you be able to get easily?
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Class : Junior Infants
Engage:
The Trigger: Tell the children I am going to show them a magic trick. Using a ‘boat’ constructed from paper with a paperclip attached to the bottom on a piece of paper and a magnet on the bottom. Use the magnet to move the boat .
Wondering : Think/ pair /share on how the boat moved.
Exploring : In groups children use magnets to move boats
Investigate:
Starter question: What other materials do magnets attract?
Predicting: Looking at the materials provided – plastic bottle tops, card, coins, metal dinky cars, plastic topper, pencils , scissors.
Conducting the investigation: In small groups (each with set of magnets and materials) take one material at a time and see if it will stick to the magnet.
Sharing : using two large signs on the ground for each group ask the children to sort the materials into those that magnets will attract and those they do not.
Taking the next step:
Applying Learning:
What other materials could we use to attach to the bottom of the boats to make them move?
Children attach other metallic objects to the ‘boats’ to make them move when the magnet is under the paper.
Teacher reflection
How did this activity go?
What improvements could I make?
Were the learning objectives actualised?
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Hi I am Sean I teach in a senior boys school. My favourite space fact is:
One million earths could fit inside the sun.
It makes me reflect on our significance and reminds me not to sweat the small stuff 🙂
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Hi Sean,
I like that space fact. I find even more mind blowing is the fact that a millions sounds like such a big number, but you can have a million of something in your classroom really easily.
I like showing a 1-cm cube and then make a bigger cube from 3 meter sticks (two on the floor and 1 at right angles to them – showing three sides of a cube – ask them to imagine the other sides).
How many cubic cm are in the cubic m….? (100*10o*100 = 1 million).
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Hi all,
My name is Sarah, I am currently support teaching for Senior Infants but will be taking Senior Infants mainstream in September.
My favourite fact about space is that there are more stars in the milky way than the number of humans that have ever been born.
I chose this course as I feel that Space is one of those areas that captures the imagination no matter what age you are as there is always more to learn.
A very simple inquiry -based activity that I have used time and time again is Making Rice Krispie buns.
The materials needed are very simple-Cooking chocolate, Rice Krispies, A bowl and Spoon
Before starting I would hold up a few bottle of different household items drink and would teach children the word liquid if they did not already know it. I would also hold up blocks and some other classroom items and talk about they are solid.
I would discuss and question the children on what will happen to the solid bar of chocolate when we put it into the microwave and inadvertently we are discussing states of matter- introducing the concept without overwhelming the children with very complicated language.
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Hi Sarah…I love you using your inquiry as the rice crispie buns. I often do this but more from a mathematical prescriptive with senior infants and I love the idea of turning it into a STEM lesson. It is such a good way of looking at materials and their properties and so engaging also. They could make their predictions and discuss what would happen prior to the activity. Key questions could be asked throughout and children could discuss their outcomes and talk about what might happen if they used different materials. I must now see baking/cooking as a link not only with Maths but with STEM.
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Hi Sarah,
cooking as inquiry – brilliant!
I can see that children might try different amounts of melting time — does it get melted a lot, a little? … trying to quantify that is great maths.
What happens if you have too much chocolate and not enough rice krispies… again, really simple to predict and test.
Beautiful links to measures. I’d offer different pre-measured amounts for the younger children, and bowls and different measures for older children.
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Using an inquiry-based activity in the classroom can significantly enhance students’ engagement and understanding of scientific concepts. Here’s how I might implement it:
I would begin by introducing a real-world problem or question related to space exploration, such as “How can we design a sustainable habitat for astronauts on Mars?” Provide students with background information and relevant resources. Organize students into small groups and guide them to brainstorm potential solutions, encouraging them to ask questions and conduct research.
Facilitate hands-on experiments and simulations using resources, such as building models or conducting simulations of Martian environments. As students work through their inquiries, I would prompt them to make observations, collect data, and analyze their findings.
Throughout the process, I would encourage critical thinking and problem-solving. Concluding with a class discussion where groups present their solutions and reflect on their learning. This approach fosters collaboration, creativity, and a deeper understanding of scientific principles.
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Hi Sean. I really like this activity as you are helping the children to focus the research by providing background information and relevant resources but also giving them the autonomy to come up with solutions to the problem in groups. The final presentation I find works well along with the opportunity for other students to ask questions and offer possible modifications and improvements. I would often let the groups revisit their project after this step to allow them to think about advice they have received from peers and make any changes they wish.
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Hi Sean,
Mars as a topic is supported by some of the ESERO resources, and spaceweek.ie has a Mars resource in English and Irish. ESA have this excellent resource too.
