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Hi Sinead,
if you want to read more about timekeeping on Mars, see this article from 2021.
I hadn’t realised that the calendar started in April 1955, but I do know that I am still in my 20s if I count my age in Mars Years.
At the start of each Mars mission the science teams tries to keep on Mars time – so they come to work 40 minutes later each day. See this article about it.
https://science.nasa.gov/resource/living-on-mars-time/
https://www.space.com/perseverance-rover-mission-on-mars-time
Teddy’s raincoat can be a great prompt for inquiry learning, particularly if you have a range of materials for the children to use to make the raincoat. I find that cultivating a slightly befuddled air is good – and resist the urge to tell the children which is waterproof or not. Claim that you used different materials last time your class did this and you don’t know which of these are waterproof…
worth noting that the ones you can get here don’t seem as bright as the ones in the video — perhaps because our uv from the Sun is less intense?
Stephanie,
you are so right about
It is also important to discuss with the class about how it doesn’t matter if your prediction is right or wrong, as both results teach us something new.
and children should realise that if their prediction was wrong, that their science understanding can be modified.
There was a nice example of this in the ramps material that we were discussing last week – where a child might think that the lighter car will go further since a lighter toy can be thrown further than a heavier toy, they can then test this – and will likely find that the heavier object is less affected by friction, so goes further – and so will have to reconsider how different forces are acting on the object.
Muireann,
you have described an attractive demonstration that could be used as a prompt for the children to engage with your topic.
With this tornado demo, the children might wonder about pouring smoothly – so you could give them a range of containers and water or other liquids to see how pouring creates glugs / noise / bubbles.
They might know about hot water bottles and how it is tricky to pour into a hot water bottle since the air has to come out.
In all inquiry activities the children should have a chance to share what they understand of the science, and make testable predictions. Some of these predictions may lead to a full-on, fair test activity, some might be quickly checked and then the children will move on.
Grace,
When planning science inquiry it is good to reference the Framework for Inquiry that specifically deals with child lead inquiry science, where the children’s science understanding is shared, leading to a testable question.
So if children are playing with moon sand (https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/moon-sand) they might wonder ‘how long moon sand keeps its shape?’ They might ask ‘how much can you push moon sand before it crumples?’ A bit trickier to explain might be changing the recipe for moon sand and seeing does it change its properties.
If they build working rocket models, then they can explore forces, compare distance travelled and share those results.
With inquiry learning the children should improve their science content understanding by acting as scientists and testing their ideas.
And about the blood from space – I found this article that says probably not true.
Rachel,
you have clearly linked the science content and skills that you want the children to engage with, to a clear, relevant context. Nicely done.
Anne- have you tried to play the Paxi game? I crashed 5 times and have given up. Different set of skills!
Stellarium is great- and as I like to point out, once it is downloaded you don’t need the internet, so you can let children explore away. I agree that 2nd class would make better independent use of it than younger children.
APOD is super – I heard a suggestion of using it as a prompt for descriptive language.
Is this the song?
I really like the questioning the alien (teacher) – what a great way to use the questions and to rephrase as needed in the light of information that the teacher provides.
Connecting to science understanding by creating the full persona is super – and some children might work together to create an alien ecosystem. I sometimes do that with children who find the creating aspect challenging and have created “rocks” or lumps — I suggest that these are very well disguised aliens – they look like lumps if anyone else is around…!
Fiona – I sometimes show the clip of the Cantina scene from the first Star Wars film. Lots of aliens and most children still know who Chewbacca is!
Lauren – Dancing Raisins ( English and Irish) is a lovely demonstration. The original activity was written before the Inquiry Framework was developed, but it can be made more child inquiry led by planning ahead to have different liquids and different objects to let the children try out for themselves to check their understanding.
Does the surface of the material make a difference — do raisins work because they are wrinkly? what would happen if you used a smooth bit of plasticine instead? or a small nut that is smooth?
Is it the fizzes that are important – does differently fizzy water work as well? The activity sheet suggests that the drink should be freshly open to be very fizzy – could you use fizzy vitamin tablets to make water fizzy and would that work?
Gwen –
I find fair testing something that children have to experience over and over again – and as you have said “teacher enforcement” is needed until they realise why fair testing makes the science valid.
There is a rocket picture sequence in the ESA ISS Primary Education Kit on page 54.
You can find the kit https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Human_and_Robotic_Exploration/Education/Primary_level_ISS_Education_Kit_-_download
Barbara,
creating with science thinking is lovely way to bring Arts and STEM together. I LOVE your idea of
I would ask the children to act out in small groups how their aliens might move and communicate with each other.
My colleague did aliens as the theme for Space Week Art in 2022. You can find it here
and view at YouTube:
Siobhan,
what a lovely book: https://annaterrerosmartin.co.uk/publications/can-you-see-the-stars-tonight
and links to light pollution, which is dear to my astronomer-heart.
I’ll take the time today to listen to this podcast with her.
Thanks for the recommendation.
nice one Siobhan. Getting an astronaut to visit is huge – we were fortunate to connect with an astronaut for a rocket launch activity we did a few years ago, and have retired astronaut Dan Tani around a fair bit since his wife is from Cork, so they visit the grandparents a lot.
Did you know that there are only a bit more than 600 people who have ever trained as astronauts? There are now space passengers who can book to go on a sub-orbital flight. William Shatner (of Star Trek fame) was one of those – he flew to space when in 2021 when he was 90. You can read his account here.
Barbara,
I like that you have realistically assigned adults to support the young children. The example from the module was of an informal learning environment where bear’s shadow could be explored by one child at a time. Planning to have a darkened room with lots of children doing shadow work … well, best to split and have fewer.
