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Rachael,
I’m not familiar with tinfoil rockets (except for these positively dangerous ones! https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/TRC/Rockets/match_rocket.html or here: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/stem-activities/matchstick-rockets)
How would you launch the rockets? I like measuring how far they go – with a straw paper rocket my best record is about 8 m, but that included a glide on a smooth floor. The raw distance to landing is about 6m.
Hi Laura,
making those comparisons is fun. I sometimes ask second level students roughly how big they think the world is.
We start from – how long does it take a plane to get to Australia- which is half way around the world. They say – about a day or 24 hours. (ish)
Then I ask – how far does a plane go in an hour (ish). If they don’t know (and they usually don’t) we break it down to – if you took a plane from Cork to Dublin, how long would it take once you were in the air – and how far is Dublin – so that’s roughly the speed of an airplane.
It’s all very ish. Then we look at going to the Moon, since the Moon is 30 Earth diameters away (or 10 circumferences), so if it takes a day to get to Australia in a plane, it will take 20 days to get to the Moon (ish).
If you want to look at a bigger comparison table:
Michelle,
Marvin and Milo are great – after a bit of hunting I found that you can search by age:
Unfortunately it only returns one page of activities.
Erika,
by shape of stars are you referring to how they are represented in culture?
I’m not clear, since your opener is about stars in the sky?
It is interesting that the brighter stars seem to twinkle, so giving a “star shape”
You can read a little about it from my colleague Niall: https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/outdoors/arid-41257189.html
However, stars are spheres!
Would the “star-shaped dot patterns” be of random dots, so allowing constellations to be made, or of a star made from dots?
All constellations are described here: https://www.iau.org/public/themes/constellations/
Niamh,
when we talk about “inquiry-based activities” in this course, we are specifically referencing the Framework for Inquiry that is outlined in this module.
So, your planet exploration can be based on a prompt – what is it like to live on another planet (would you make it just our solar system – or consider some of the vastly different types of worlds that have been discovered around other stars? – if you did, then the ExoPlanet posters could make a great prompt).
Children should then share what they currently understand and share their questions as they wonder and explore. Then they can structure a starter question, make a prediction based on science about that starter, then investigate to check if their science is a good model. The next step might be “what animals might live there” or some other ‘thoughtful action’.
If you do want to include art, you might look at adapting this resource (on how features of art are connected to science) https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/teach/activity/art-the-cosmic-connection/
I haven’t heard of chatterpix, but it looks like an interesting app to use.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.duckduckmoosedesign.cpkids&hl=en_IE
Downloading it now to have a play!
Laura,
If you haven’t used the Curious Minds site before, do start with the Planning Guide. It links the Science curriculum to the activities and is a great way to bring in a relevant activity to your planned schedule.
There is also whole school CPD that you might check if your colleagues would like — it is based very much on Curious Minds and ESERO resources.
Laura,
if you like the idea of Space Olympics, you might want to adapt some of the Mission X physical activities to your class.
Scroll down to find the activities: https://trainlikeanastronaut.org/
Erika,
I agree with you about the suitability – when I have shared the activity with teachers the infants teachers really loved it, but I always thought it was great for 2nd class. They can really design and make the houses, and match to the actual appearance of their chosen house. I like your emphasis on shape, colour and size and this could be an introduction to scale.
What happens if the house you make is twice as big as the house another child makes — is it really twice as big in reality, or did you use different scales?
Niamh,
do you have a particular template that you plan to use? I have seen one from NASA education (but cannot find it now!). A quick google search gave me this one: https://buggyandbuddy.com/straw-rockets-with-free-rocket-template/, which is a straw in a straw with a rocket picture attached.
The one I am thinking of isn’t in the Rocket Educator’s Guide!
Harriet,
A fairly new resource that might be of use if you want to look at Mars as the home for your aliens is this one from ESA:
https://esamultimedia.esa.int/docs/edu/PR58_Could_we_live_on_Mars_V3.pdf
It has images that compare Earth to Mars, which could support your plans to look at what makes Earth so special.
You have a Paxi! how great.
Stellarium is a really powerful tool, and I’m glad you’re hooked on it. If you are really hooked email me at bco (frances.mccarthy@bco.ie) and I’ll send you the files for Ballycroy Co Mayo landscape and the landscape for Newgrange.
You can then install them on your own version following this guide: https://stellarium.org/en/landscapes.html
Edel,
demonstrating with the globe is such a key part of this learning activity.
When asked “Why is it dark at night?” I have had children tell me “so we can go to sleep.” Children need to be able to step beyond – what happens when it is dark in a child-centred way to reasoning about the world with models.
I like your choice of China and Europe – very often children who have understood that it is dark on another part of the world think of Australia as their place.
Oisín,
I’m not familiar with that book, but looking up the author I see that she has written 200 books, which seem to be straightforward non-fiction.
https://www.rebeccarissman.com/
I like how you have planned to link science to the creative process with designing Martians for a landscape. I would discuss with the children what is like on Mars quite explicitly – which I would hope the book would provide the details.
One common misconception that I encounter is that children think Mars is hot!
Laura,
would you make a working spacecraft, or more of a decorative one?
If a working one, which of the many options from Curious Minds appeals the most?
If you wanted to consider the various functions that a spacecraft must supply for its occupants you might use this resource from Space Week:
https://www.spaceweek.ie/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/HumansinSpace.pdf