Google Earth (choose Mars at the top) can let children view Mars up close and understand the environment that their habitat has to withstand.
A habitat is an example of using the Framework for Inquiry to support Design and make, so the plan is vital. This is how they will connect their science understanding to their design skills.
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Learning Objectives:
design and make a boat that will float
explore the relationship between the shape of the boat and the weight it will carry
To engage the children I will ask them to roll a piece of plasticine into a ball and drop it into the basin of water. Did it sink or float?
Predict: could we get the plasticine to float?
Ask the children to play around with the plasticine to see if they can get it to float.
Children record the results in 2 boxes: sink and float. They would do this by simply drawing the shape of the plasticine in the relevant box e.g. draw a ball in sink
Look at some record sheets as a class and discuss the shapes that floated.Wonder- What shape floats best?
Next steps: look at pictures of boats and their shape. Watch video of a boat cutting through the water. Discuss what we see.
Design and make: make a boat with plasticine that will float and carry as many passengers (peas) as possible.-
Hi Paula,
Your plan clearly references the Inquiry process as outlined in the Framework for Inquiry. The play with the plasticine is essential for them to be able to make a prediction, so I’d let them have some directed play at the beginning as they try to shape the plasticine so that it doesn’t sink – and then I’d say “I wonder if this could be a boat?” and then let them share their predictions about the boat shape and which boat will be best.
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Inquiry based learning is an approach to learning that encourages children to engage in problem solving and experimental learning.
Strand – Energy and Forces
Strand Unit- Fores
Lesson – Investigating Slopes
Resources – Books or blocks of equal height, empty kitchen rolls cut in half to create the slope, marbles, toy cars.
Background Information – When a marble or toy car is let go at the top of a slope it is pulled down the slope by the force called gravity. This lesson investigates the distance they travel depending on the angle of the slope. Further exploration can be carried out through changing the surface of the slope and changing the surface onto which they run.
Introduction – Begin by asking the children to discuss what is a slope? Children may use the word steep or goes up o describe it. Ask the children what do you notice when you walk or cycle up a slope / down a slope? There is a concept cartoon which would allow discussion around this topic by Brendan Keogh and Stuart Naylor ‘Starting points for Science’
Development – Place a marble at the top of a ramp (kitchen roll cut in half, with one end propped up by a book to create slope)and ask:
What will happen when you let the marble go? What will happen if you make the ramp higher? i.e add more books. What will happen if we make the ramp really high? How can we slow down the marble after travelling down the ramp?
Children explore these questions with hands on exploration work. They can use blu tack to make the distance the marble or car travels with each change in slope height.
Discussion and Conclusion- As the children to share their findings. Did the height of the slope change the distance traveled. Why do you think this happened? Can you think of anywhere slopes re useful? Examples for trolleys in supermarkets or wheelchairs.
Further Exploration – Possible areas for follow up activities are what surface would best slow down or stop the marble or car for example sand. the children can create longer slopes and examine if the length of the slope makes any difference.
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Thanks for sharing this Barbara. Slopes is a great activity.
I vary it slightly by using pipe lagging, cut in half and given out in 1m lengths. Children can then make very long marble runs and really get a sense of how the height at the start of the tube affects the speed of the marble along the run
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An inquiry based learning activity that we have enjoyed in my classroom is based on materials and change.
Strand: Materials
Strand Unit: Materials and change
Curriculum Objective: Explore the effects of heating and cooling on everyday items.
Engage:
The Trigger: Have the children arrive in after break to fine some toys from our classroom frozen in a block on ice on the tuff tray.
Wondering: I wonder how we could melt the ice quickly so we can play with our toys again…
Exploring: Brainstorming or Think/Pair/Share-have children come up with some ideas as to how to could do this.
Investigate:
Starter Question: Which material will speed up the ice melting?
Children will have water, tin foil and salt available to them.
Predicting: By drawing a smiley face on a worksheet children will use predict which material they think will speed up the melting process.
Conducting the investigation: In this experiment children will test 4 different items to see if any of them affect how fast ice melts. We will use sand, salt, tin foil and baking soda.
The children will work in small groups. They will place an equal number of ice cubes in bowls and sprinkle them with each substance. We will have one bowl with nothing sprinkled on it to act as a control.
Sharing: Using iPads the children will take pictures every 10 minutes to record the process so that the children can share their results with the other groups in the class. They will record their final results on the same worksheet they made their predictions on.
Taking the next steps:
Applying Learning: Chat about why we salt the roads during the winter time.
During playtime have the children free polar animals from ice.
Challenge the children to construct containers that would stop the ice cubes from melting for the longest time.
