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Stephanie,
I like that you have planned for a wide range of different materials, some of which the children might easily predict will sink and some that will sink despite being lighter than other objects.
Density isn’t a named concept in primary science, so I use “heavy for it’s size” to help children think through why something heavier might float (an orange with peel on) vs something lighter (the same orange with the peel taken off).
Aisling,
to prime the children for this you might want to use the Exoplanet travel bureau posters from NASA – they are gorgeous!
Hi Gráinne,
welcome to this course!
I like the Saturn investigation too – since floating and sinking is such a practical activity, but has unexpected results that will challenge children’s thinking and push them to develop a deeper understanding of forces around buoyancy.
It’s great that is uses the same bank of materials as the falling objects that we have described in this module.
Grainne,
the key is, as you have said: “it was great hearing the group discussions as to why certain ideas would be better than others.”
Inquiry learning is centred on this – that children can share their own understanding and use investigations of phenomena to build on this understanding.
As Prof Robyn M. Gillies states (here)
This approach to teaching relies on teachers recognizing the importance of presenting problems to students that will challenge their current conceptual understandings so they are forced to reconcile anomalous thinking and construct new understandings.
Joanne,
a nice set of fact cards are the ones from Armagh Planetarium. They also have a suitable “design your own planet”
ESA Education has this resource: https://esamultimedia.esa.int/docs/edu/PR01_EN_Our_Solar_System.pdf
which has a sheet to be completed to show the colour of each planet and the number of moons.I’ve been inundated with planet information from children, so I now ask them to talk to each other as a table and choose their top 2 planet facts to share. I then ask another child from the table to share those with the other groups.
Laura,
I like your rocket plan, doable and effective for younger children. Start collecting the milk bottles and ideally have a range of volumes. You can also use the larger soft drink bottles, but since they are now re-turn logo-ed, they have a value!
Some brands of supermarket bottles are thinner than others, so shop around for the rest of the summer to get a range.
Grace- you can actually use the sundial to tell where the north-south line is – it aligns with the shadow when the shadow is shortest (which happens at midday – when the Sun is in the south).
An infants class might not be in school when that happens, since midday is at about 1.30 in the summer months. Pointing the straw slightly north makes sure that there will be a visible shadow even at midday, but marking a line so that you always orient the sun dial the same way is the essential part.
Niamh,
thanks for sharing your comprehensive plan for a space-y fortnight! One teacher last year suggested using the countdown whenever they were lining up, moving from one task to another etc, so that they had plenty of opportunity to hear it and respond to it.
If you plan this fortnight near Space Week, please do register it as a private school event on spaceweek.ie
Jackie – I like how you are planning for other questions – as I say in the in-person CPD sessions that I facilitate – once you have the equipment out, allow the children to pose and test their own questions with the equipment.
A fast moving group might discover that they all feel warmer in the blubber glove, so might wonder : does it make a difference if the blubber is thicker/thinner, and then test that. They might wonder, are all parts of my hand equally sensitive to cold? – and make an uneven blubber glove to test that…
Niamh, with a 2nd class you could guide the children to explicitly link their alien design to some Martian feature. The children can then justify their choices and apply their understanding in a science way as they create.
Niamh,
thanks for mentioning the Smeds and the Smoos – what a great story. I’ve only just noticed that red rhymes with Smed and blue with Smoo!
I wonder what names they will come up with for green or yellow aliens!
Tara: Using videos is great! with a slightly older cohort I have run “heavy lifting rockets” which are balloon rockets designed to go upwards, carrying as many paper clips as possible. They are tricky and need persistence!
With multiple launch stations we did a countdown and all released at the same time – mayhem!
Tara,
Stellarium has a feature that lets you change the culture of the constellation art – an easy way to show how other cultures have viewed the sky.
You’ll find it under sky and viewing options (in the left side menu) > Sky Culture.
The children’s drawings can even be included in your own copy of Stellarium – provided you have admin access to your computer and can find the hidden files. I made a guide that references this as part of the D.O.M.E project.
Matea,
with a 2nd class you might feel that the children are ready for this activity that takes the ideas of home as shelter and how homes in different parts of the world are different.
it is suggested Age range: 8-12 years old, and is available in multiple languages and has beautiful images included. The language is a bit advanced in places, but you can use the images and create your own questions,
Fiona,
we include rockets in depth in Module 5 – this sounds like you are looking at the Paper Straw rocket (you can find it at Curious minds in English and in Irish)
Check the guide, since the fins need to go on the paper rocket, with the straw being the tube that the children blow through.
For senior infants, a bit of sticking and cutting support might be needed, since these are slightly fiddly. You could look at making a slightly simpler version, which uses a template that can be taped on one side to make a long slender paper rocket – no rolling needed. This is from the NASA Rocket Educator’s Guide “3…2…1…PUFF! ” page 47 has the templates.