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Rachael,
I’d be careful using language like ” some stars are bigger and brighter than others” unless you clearly distinguish between what we see and what is actually out there.
Stars appear as tiny points of light – some are brighter than others, and may appear more twinkly, but shouldn’t appear bigger to the eye.
Children might notice that some stars appear bigger in photographs – but that is because more light came from the star, so made a bigger shape on the detector.
Source: https://www.eso.org/public/italy/images/potw1428a/?lang
A follow up activity (a next step) could be to wonder why some stars are brighter than others, and play with torches at different distances in a large dark hall – noticing that far away torches look dimmer than nearby torches.
Amanda,
I like the idea of sorting the bottles — but controlling the amount of push and speed of the push might also come into it. Rocket Mouse is an ideal activity since there are often unexpected results, so children really have to think about what is going on and attempt to control variables (although I wouldn’t use that language with them). Once they have a pretty “repeatable” squeeze, they can try different bottles. I find different brands of milk bottle are also differently “squeezable”, due, I think, to the thickness of the plastic used to make the bottle.
Louise,
have you a particular “a clip about gravity” that you would recommend?
There is plenty of scope for the children to get into fair testing with the activity you have planned. Different objects that are different masses, different sizes etc will fall differently, so you could encourage children to notice the differences and think of simple ways to keep as much as they can the same.
A piece of paper as the object lets the children really look at shape, given that it is the same mass each time.
Ann-Marie,
what a lovely way to use inquiry learning. I particularly like how you set the scene one day, giving the children an opportunity to see what happens when ice melts, then extended it the next day. This allows children to have a body of knowledge that they can use when they consider what might happen, and then they can test to check their understanding.
I grew up in Canada, so know that Canadian children would have the experience in using salt to melt ice faster- knowing that you can sprinkle rock salt on a path after an ice storm — did your children have any ideas about the salt?
Patrick,
there seem to be a few Zoom Zoom Zoom Going to Moon videos – is this the one you would use?
https://youtu.be/DEHBrmZxAf8?si=H-dd-xs0sONXOyC9
ack – can you tell why this drives me crazy!
or this one:
https://youtu.be/MZragmYBm9o?si=433TP70M2GJ87enB
that has the line
Zoom zoom zoom, we’re going to the moon,
Zoom zoom zoom, we’ll get there very soon
Twinkling stars are shining bright
Shooting past us on our flight
Zoom zoom zoom, we’re going to the moonPrompt aside, I agree with your that balloon rockets are suitable for younger children, and I like your plan for design and make, including evaluation of how well they work and how they can be improved. For me, a huge part of the success is the type of string and how the straw on the string is taped to the balloon.
Mera – there is a communication themed resource from ESERO, that models satellite communication, we reference it in this spaceweek resource: https://esero.ie/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/UPDATED-Space-Week-primary-CPD-resource-1.pdf.pdf
This could add a new layer of science inquiry as a next step.
Barbara,
thanks for suggesting https://www.stem.org.uk/explorify/activities/have-you-ever-gone-out-wearing-the-wrong-coat
another great free resource library, from Stem.org.uk.
It suggests looking at some “what if” questions – which would make awesome “next steps” I really like the “What if winter never ended?“!
Their suggestion for weather recording is super:
It can be very hard for young children to recognise that, although overall the temperature tends to be warmer in April than in March, for example, there will still be some days in March that are warmer than some April days. One way to help them to visualise the gradual shifting of temperatures is to create a thin ‘snake’ of paper along the classroom wall with a stripe for each day of the year. Each day, colour in a stripe according to the hottest temperature of the day in colours pre-determined at the start of the year to match each 5-degree bracket of temperature. Over the course of the year, children will be able to see how the range of colours gradually shift through blues to greens and yellows and eventually to reds but that there can still be a lot of variation in temperature at any given time of the year.
Grainne,
using a globe or an inflatable Earth ball is a great tool to help children articulate the shape of the Earth that they understand.
I’d also show some of the many images of Earth from Space, since those are part of the cultural/scientific landscape that they have grown up in.
Source: https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2022/06/Earth_s_oceans
Andy –
I can see clothes for different seasons having a straightforward connection for infants, but for 2nd you might want to link it to the SESE Geography
People and places in other areas>become familiar with some aspects of the lives of people and especially of children in Ireland, Europe and other areas
peoples and communities
needs of people for food, shelter and clothes school, play and workWeather:> • identify ways in which weather influences the lives of people
clothes, homes, games, farming and other
work, traveland from Science> Materials and change
• become aware of and investigate the suitability of different kinds of clothes for variations in temperature
recognise that some fabrics keep us warmer
than others
design and make or assemble an outfit for
someone who is going on holiday to a very
warm or cold placeJean,
stomp rockets are great fun! Here is a way to make your own (if you have a plumbing friend!) – page 64 of the NASA rocket educators guide.
https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/rockets-educator-guide-20.pdf?emrc=5ed244 page 64
or this slightly different version: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/resources/lesson-plan/stomp-rockets/
Mary – I agree with you on using Marvin and Milo as a prompt, and not showing the “explanation”.
Good plan to let the children play with the balloons, and notice what happens when they have allowed the air out.
I wonder if someone could try to make the balloon as static-y as possible and if that would change how it would move? My thought is that it wouldn’t affect it too much, as I find that even with the most static I can put onto a balloon, they aren’t very sticky to walls.
Arlene,
I ask the children to name their aliens too – I find that the names split pretty evenly into very short familiar names (there is almost always a Bob) or quite different to English – like Bloorb.
Ellie,
we meet this topic in module 2, so you can check some of the ideas and story suggestions from that forum for even more ideas.
I like how you have a straightforward activity for the children to explore. Be sure to allow time for them to discuss what they think will happen, so that they can work on their scientific understanding and verify it through discovery.
When asked why does the Moon appear to change shape, there are some common misconceptions (as listed here)
The Moon can only be seen at night
The Moon makes its own light, instead of reflecting sunlight
The Moon’s phases are caused by the Earth’s shadow
The Moon’s phases are caused by clouds
The Moon’s phases are caused by Earth’s rotation on its axis
The Moon’s phases are caused by the Moon’s rotation on its axis
The Moon takes one day to orbit the Earth
The Moon orbits the Sun instead of the EarthEva,
check out the resources in module 2 as well, since we look at the Earth-Sun-Moon in more detail in that module.
Would you create PECS cards relevant to the investigation?
I like the plan to document with photos – particularly since this is such a visual activity, and the shadows that one person sees may be look different from a different angle -so having a photo allows for comparisons to be made.