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Exploring The Moon
Students will explore the Moon, learning about its surface and features through observation and hands-on activities.
Materials:- Pictures of the Moon
- Playdough or clay
- Plastic craters, rocks, and other small objects
- Flashlights
- Introduction:
- Show pictures of the Moon.
- Ask, “What do you see on the Moon?” and “What do you think the Moon is made of?”
- Introduce the main question: “What does the surface of the Moon look like?”
- Engagement:
- Share a short video or story about astronauts on the Moon.
- Discuss the features they observed, like craters and rocks.
- Exploration:
- Provide playdough or clay and plastic craters/rocks.
- Let students create their own Moon surface models.
- Use flashlights to simulate sunlight and create shadows, showing how craters and rocks cast shadows.
- Explanation:
- Gather students and have them share their models.
- Discuss how the shadows helped them see the craters and rocks more clearly.
- Explain how scientists study the Moon’s surface using similar techniques.
- Elaboration:
- Introduce a simple experiment: Drop small objects into a tray of flour to create craters.
- Observe the shapes and sizes of craters formed.
- Evaluation:
- Ask students to draw their Moon models and label the features.
- Have a brief sharing session where students explain their drawings and what they learned.
Conclusion:
Reinforce the key points: the Moon has craters and rocks, and scientists use light and shadow to study its surface. Encourage curiosity and further questions about space.-
The 6-E inquiry steps you have used are very similar to the Curious Minds/ESERO Framework for Inquiry that has been developed in Ireland.
Key is the wondering and exploring before children use their science understanding to predict and investigate.
I have done a similar activity and used masking tape rolls to be the craters and asked children: I wonder when the shadows of the craters will be easiest to see? I wonder where the Sun will be when the shadows are longest?
For older children you could link this to the phase of the Moon and how 1st quarter Moon images have great shadows on the terminator.
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Inquiry Based Activities are magical when they can be instigated. While I have been successful at creating them in the past, the step by step approach that is available thanks to ESERO is very useful. As an infant teacher, we choose a monthly theme. The themes include Space, Under the Sea and In the Garden. I will use this approach to drive the theme. With effective stimuli’s children usually seize control of their learning and start to research topics at home, write about it in their free writing copy and play imaginatively during Small World and Dramatic Play. I will provide further information, vocabulary, praise and enthusiasm to help the children continue on their learning trajectory. Children love to present their knowledge. I find in particular, they enjoy creating a project or piece of writing and showing it to their peers or other teachers. It is important that the children’s enthusiasm and work is validated.
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One inquiry based lesson I’ve previously carried out with second class and they loved was the following. I think I’ll try it in 1st class this year too but just support them a little more where needed.
More information and resources can be found here:
https://www.sfi.ie/resources/Our-Solar-System.pdf
I printed this during Space Week one year and use it each year depending on class level.
Prompt: Show pictures of the planets in our solar system.
Ask the students what sizes they think the other Planets are compared with Earth.
• Ask if they know what the biggest and smallest planets are.
Describe and compare the various sizes of the planets from pictures used.
Activity: I would carry out this in groups of 4 or 5. • Show the students all of the fruits available and ask for guesses as to which ones represent which planets, ask for reasoning when they give guesses. • Place all the fruits on a table. Have labels with names of planets but don’t match the fruits to the labels, have the students figure out where each should go, using the hint card that you can print off from the activity framework. • Go around to the various groups and listen to their discussions and reasoning as to which fruits correspond to which planets.
Finally: Discuss the correct sizes as a class.
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Glad to see that you find this resource useful – there is also an Irish language version. You can find both and others at spaceweek.ie
The key for me is listening to the children’s discussion and justifications as to which fruit is which planet.
There is also an option of Earth and Moon with objects. Have a range of objects of different sizes and ask the children to choose one object each. Then they have to find another person with a different size object to make an Earth-Moon pair. The Moon is roughly 1/4 to 1/3 the size of the Earth, so there may be many pairs. Plus, someone may be somebody else’s Moon and a different person’s Earth.
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Inquiry based learning
Investigating how different surface materials effects the speed of a toy vehicle/object travelling down a ramp
Resources – 2 marbles, ramps of a given length, set up to have an equal slope covered with various materials (left over lengths of laminate flooring are great) covered with different materials – (heavy duty plastic, different types of carpet, sand paper, lino, no cover, astroturf etc..)
Introduction – Hold the 2 marbles at the top of one of the ramps and ask the children what will happen when they are let go? Question Why do they think this. Let the marbles go and observe them rolling down the ramp. Do they roll at the same speed?
