[Frances McCarthy]

Matea,

have you noticed that young children often focus on the “why we need it” and use that to explain the changing position of the Sun?

I’ve been in our portable planetarium with younger classes, and when I show the Sun setting and it getting dark and ask “why is it dark now?” {expected answer – the Sun isn’t shining on us because it has set} I can get “because we have to sleep, and it needs to be dark…”

[Frances McCarthy]

Triona,

thanks for sharing tips on multiclass implementation. We have tried to have material in Irish – and I know that Research Ireland are keen to have material shared in Irish when possible.

In PolarStar – a previous project that I worked on, we created Irish versions of the teacher resources – but not all are suitable for younger primary level. Scroll down to each activity and you will find links in a range of languages:

https://polar-star.ea.gr/polar-star-kit-activities

[Frances McCarthy]

Hi Sinead,

Your wonder wall sounds like a lovely way to capture the children’s initial understanding and to share and record that.

To use the inquiry framework as structured in this module you don’t need to be prepared to “introducing simple facts in response to their questions,”

since the questions that can be addressed through inquiry are simple testable questions that the children can make predictions about, that can then be verified through activity or research.

So – for juniors, a child might wonder about the moonwalks – and might watch a video of the original astronauts on the Moon  (such as this one: https://youtu.be/CwTTx-dEurk?si=UGbw92ncPGefyPwl)- and see that they jump up and down really high. This might lead to a testable question of “how high can I jump” – or “do taller people jump higher off the ground than shorter people?”  (maybe because they have bigger muscles if they are taller??) . This can then be tested.

[Frances McCarthy]

Hi Dee,

the inquiry activity you have proposed would be a “research” variant of the inquiry framework outlined in this module.

You have a clear prompt to engage the children, with plenty of scope for the children to wonder and explore.

The investigate section is more of a “research”, unless you could adapt some of the moon surface models to be a investigation – perhaps by considering the design of the lunar buggy and then using models to test different types of landscapes. In Module 5 we look at this in more detail, and look at how to bring practical investigations into the idea of a Journey to Space.

Also check this video (from 15 years ago) about the Mars rovers and how they are tested on Earth: https://youtu.be/bWR0tJbY7zc?si=rC_5JYjcOzexM7r9

[Frances McCarthy]

Hi Assumpta,

pros and cons of space flight appears for Junior Cycle – so could definitely be introduced for senior classes.

But even for younger classes, since satellites are becoming so much more common, a short spell of stargazing in a darker sky will show them a handful of satellites moving across the sky.

All ages of children can hunt for the ISS in the sky – use https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Human_and_Robotic_Exploration/International_Space_Station/Where_is_the_International_Space_Station

[Frances McCarthy]

Caroline – your stars sound just great – and having a buddy class system can make so many slightly complex activities quite manageable!

I’m glad you enjoyed our StarDome, it is bookable – generally between the equinoxes so that it is dark when the children get home – so September thru to March.

[Frances McCarthy]

Kate – I really like floating and sinking – and it is a topic with great depth (pun intended). I’ve had my first years at second level having a great time working out that if you carefully place a flat plastic set square, it will float! (well – surface tension will hold it in place!).

With this topic, best for the teacher to claim that they have forgotten how the activity works – feign ignorance and let the children discover in their own way what floats, what sinks and start to offer suggestions why.

If they seem too confident – offer the unpeeled orange the peeled orange as an object and ask them to predict and then test how it behaves.

https://coolscienceexperimentshq.com/why-does-the-heavier-orange-float/

[Frances McCarthy]

Karen – is this slightly similar to rocket mouse (the cone shape), but uses a straw like the paper straw rockets? I’m afraid I can’t quite picture this rocket in action. Do you have a link to the original source?

Certainly with the paper -straw rockets the children can try blowing with different strength puffs, but that is a very hard quantity to measure. it might be easier to ask the children to try to blow with the same puff (using their own sense of how they blow) and vary some other aspect of the rocket design – such as angle of launch, length of rocket, placement of fins etc.

Don’t forget to respond to other participant’s posts as you go through each module.

[Frances McCarthy]

Thanks for sharing this detailed week’s plan, busy, but do-able. I like the focus on the big ideas – and this year’s theme is Living in Space, which also connects nicely.

Great stuff.

[Frances McCarthy]

David – would your crew make rockets that function in some way, or would they be decorative? It would be great to have a rocket that actually moves – and pairing with an older class may be a way to have that happen without you having to make 25+ individual rockets!

[Frances McCarthy]

Emma – the rocket countdown reminded me of a suggestion made in a previous year — using countdowns when lining up for yard, when changing activities etc.

I like your next step of testing the rocket mice outside — but watch out, they are pretty light weight and might really launch!

[Frances McCarthy]

Amanda – sounds great. You could include this milk marbling activity from spaceweek.ie – we created it as a family activity, but schools can use it too!

https://www.spaceweek.ie/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Gas-Planet-Clouds.pdf

Also check the book suggestions from previous runs of this course:

http://www.spaceweek.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/SpaceWeekJunior-1.pdf

http://www.spaceweek.ie/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/SpaceWeekJunior2022.pdf

http://www.spaceweek.ie/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/SpaceWeekJunior_2023.pdf

To match the school week, you might offer activities between 6 and 10 October.

[Frances McCarthy]

Criona – would you have your space week at the same time as Ireland’s Space Week? namely 4-10 October? If so, please do register it as an event at spaceweek.ie.

I view “observing” as the essential science skill – a child has to notice something, then look for patterns about the behaviour or phenomena before they can carry out investigations. I find that the evaluation is a bit trickier for children, they have a tendency to say “it went well” or “nothing worked”. As they develop their skills, they can consider was their investigation capable of giving them the result they wanted – did they set up a fair test? Did they actually test the thing they wanted to find out?

I see this with rocket mouse and junior classes — when I ask for top tips I’ll say –
“will you tell the person who missed the class that they should use a big bottle or a little bottle?”
and children say “use a big bottle.

Then I’ll ask – “did you try a big bottle AND a little bottle to know that there is a difference”… and often they’d only tried a big bottle because they thought it would be better, but didn’t actually compare.

[Frances McCarthy]

Hi Sue,

Here is a possible video that you could use:

https://youtu.be/jMLcvgQS8D4?si=e6aNwtkrycQuIy4x

2m 17s from the Dark Sky International Organisation, called Know the Night, with a lovely poem running through it.

What happens when our stars once bright
are lost beneath the creeping light?
When sky glow drowns the Milky Way
and night’s true colors fade away.
Would we still gather friends in tow
and share our stories in moonlit glow?
Would fireflies still softly gleam
or vanish like a fading dream?
Would we still marvel as auroras dance
or hush at hoots and coyote chants?
Would we still paint the cosmic swirls
or ponder planets in distant worlds?
We need the night to dream and find
a world unbound in space and time.
We need the dark to end our day,
we need the stars to guide our way.
To gaze above to wonder why,
to lose ourselves beneath the sky.
We need the night and now we know
the night needs us to dim our glow.

[Frances McCarthy]

Laura,

thanks for sharing additional resource/books that can be used to extend the ideas of the Animals in the Cold. As you rightly point out, it was written for used with very young children, and the demonstrations that are part of it can be used as a prompt for deeper inquiry.

The scenarios can make the starting point of the child’s own inquiry – does it make a difference if Vaseline is thick or thin? does it make a difference if an ice cube is left on the window sill or held in a gloved hand? Does a big ice cube melt faster than a little ice cube?…. each one of these could be investigated by the children.

[Author]

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