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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}
Cliodhna,
some of the concepts you have suggested would be suitable for older children, where the Irish curriculum has (for 1st/2nd class)
“identify the sun, the moon, stars, day and night”
I’d think that going into the life cycle of stars is probably too much. I know that some children are interested in black holes and the ideas around them, but linking mass of a star to its ultimate fate is something I used to teach at second level.
There is background for teachers at https://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/educators/lifecycles/LC_main3.html
and a poster: file:///C:/Users/frances.mccarthy/Pictures/SummerSchool_2024/imagine.pdf
and there are some second level activities on that same page.
Sarah,
you have clearly outlined an inquiry approach to rockets, using a useful prompt, with time for the children to wonder and explore.
The investigation aspect is straight forward enough and I like the starter question you have implied – does a string make a difference to where a balloon rocket goes?
There are further starter questions that naturally arise as “take the next steps”
What will happen if we use different shape balloons?
Does the balloon go further if there is more or less air in it?
To assess how the children’s science understanding is changing, ask them to explain their prediction. Their explanations will then be supported or refuted by the activity.
Helen,
that video was made by my colleague and I during lockdown – I had to set an alarm to run out every hour to mark where the shadow was and I kept my fingers crossed for the Sun to keep shining.
Try making your own if we get a sunny day!
I googled the space maths game (don’t have a copy of ready steady maths material here) and found an online version of a space race counting game:
Combining a Classic Race Game with Counting, The Space Race Game
described as a game to count to 10, no dice rolls!
Hi Mairead,
thanks for sharing your space fact- I had thought it was just to do with the gases in the atmosphere- so looked it up!
https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/15-awe-inspiring-astronomy-discoveries
I like the way you have extended the very pretty skittles activity to explore different liquids. That nicely ties into Materials>Materials and Change >explore the effects of water on a variety of materials and the careful observations even access parts of Light > dark and bright colours and different shades of colour.
I had read a while ago that gender affects colour naming, it has been established that from a young age girls name colours better. See this article: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258831976_Gender_differences_in_colour_naming
have you noticed that?
Emma,
thanks for sharing your wealth of experience. Have you a particular source of the
Music: Alien Sound Hunt, pre-recorded sounds (space sounds, beeping, whoosing) ?
Barbara,
I’m glad this material is useful for you and its great to see the connections being made from one module to the other.
Our place in space does indeed encompass an understanding of the diversity of our planet’s living spaces. Even more remarkable is that people only live on a fraction of the Earth’s surface and have modified only 14.6%
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/10/human-impact-earth-planet-change-development/
Children might use images of different parts of the world to suggest why people don’t live at or use most of the world.
Hi Cliodhna,
The Sun resource gives plenty of scope for exploring Mathematics>Measuring.
With Junior Cycle students I ask them to make scale models of the Earth and Moon with playdoh, and then put the models at the correct scale distance apart. None of them ever get it right!
I picked up another demonstration from Armagh Planetarium -which is to wrap a bit of string around a volunteer’s head – if the Earth is their head, the Moon is about the size of their fist, but the distance to the Moon is 30 Earth diameters – or 10 circumferences. So I wrap the string 10 times — it usually comes out to be about 5 or 6 m away.
Very visual!
Hi Rachael,
I’d hold the first video back for 5th or 6th class — Newton’s Laws of Motion show up in LC physics.
The second video is a bit better – “A thrust is a giant push that lifts something up” and also has the forces explained a little better – ‘the fuel explodes and sends hot gas rushing out of the rocket and the thrust is so strong that it lifts the rocket up’
It looks like you are referencing https://www.science-sparks.com/straw-rockets/ with the straw rockets – which do look accessible for young children in terms of their fine motor skills.
A while ago Ikea had the slightly wider straws – if you’re near enough you could check there. Otherwise, check party supplies for the wider straws, they are not always easy to find.
Ciara,
have you a particular rocket design you would try? You can search the classroom resources at curiousminds.ie by the keyword rockets to get a full list.
Rachel,
what a lovely set of activities, I like the ‘space safety’ in particular.
In the current space industry, space safety has been redefined somewhat by SpaceX. NASA and ESA make big expensive rockets and try to have almost no failures. SpaceX makes smaller, cheaper rockets and expects failures — they then fix the failures and keep going. Not rated for humans yet, but able to innovate much more.
Ciara.
I love this
Put masking tape in a cross on the floor. Label each section Spring, Summer, Autumn , Winter.Each student comes up to the bag of clothes and with a blind fold must select an item of clothing from the bag. Before removing the blind fold they must feel and discuss the item of clothing and make a prediction of where it should be placed on the seasons section.
Remove the blind fold to discover if they are correct.
what a lovely way to bring out their descriptive language (if you ask them to describe what they feel) and to connect their ability to identify materials from touch.
This would help those children who don’t have a “minds eye” because it is quite concrete. (Aphantasia is thought to affect 1-2% of people – so there are probably a few in your school! https://psyche.co/ideas/i-have-no-minds-eye-let-me-try-to-describe-it-for-you)
David,
weather is such a part of life in Ireland! Have you seen the weather activities from met eireann at https://www.met.ie/education/school-resources/
Some are for older children, but a simple anemometer could be made with the children that they could then use.
https://www.met.ie/cms/assets/uploads/2024/07/LP-Measuring-and-Recording-Wind-Speed.pdf
Is the type of thing you mean by “or engage in simple experiments.”
Hi Rachael,
Dancing Raisins is great fun – both in English and in Irish. It is one of those really nice demonstrations that is easy to extend into an investigation, by responding to the children’s questions.
If they think the raisins are the key part – try with other small items. If they think the fizz is the most important – try with different levels of fizz (perhaps by mixing fizzy drink with water – or by stirring the drink to get the fizz out).
In all cases, the children’s science explanation can be modified in light of what they notice happening.