Investigation – Place a second ramp with a different surface beside the original ramp, hold one marble on the original ramp and one of the second ramp – ask the students what they think will happen when the marbles are let go, will they roll at the same speed, can they justify their answer, let the marbles go observe the results and discuss, repeat this for all surfaces until the fastest/slowest surface is found.
Discussion and conclusion – Discuss the results in groups, why do you think that the marble rolled faster/slower over different materials, introduce the word friction and what it is, can you think of any everyday applications of friction and how it helps us.Follow up- would the changing the angle of the ramp change the speed
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Hi, I’m Donna and I will be teaching Junior Infants in September. One of the facts about space which I like is the fact that I used to teach the children that there were 9 planets but we now know that Pluto is a dwarf planet. It is amazing that we are still learning so much about space and I think its that curiosity about the unknown that has so many of us intrigued.
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Hi everyone,
My name is Christine and I currently teach Senior Infants. We cover the theme of Space as our Integrated Learning through Play topic each year so this course is going to be immensely helpful. I am also looking forward to discovering how it can support the new Primary Maths Curriculum. One of my favourite space facts is that the sunset on Mars appears blue.
Another play theme that we cover in class is Polar Exploration. I would use the ESERO’s Animals in the Cold (#7) lesson plan to build an ‘inquiry-based activity’. Using the Curious Minds framework, the structure would look as follows:
Engage
Prompt:Do they know any films/cartoons about the North or South Pole?
Wondering: What do the children know about these places on Earth?
Exploring: The children find out how animals that live in cold places keep themselves warm.Investigate
Starter Question: What do people do when they feel cold? How do the penguin and the polar bear keep themselves warm?
Predicting: Explain that the penguin’s feathers and the polar bear’s fur are also covered in a layer of grease. Predict what happens because of this.
Conducting the Investigation: Rub Vaseline on one of each child’s hands. Now the children also have a greasy layer on their skin. Drip some water on this hand. What happens to the water?Take the Next Step
Applying learning: Come to the conclusion that the water rolls off the hand with the greasy layer.
Making connections: Come to the conclusion that the penguin and the polar bear have three ways to keep themselves warm: a thick coat of fur or feathers, a thick layer of fat under their skin, and a greasy layer on their fur or feathers.
Thoughtful actions: The animals have adapted to the conditions that they live in-
Hi Christine,
with your familiarity with the Curious Minds/ESER Framework it is great to see how you would use it in the classroom.
This type of activity where there is a “catchy” demo (putting the Vaseline on children’s hands) can also be structured to support deeper science understanding by having the demo as part of the wonder/explore or even as the prompt itself.
Then the children might wonder – ‘does more Vaseline make me more waterproof?’ and make their prediction about that aspect of the activity and then try it out to see if they were right.
Another child might wonder ‘I think that as long as there is some Vaseline you’ll be waterproof and it doesn’t matter how much’ and investigate that.
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Doing this module reminded me of alot of inquiry science which I learned about in my teaching practice and taught while aboard. I love the idea of contextualising the problem and giving a hook into a lesson.
Strand is materials/materials and characteristics: Infants objective: describe and compare materials, noting the differences in the colour, shape and texture
Hook: Which is the odd one out (have the 3 little pigs houses). As long as children can justify, explain and reason they are correct.
Scenario: Which material will be the best to keep the wind out of the 3 little pigs house.
Prediction: Children to discuss their predictions and teacher to ask insightful open ended questions.
Materials: matchsticks, straws (plastic/paper if possible), marshmallows, elastic bands, cardboard, lollipop sticks, bluetac, lego, squeezy bottle or fan for wind
Activity: Children chose from different materials….to make a house for the 3 little pigs. They can move around 5 tables to create.
Children to then see which is the strongest. Teacher to bring a fan in. *disucss height/size too
Results: Which houses were the strongest. Discuss the material but also the height and size of it.
Further adaptions: Build the strongest tower.
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Hi Donna.
you’ve captured it exactly:
As long as children can justify, explain and reason they are correct.
You don’t have to check their science is “correct” – the activity and investigation framework will do that.
With the marshmallows and matchsticks would you be building structures like Amazing Triangles?
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An Inquiry Based Lesson for My Classroom. ‘ A Safer landing’ How can I change the speed of a rolling object as it falls towards the ground? Inspiration- Marble runs
Strand: Energy and Forces
Strand Unit: Forces
Curriculum Objective: investigate how forces act on objects through experimenting with different materials
Skills Development:Questioning, Investigating, Experimenting
Trigger: Oops a lego ball drops to the ground and smashes.
