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I really like this idea, especially for infants. Rockets are such an exciting topic and I think the children would love designing and making their own. I like how you have linked it across different subjects too. The rocket race is a great way of bringing maths into the activity, while creating a class story would be great for developing their imagination and language. I also think starting with the story and videos would really get them interested and encourage lots of questions. It sounds like a really fun, hands-on lesson that the children would be fully involved in.
I would use the Alien Chemistry activity set because First Class pupils always enjoy practical experiments, especially when there is a bit of fizzing and bubbling involved. I would introduce the lesson by telling the children that we are pretending to be scientists on another planet. We would carry out a simple fizzing experiment and encourage the children to observe carefully what they can see and hear. They could make predictions before the experiment and then talk about whether their ideas were correct afterwards.
I think this activity would help the children develop important science skills like observing, predicting and recording results. It would also give them lots of opportunities to work with a partner and explain their thinking. I would finish the lesson by asking the children to draw and label what happened during the experiment and explain it in their own words. I think this topic would create lots of excitement in the classroom while helping the children understand science through hands-on learning. It is definitely an activity I would use again.I really like the idea of the bridge-building challenge. I think the children would really enjoy getting to build and test their own bridges, especially when they get the chance to make changes and see if they can improve them. I also like how it brings so many different skills together without the children necessarily realising they are learning science! Using the tablets to take photos and record their results is a great idea too. It would be a really fun, hands-on activity that encourages teamwork, creativity and problem-solving while making science enjoyable.
I would use some of the online resources from this module to make our space lessons a bit more interesting. I think websites like Stellarium would be a great way to show the children what the night sky looks like and help them spot stars and constellations. It would make the lesson more interactive than just looking at pictures in a book.
I also like the idea of using the ESA Kids website because it has lots of videos and activities that are suitable for young children. I think these would help explain some of the harder ideas in a simple way. After using the online resources, I would get the children to draw something they learned or complete a simple investigation in groups.
Using these websites would help keep the children engaged and give them another way to learn about science. I also think it would build their confidence using technology in the classroom. Overall, I would definitely use these resources again because they are easy to access, enjoyable and support hands-on learning instead of just reading from a textbookHi Sarah you have created such a fun and engaging lesson. The music and fun at the start of the lesson is very cool. I really think the kids will be enthralled.
I love how you have linked the lesson in with other areas of the curriculum too.
I would use the Space and Aliens activity set with my First Class because I think the children would really enjoy it. The topic is fun and gives them lots of chances to use their imagination. I would begin by talking about what all living things need to survive, like food, water and air. Then I would ask the children to think about what an alien might need if it lived on a different planet.
The children could design and draw their own alien and explain why it looks the way it does. I think this would help them think about science in a simple way while also improving their speaking and drawing skills. They could also work in pairs to create a home for their alien and share their ideas with the class. I like that this activity mixes science, art and oral language together. Overall, I think it would be an enjoyable lesson that would encourage the children to ask questions and be creative while learning.I like your ideas on linking in with other strands of the curriculum namely Music, Maths, Art and Drama. Even something so simple as counting the planets encourages cross curricular study.
My pupils love the planets song and have a huge interest in space which is partly why I’m doing this course.
I’d love to try the Earth Mosaic activity with my class. I think the drawing part would go down well — houses, trees, mountains above the line, seabed and rocks below — kids that age tend to really commit to a bit of colouring, especially if you let them get creative with what goes where.
I reckon the real magic would happen once we cut them out and laid them in a circle on the floor. I can imagine a few of them being genuinely thrown by the “no up or down, reveal, and probably needing me to physically walk around the circle with them before it clicks. I’d guess a couple would find it a bit confusing at first, but I think that confusion is actually the point — it’s meant to unsettle the “up and down” assumption a little before it resettles into something new.
<p class=”font-claude-response-body”>I’d want to try it with as big a group as possible, since I imagine the effect is more convincing the bigger the circle. It feels like a nice sneaky way into a genuinely tricky concept (why we don’t fall off a round Earth) without any actual explaining on my part.</p>I love this idea of creating your own planet. I can see kids getting on board with this and getting interested in learning about planets. I like how you could use this lesson across the curriculum in different subjects – Art, creative writing etc.
It encourages children’s creativity and fosters a love of space and science
Hi my name is Edel. Im a SET teacher and love working with the younger classes.
My fun fact about space is that high pressure deep inside Neptune and Uranus turns carbon into solid diamonds.
One inquiry-based activity I would use with a class of 9 year-olds is learning about how long a day is on different planets. I would start by asking the children if they think every planet has the same length of day as Earth. I would let them guess and talk about their ideas before telling them the answer.
I would show them pictures of Earth, Mars and Venus. I would explain that Earth takes 24 hours to spin once, Mars is very close to that, but Venus takes much, much longer. I think the children would enjoy finding out that a day on Venus is even longer than a year there because it is such a surprising fact.
To help them understand, I would use balls to represent the planets. The children could turn the balls around to show one full spin. We could talk about which planet is spinning faster and which one is slower. I would ask lots of simple questions to get the children thinking and talking.
I like this activity because the children are learning by asking questions and finding things out for themselves. It is easy to do, keeps them involved, and makes learning about space fun. I think activities like this help children become curious and enjoy learning about science.