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I have chosen to focus on the Rockets activity as I think the children in my class would be very motivated and engaged in this lesson. I have also used the Curious Minds Framework to plan this lesson as I think it is a great way to focus on the different steps necessary to cover all bases for an inquiry based approach.
Engage: I would show the children a video clip of a rocket launch and discuss how the rocket gets its energy to fly to space drawing their attention to the launch pad and fuel needed.
Investigate: We would then create our ‘mouse rockets’ as shown in this module. We would predict and test which type of drinks bottle launches the mouse rocket the furthest. I would introduce the idea of fair testing to the children here by asking would it be fair if we had a huge or a tiny mouse rocket?
Take the next step: Children could design different rockets to put on the launchers and see how design effects their trajectory.Hi Michelle, I love your idea of introducing the topic of travelling to space through the book ‘Whatever Next’. I will make a note of this book to use in the coming school year. Thanks!
What stood out to me in this module was the high quality online resources provided and highlighted. As classrooms are becoming increasingly digital and technology being a component of STEM I think this can be a great way to engage children in STEM and inquiry based learning.
https://esero.ie/resources/?educationlevel%5B%5D=primary-level has an abundance of lesson ideas as highlighted in this module that are clear and easy to apply to any classroom. It would be a great website to share with staff as part of a school’s SSE on STEM
https://www.esa.int/kids/en/home A great site to spark the children’s curiosity about all things Space related. For older classes, teachers could pick out some articles as independent reading before a project or it would be a great early finisher task.
Astronomy picture of the day https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html Could be used for oral language lessons, follow on work from learning about stars and as a starting point for space topics.
Planetarium program for browser https://stellarium-web.org/ An amazing resource to show children the sky at different times of the day and from different locations around the world. This video could be shared with other staff members to make it as user friendly as possible https://youtu.be/r2_QnpTnrqE?si=SFFKb062i0Cok-y9Hi Michelle, this sounds like a great way to carry out a SSE about Science skills. As you said the content of the science curriculum is often taught to a great standard but the skills can be forgotten about. Perhaps the new STEM specification will be of great help too.
I have chosen a Activity Set: Stars to use in my classroom as I think children in the infant room would be engaged and curious about this topic.
I would begin by discussing with the children when do we see stars and asking the children to guess how many stars they think are in the sky? To follow on from this discussion and I would give the children torches and we would go out to the yard. Then we would go back to the classroom and turn off the lights. I would discuss the difference with the class. I would then use the marbles in the jar activity as outlined in the lesson in this module.
Finally we would create a splatter painting of stars using toothbrushes and a lollipop stick. The children could also add some images of houses, trees etc to the foreground of the image.
We would then reflect on the art works; how did you know you had enough stars in your picture? Did anyone add too many or not enough? Could you estimate how many stars a friend has in their picture?Hi Monica, I love the ideas you have outlined above about teaching the concept of stars in the infant classroom. You have so many ideas that the children will be fully immersed in the learning in an inquiry based but also fun and creative way.
Activity set: The Sun and the Shadows
Engage: I would start by taking the children out to the yard to play a game of ‘Shadow Tag’. Everyone is their own team captain at the start of the game and the aim is to build your team by standing on another player’s shadow. If you stand on another player’s shadow they join your team.
Investigate: What makes our shadows? Do they change throughout the day? What time of day would be harder/easier to play shadow tag? What do we need to make a shadow?
I will then read the story ‘Moonbear’s Shadow’ to the class. Then they will set up their own bear’s habitat using toys in the classroom. I will give each group a torch so they can investigate how we can make bear’s shadow. I will give the students different challenges; make bear’s shadow short or long, make his shadow behind him or in front of him, can you get bear’s shadow to touch the tree, the house etc? What happens if we shine the sun straight down on his head?
Take the next step: Throughout the day we can go back out to the yard and observe how our shadows are different.
Reflect: What do we need to make shadows? When do we not see shadows?
Hi Aisling, I really enjoyed reading your lesson all about the Moon. I thought the introduction was a great idea to get the children to use what they know from Maths and connect it with the spherical shape of the moon. The Read aloud is a lovely idea too to include stories from around the world.
The inquiry-based activity I have chosen is all about rockets. What is the best rocket design and how should the rocket be launched to make sure it reaches its projected journey.
I would structure my lesson as follows;
Engage: I will begin by showing the children an image of some real astronauts and discuss what their job is. I will then focus the discussion of the rockets that they use and ask them what do you think a good rocket needs to have?
Investigate: The children can then draw their own designs and explain how the different features would help the rocket get the astronauts to space. Then using different materials such as foam, felt and paper the children can work in groups to design their rocket.
In the yard the children can then ‘launch’ their rockets towards a target and we will investigate how they moved through the air. Did they travel in a straight line? Did the rocket stay intact? What improvements would you make to your rocket? If you could launch it again what would you do?
Take the Next Step: We will take a look at images of real rockets and compare the class’ designs for any similarities and differences.
Reflect: What surprised us? What would we change?Hi Ciara, I love the idea you have about a ‘space spill’ to spark the children’s interest and motivation. It is great way to link an inquiry-based activity to the topic of Space in a practical way.