Wonder: I wonder could we help the ball to get to the ground a safer way using some of our junk materials. (toilet roll tubes, masking tape, egg cartons, cardboard.)
Explore the materials and discuss ideas.
Starter question: Can we build a some ramps and tunnels to help the ball travel to the ground in a slower safer manner using our materials along a wall.
Predictions: Children state and record ideas and their reasoning.
Conducting the investigation by constructing ramps/runs for the lego ball to fall safely to the ground without breaking.
Share and interpret the results. What worked best?
Applying our learning and making connections to build class marble runs in Aistear.
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Module 1: Space Exploration
– Reflective Learning: I am fascinated by the advancements in space exploration and how they spark curiosity and innovation.Module 2: Planets and Moons
– Reflective Learning: Learning about the different planets and moons in our solar system provides a sense of awe and wonder about the vastness of space.Module 3: Stars and Galaxies
– Reflective Learning: Exploring stars and galaxies opens up a whole new perspective on the universe and our place within it.Module 4: Black Holes and Dark Matter
– Reflective Learning: The mysteries of black holes and dark matter challenge our understanding of the universe and push the boundaries of scientific exploration.Hi everyone! I’m here to share my favorite space fact: Did you know that the light from the Sun takes about 8 minutes to reach Earth? It’s amazing how something so fundamental to our lives is still so mind-boggling!
Reflection: To incorporate an inquiry-based activity in my classroom, I would create a simulation where students are tasked with planning a space mission to a distant planet. They would need to research the planet’s characteristics, design a spacecraft, and consider the challenges they might face during the journey. This activity not only fosters critical thinking and problem-solving skills but also ignites a sense of exploration and discovery among students.
I look forward to engaging with all of you in this forum!
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Hi Colette,
When we bring inquiry into the classroom we are aiming to increase the children’s science content understanding through acting as scientists by investigation activities. Given the Design and Make skills in the Irish curriculum, the “Investigate” tier of the Framework for Inquiry can be modified to be Explore>Plan>Make>Evaluate. You can see examples of this design and make version on spaceweek.ie – for example Humans in Space.
Researching a planet’s characteristic is something that older children might do independently (it’s often set as an activity in second level schools), but for Junior Classes the teacher would have to provide a range of books or videos to help the children.
This ESA resource could be used to support children in designing a Mars mission – but note that it is designed for ages 8 – 12.
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An Inquiry-based lesson for my Infant class:
Strand: Energy and Forces
Strand Unit: Forces
Curriculum Objective: investigate how forces act on objects through grouping objects that float or sink
Skills Development:Questioning, Investigating, Experimenting
Engage:
Trigger- Read aloud: Who sank the boat? Pamela Allen
Wondering- Q+A: I wonder why the boat sank….
Exploring- Discussion about boats and what they can be made from.
Investigate:
Starter Question- Which materials are best for making a boat?
Predicting- The children could discuss and record their predictions through drawing pictures of the materials presented to them
Conducting investigation- the children could test their predictions in groups using basins of water and placing the materials in the water to see if they float or sink in water
Sharing and Interpreting results- the children could share their results through pictograms. The teacher would record an overall pictogram on the board to identify the best material to make a boat.
Applying learning:
Design and make a boat in aistear
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Module 1
My inquiry based activity would be – Where would an alien like to live ?
I taught a similar lesson before and this module helped me to reflect on this and how I could broaden the lesson and make it more inquiry based.
I had a little alien sensory teddy filled with flour. I integrated this with literacy and art. We read a story about different types of aliens and predicted where they might like to live based on their different characteristics. In art the children drew and painted their own aliens and using a variety of construction materials they designed spaceships and alien homes for their aliens.
I think talk and discussion plays a pivotal role in inquiry based learning. With everyone adapting and changing their opinions as we learn from each and gain more information. I think this would lead to exploration of the habitats, climates and living conditions of different planets. There is plenty of scope for the development of SPHE themes about feeling different/the same, celebrating uniqueness and developing inclusivity. I work in a Junior school so I think this would be a good starting point for some simple project work. The children could be put into teams and given a planet each to research. They could make a pros and cons list for each planet before conducting a graph or chart about where the aliens might like to live – this would link nicely with the strand of Data in Maths.
Using themes and topics like this makes learning fun for everyone and sparks curiosity in the children. It is a great motivational tool.
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Teaching senior infants involves a lot of learning through themed play activities.One of the themes is camping and this opens up a lot of opportunity for inquiry based learning .Introducing the idea of preparing for a camping trip I read the story Herman’s holiday . Discussion on what we need for camping follows. We discuss the weather ,clothing and tents etc. The children will look at different fabrics and materials and describe them. Questions asked …….Which material would keep you warm ? dry ? cool ? The children will predict and the test the materials in simple experiements to get results . Results are recorded in a child friendly way .Finally the children could be asked to make a waterproof tent for their teddy bear and test it to see if it works .
