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John – that’s a really nice was to trigger engagement – and beliefs vs “knowing” is a nice distinction.
John – the role play is a bit of fun – it’s nice to have a script to get it started. Do you have a fixed globe? and have you seen the Earth Ball globes? The Universe in a Box booklet is HUGE – and just full of activities for 4 to 8 year olds – you might let me know over the year which parts of it were most use to you.
Hi John, to avoid getting the extra formatting, see the first post in this thread.
Can you give external access to your mind map? Right now it is giving “Diagram not found!”
When discussing density with children, please keep in mind that density doesn’t appear in the primary curriculum – so use language like: light for its size, heavy for its size. Floating/sinking can get complicated, so you might want to add in the design a boat language and the design a diver language from primary science.
Joey – would you explore the appearance of the Moon in terms of the light shining on it and what we are able to see? If you have high resolution images of the Moon from a telescope, then the shadows of lunar features can be seen, and that can lead to an exploration of how the sunlight lights up the Moon – giving the shadows that cause the phases.
The surface of the Moon’s lunar dust is also quite nasty for humans – see this article.
Hi Denise – to get rid of the additional formatting see the first post in this thread.
I like how you have planned an engage section with interesting resources that will get the ideas going. The starter question for the investigation should be quite simple, and answerable from the activity the children carry out – in this case a design and make of the lunar surface might ask “which materials will be best to make a moon model?” and then the children might plan (which replaces predict) the best materials and then make (replaces the next section of the framework).
Allowing for differentiation is so vital, and I like the way you have connected distance from the Sun to how much light a planet receives — this could tie into scales in the solar system (as detailed in this space week resource).
The shadow drawing activity is always a hit — and there is the chance to really probe the children’s understanding of why it happens. When I have done this activity, children are really surprised at how fast their shadow moves.
Aisling – I love that Shadow Play video – and how it frames the questions that the little birds have — what a fabulous trigger for the children to be able to share what they know vs what the birds understand.
Great stuff Rachel – I love this bit:
To be freed, a friend must either release him by pushing his arms down or if the boys are able – they can try to use their shadow-selves to do it.
The child-centred discussion gives the children the chance to share their own understanding of what is going on, and then to check it through further activities.
Rachel – thanks for giving me the credit — but I think the system sometimes holds onto a post if there is formatting or links in it. I’ve had it tell me I was suspended from the whole forum once!! Luckily, the teachnet guys are around all the time and sort it out without us even having to ask 🙂
Rachel – the frozen glove and trying to melt it is a great activity. Particularly since there are so many factors that will affect the melting, the children really have to think which ones are actually affecting it. The glove that gets handled the most tends to melt pretty fast — because it is heated up by the children’s own hands!
Aisling – you can see a great visualisation that compares the planets on twitter: https://twitter.com/i/status/1519023430053818368
I really like how you have taken the great trigger: get teddy across the lake, and worked in a science investigation on floating, and a design and make with the best material too. It could be that the ‘best floater’ cannot be made into a boat shape – so its a great real world scenario.
Michael – the crater activity lends itself to a wide range of questions and predictions, which are essential for children’s learning in an inquiry approach.
Note that phases of the Moon are not part of the primary curriculum, so keep the emphasis on the light from the Sun that is lighting up the Moon and how the Moon itself is casting shadows that stop us seeing all of the side that is facing us.
Eve, is there a particular science emphasis that you would include in this topic? Child centred inquiry, as supported by the DPSM ESERO Framework for Inquiry should give the children a chance to pose questions, make predictions based on their science understanding and then test out their understanding with an investigation.
The Space Centre could have a requirement to be strong/ or light weight / or have windows … and then the children could work with different materials and explain why they would be suitable or not, before building the station.
Shona – the NASA Moon overview is superb: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/moons/overview/,
great images, all in one place. Thanks for reminding me of it.