This activity is fun and it is child based learning and developing and inquisitive mind.
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Hi Roisin,
welcome to this course and the forum.
I love the idea of pitching this as a camping trip! Is this the book? and this an extra pack of bits? and a how to draw Herman?
A prompt with a “cold, soaking wet and bored” character is so much fun to promote thinking about being waterproof.
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Mindmap about Space: Prior to teaching Space I would create a mind map of key words. These key words would be the focus of my lessons and would also be the vocab I would want the children to know come the end of the series of lessons on Space.
Key words
Planets, Solar System, Moon,Sun,Stars, Galaxy, Gravity.All of these could be chosen as a focus for a lesson and built upon in follow up lessons. Space is a very broad area and it is often only brief touched upon in lessons in workbooks. A great idea prior to teaching Space would to gather what the children already know. A ‘KWL’ chart would be an effective tool to use here. Children may be more interested in the planets or could be fascinated by the First Moon Landing. A teacher can then choose where to focus the lessons so the children’s interests are built upon. Getting the children to do their own mindmap could be an effective idea also. In junior classes, the children could draw what they know about Space and the teacher could discuss their drawings with them
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Hi, my name is Dean and I teach junior infants.
My favourite space fact is that you can fit a million earths inside the sun.
My inquiry based task is the absorption science experiment:
Spills Happen!
What you’ll need:
Shallow tray or baking sheet
Water
Dropper or spoon
Paper towels
Paper sheets
Sponges
Fabric scraps (like old towels or cloths)
Markers (optional)Plan: Talk about spills! Where do you see spills happen? (kitchen, bathroom) What kind of things can spill? (water, juice)
Predict: Ask the children, “What do you think would be the best material to soak up a spill?” Let them guess and explain their ideas.
Test: Pour a small amount of water onto the tray. Now, it’s time to put those predictions to the test! Touch each material (paper towel, sponge, etc.) to the water.
Observe: See which material absorbs the most water. Does the water spread or form a bead? You can use markers to color the water and see how it spreads in each material (optional).
Record: Help the children draw pictures or write down what they observed.
Discuss: After testing all the materials, talk about the results. Which material absorbed the most water? Why do some materials work better than others?
Let’s go further!
Try different types of paper towels or fabrics.
See if thickness affects how much water is absorbed by using multiple layers of the same material.
Time how long it takes for each material to absorb the water.-
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Thanks for that Dean, I like the way you connect the inquiry to the children’s lives at the start of the lesson, where do they see spills at home, what type of things spills, might be an idea to introduce the word ‘liquid’ at this point as some children might not know the term. Good idea to explore whether the thickness of the material affects it’s absorbency.
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Hi,
My name is Chloe and I will be teaching senior infants in September.
My favourite space fact is that it would take 9 years to walk the moon.
Mind map: galaxy, stars, planets, orbit, moon, solar system, sun, satellites, exploration, gases, cool, heat, gravity, rings, fast, slow.
Experiment:
Which Paper absorbs best:
Questioning:
You are going to be investigating –
What do you want to find out? (which paper absorbs the best)
What will you change? (the paper)
What will you keep the same? (size of piece of paper, amount of water, time)Materials absorb water through capillary action. This means that water is attracted to the surface of the fibres and is drawn up into the spaces between them. The coarser the fibres the more easily the material absorbs water because there are more air spaces for the water to go into.
Give the children 3 different kinds of paper and ask them to investigate scientifically which is the most absorbent. Show them what equipment is available to do it.
Encourage the children to think of various ways in which this could be done with the available equipment. They need to design and make a support for their fair test. Then they need to see which paper absorbs the best.Hang the three pieces of paper from the ‘crossbar’ or the string using blu-tack or plasticine. Put water into the butter carton (and a few drops of food colouring, which helps to show up the water) and hang the three pieces of paper so that they are just dipping into the water. Watch what happens.
Display against the light for the best effectReflection and observation:
What do you see?
What does this tell you about absorbing?-
Hi Chloe,
I really like your inquiry based activity. It’s hands on and lots of fun. The children would absolutely love the use of food colouring. It’s a very effective and fun way to show how the water is soaked up by the materials. This is open to lots of discussion before and after the lesson, predicting which would be the best/ worst material to use. What materials do we use at home/school for drying?
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Hi Chloe,
I’m afraid my brain gets tangled when I try to figure out how water wicks up a cloth.
It it is good at absorbing, it will soak up all the water in just a bit of the material and the line will be really small. (microfibre cloth or sponge)
It is not as good as absorbing, the water will go further up the material, since each bit of material can’t hold as much, so it keeps wicking up. (tissue or cheap paper towel).
If it is really bad at absorbing, none of the water will be taken up the material (plastic bag)
So the children will have to carefully work out what they expect to see for different absorbancy materials.
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Hi, My name is Kevin . I currently teach First Class and lot’s of the kids in the class have a huge interest in STEM, doing experiments and space so this course was of interest.
My favourite space fact is: ONE MILLION EARTHS CAN FIT INSIDE THE SUN
The inquiry based activity that I have chosen to discuss today is the fingerprint experiment. I feel this experiment would create great excitement and interest.
I would begin with the trigger: A Youtube video showing a thief leaving his fingerprints on a window.
Wondering: Asking the children what a fingerprint is? What mistake did the thief make? How can the guards use this information from the print ? What if the print is not on file? How can they solve the crime ?
Starter question: How could the guards get the print from the window?
Predicting: Record answers.
Conducting the experiment: Secret thief .. I would pick a child to leave his/her fingerprints on the classroom window without the other kid’s knowledge of who it is. All the children would print their fingerprints on sheets and then try to investigate the prints and find the thief.
Interpreting results: Look at the results and interpret the data (fingerprints on the board before matching the fingerprints to the thiefs.
Extension: Free Writing : The thieves fingerprints
Teacher reflection with children.
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Hi Kevin,
the fingerprint activity can be a great starting point for inquiry learning. I think the important part is the questions that the children pose themselves as they are carrying out the activity.
They might ask – which powder makes it easier to see the fingerprint? Do we need to have a lot or a little of it? How are fingerprints the same or different?
In each case, they should use their own understanding to make a testable question – and this might be quite informal as they quickly say – ‘I think it needs to be a just enough to cover the fingerprint – let me try that.’
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I also really love the idea of a unit/activities around the who done it theme. It would be really engaging to stage a robbery of some sort in the school with a notes and a pen left behind. It could be as simple as sorry. I just really needed some chocolate in my class today! That could leave it open to a lot of teachers.
This is something which I have done previously and it looks at fingerprints (can use powder) to examine the patterns, look at footprint and examine the patterns…have other footprints to compare, examine the writing and look at the handwriting in detail to see which one matches the note, check the ph level (acidi) in the clay off the footprint, use chromatology to see which colours come from the pen and finally could be a maths activity to break a code which could help. Other elements which could be used: leave a mark on a glass (lip stick) and examine clothing fibres!
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Hello, my name is Daire and I have always been fascinated by the topic of space and I find children have so many questions with regards to this topic in a way that I havn’t experienced with other ones, my favourite space fact is the there are more stars in the universe than there are grains of sand on Earth.
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Teaching an inquiry-based activity on space and the planets in the solar system can be a fun and engaging way for students to learn. Here’s how I would teach it in my classroom.
Introduction: Introduce the concept of space and the solar system to students. Explain that there is an order to the planets in relation to which one is nearest the sun. Use rhymes and songs to help remember the order.
Ask Questions: Encourage students to ask questions about the planets. What do they already know? What do they want to learn more about?
Research: Have students research more about the solar system. They can explore how many planets there are and what is the order of the planets, which one is nearest to the sun, which comes next and so on
Activity based approach to consolidating the information, I would prepare large cut outs of the planets and laminate them, I would get the pupils to work in groups and construct a large diagram of the solar system in the hall or outside using the cut outs and chalk/string to represent orbits and help keep the planets in order (this also helps with the spacing of the cut outs).
Discussion: Facilitate a group discussion where students can share their findings, ask questions, and reflect on what they’ve learned.
Consolidation: pupils can create models, posters or drawings to demonstrate their knowledge of the solar system
Conclude the activity by summarizing key points about the solar system and the sequence of planets. Encourage students to continue exploring and asking questions about the solar system.
My goal in this activity is to encourage curiosity, critical thinking, and active learning.
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Daire,
if the introduction has
Explain that there is an order to the planets in relation to which one is nearest the sun. Use rhymes and songs to help remember the order.
what additional research will the children do about this?
Research: Have students research more about the solar system. They can explore how many planets there are and what is the order of the planets, which one is nearest to the sun, which comes next and so on
Inquiry learning is more than asking questions – using the framework for inquiry that is outlined in this module, children can pose their own questions that reference their science understanding and have investigative activities to check their understanding.
So, for planets, children might expect that the planets that are nearer the Sun (as established in the intro) would be warmer than planets further away from the Sun. Books/videos or charts with that information could be shared and children could check if they are correct. If not (and it is a not), then they might ask why a planet that is closer to the Sun – Mercury – isn’t as hot as the next planet – Venus. This could then lead to a practical query on how Venus’s atmosphere acts like a blanket to keep it warm.
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My name is Lynn and I teach 1st/2nd class. Saturn’s rings are 90% water.firstly take
a soda bottle and mix water, dish soap, food coloring and white vinegar. Then, make baking soda slurry and add slowly to this solution. Let the children watch the volcano erupt and understand the coAn inquiry lesson I have completed is making a volcano erupt in a bottle. The children work together to make predictions in groups. You take a bottle and mix water, soap, food colouring and vinegar. Then add baking soda and add it slowly into the bottle. The children they watch the volcano erupt and see the process of eruption.
Children can consolidate their learning by asking and posing questions to other groups in the classroom. They can then write up their findings and check if their predictions were correct.
ncept of eruption properly. -
An inquiry lesson I have completed is making a volcano erupt in a bottle. The children work together to make predictions in groups. You take a bottle and mix water, soap, food colouring and vinegar. Then add baking soda and add it slowly into the bottle. The children they watch the volcano erupt and see the process of eruption.
Children can consolidate their learning by asking and posing questions to other groups in the classroom. They can then write up their findings and check if their predictions were correct. The now understand the concept of eruption properly. -
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Hi
My name is Lucy and I teach in an Early Intevention class. The children are aged 3 to 5 and most are non verbal.
Everything I use has to be very simple. The topic I’d choose is materials and investigate water absorption.
Trigger: 50 ml water spilled on the table.
Have 4 different materials ready i.e. kitchen roll, a newspaper, a small sheet of plastic and a magazine. Each time spill 50 ml of water and use one of the materials to soak up the water. Take a photo of the table each time. After each child should touch the materials and observe if it is wet or not. Sort into 2 categories i.e. wet or dry.
Photographs could be ordered from the one which has the most water left on the table to the one with the least or vice versaThis could extended with coats made of different materials. Pour water on 3/4 coats and identify the one which is best to keep out the rain ( waterproof )
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This is just great to read. We have recently opened up our autism class and this is such an engaging task. The spilling of water, pressing various materials to figure out if the material is absorbent or waterproof. Well done! And then ‘ordering’ photos for sorting and classifying afterwards is super and extends the opportunity for teachers to keep using the vocab and engaging the students.
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Hello all,
My name is Orla and I teach in a large primary school in Dublin. Next year I will be teaching second class. An interesting space fact is 564 people have been into space – of that number 65 of them were women.
From September onwards I plan to use an inquiry-based activity about gravity and falling things in the classroom. I will engage in this activity when I am completing the ‘Energy and Forces’ unit of work. The students will investigate how forces act on objects. We will speak about push and pull forces. We will complete some examples (using objects such as a toy car) in small groups before showing our investigations to the whole class. We will then explore the effects of gravity using the ESERO resources as a guide. I will then provide different objects for the children to name and explore the effect of gravity on. To investigate we will devise our starter question and predictions. We will choose somewhere safe from which to drop our objects at the same time. We will measure the height of the drop, so it’s the same each time. We will observe and record our results and what we see. We will repeat the drop three times, recording our results. After conducting the investigation in small groups we will analyse and interpret our results, before writing our conclusions.. Perhaps as a follow on we could complete the egg parachute experiment depending on the ability of the class.
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Hi Orla,
welcome to this course. There are lots of posts in the forum with suggestions, resources and ideas from other teachers, including other 2nd class teachers, so I hope you find this useful.
Gravity and falling things is fun to explore, if you find that when you drop ordinary things they fall too fast to compare you could try rolling them down a ramp – it will be a bit slower – although friction/rolling will then come into play.
This is how Galileo explored gravity back in the 1600s! See this teacher article on his thinking.
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Hi my name is Louise. I will be teaching 1st class in September after having senior infants the past 3 years.
My favourite space fact is that one day on Venus is longer than one year on Venus. Venus has extremely low rotation on its axis so it takes about 243 Earth days to complete one rotation, while it takes only about 225 Earth days to complete one orbit around the Sun. Weird but cool!
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Hi my name is Elaine and this year I’m teaching first and second class.
I decided on this course as I myself have a huge personal interest in space, be it the planets (Pluto is also still a planet in my eyes), solar eclipses, lunar eclipses or meteorite showers and I’d love to pass along my interest in it my class. I’m really looking forward to this course.
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