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Sam
just used as an art lesson could so easily be tied into STEM!
exactly! adding a little extra to an art activity can easily integrate science thinking as they create an alien to match an environment.
Harriet,
Planets are great fun, and of interest to many children.
I’m not sure that these activities need to be specifically “inquiry-based” since that has a particular meaning that references the Framework for Inquiry, which builds on the children’s understanding and asks them to extend that understanding by making testable predictions and investigating.
With the planets as a theme this could be structured research as the children notice patterns from their facts and then try to come up with explanations for those patterns.
They might see that the rocky planets are near the sun and the gas planets are far away. They might note that the small planets are near the Sun and the big planets are far away. They might think – planets near the Sun are hotter and planets further away are colder – and check that out.
Once they see that the hottest planet is Venus (2nd from the Sun) they might take the next step and look at why Venus is hotter.
Sam,
the joy of the inquiry approach is that you can take children’s ideas and explanations and help them structure them into testable investigations.
If a child sees that an unpeeled orange floats, but when you take the peel off and make it lighter it sinks, they then have to work into their thinking the idea of buoyancy. You might help them think of the peel as being like a life jacket.
We wear life jackets on the water, but they make us heavier! and more floaty!
You don’t need to be the expert on the science, in fact I often recommend being slightly baffled — tell the children that last year the class did something different so you aren’t sure.
When I make paper – straw rocket with a group, many of the children will ask me if they have done it right. My only answer to them is “try it and see.”
Valerie,
you’ve outlined a really nice activity set on the Moon, with lots of opportunities for children to use their science skills to observe and to record and communicate.
The flour cratering activity is very popular, as I have suggested before, use sand if you want to keep the trays around for a while, since sand isn’t a food product.
You can find detailed images of the Moon at this NASA site:
Deirdre,
I tallied up the favourite space facts from the course 2 years ago: not all of these are verified, but there should be enough for you to choose from:
One fact I found really interesting that the kids told me last year was that it rains diamonds on Jupiter.
My favorite space fact is that there is no sound in space because molecules are too far apart to transmit sound.
I find the fact that space is completely silent very interesting
Olympus Mons is the largest volcano in the solar system.
moon rock of huge value economically as well as scientifically was given by U.S.A to Ireland and the natural history museum but got thrown out by accident and still sits in a Dublin dump somewhere.
John and a space fact that interests me is how it would take nine years to walk to the moon.
My favourite space fact is that you could fit one million earths inside the sun
we only ever see one side of the moon!
One interesting fact I have found is that there are spots on the sun, which I’ve seen through a special telescope for looking at the sun.
A fact I love is that space is completely silent.
My favourite space fact is that spiders seem to be unaffected by gravity and can create their beautiful webs just as well in space!!!!
My favourite Space fact, that it is infinite.
I will be teaching first class next year. My favourite fact about space is that an asteroid, about the size of a car, enters Earth’s atmosphere roughly once a year – but it burns up before it reaches us!
There’s about 2000 satellites orbiting earth currently and roughly 3000 dead ones littering space.
My fun fact is that the Perseids meteor shower will be happening this year during August and the best nights should be 12th & 13th, so I’m hoping for a few cloudless nights!
and I will have Junior Infants in September. An interesting fact that I like about space is that the moon isn’t actually perfectly spherical, it’s more lemon/egg shaped!
My favourite space fact is that there are more stars in the sky than there are grains of sand on all of the beaches on Earth!
My favourite space fact is that a NASA space suit costs approximately $12,000,000!
One of my favourite facts about Space is although Saturn is the second largest planet in our solar system, it is the lightest and the only one that could float in water because it is mostly made of gas!
My favourite fun fact that I learned about space this year is that astronauts can’t burp in space!
Neptune’s moon, Triton, orbits the planet backwards. It’s the only large moon in our solar system that does this.
One of my favourite Space facts is that the largest and highest mountain in the Solar System is the volcano Olympus Mons on Mars, and it’s roughly 2 and a half times as high as Mount Everest!
The following space fact just bewilders me…there are more stars in the universe than grains of sand on all the beaches on Earth! Just letting a mere handful of sand filter slowly through my fingers pondering this reality is perspective inducing!
One of my favourite facts about space is that it is SILENT! Even if there was an explosion you wouldn’t hear it as space does not have air particles for sound to vibrate, it is a vacuum.
An interesting fact that I learned about space is one million earths can fit inside the sun.
My favourite space fact is that Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune don’t have a solid surface!
My favourite fact about space is that a million Earths can fit into the sun!
An asteroid about the size of a car enters Earth’s atmosphere roughly once a year-but it burns up before it reaches us! The sunset on Mars appears blue.
The footprints on the moon will be there for 100 million years!
My favourite space fact is that the planet Mars is home to the tallest volcano in the solar system; Olympus Mons.
I love the fact that the dust cloud at the centre of the Milky Way contains particles of ethyl formate which is responsible for the smell of raspberries.
My favourite space fact is that 1 million Earths can fit into the Sun!
I love how starlight travels from the past so to speak. It is so cool to think that , since dubhe in the plough is 123 lightyears away, the light I am seeing is from long long before I was born.
I just love the fact that the nearest star is 40 000 000 000 000km away!
I find it interesting that space is completely silent and I often ask kids what they imagine hearing if they were in space to start a lesson.
It literally rains diamonds on Saturn! Uranus smells like rotten eggs due to all the hydrogen sulfide gas!
My favourite space fact is that footprints left on the moon won’t disappear as there is no wind on the moon !
I find the fact that space is completely silent very interesting.
Something I find really interesting about space is that some planets, like Jupiter , have no solid surface.
One fact I love that has always interested me is that astronauts’ footprints on the moon will stay for up to one hundred million years.
My favourite space fact is that you wouldn’t be able to walk on Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus or Neptune because they have no solid surface.
One of the facts I’ve learned from him is that the air on Venus is smelly and poisonous. It’s all I can remember off the top of my head as my son is really curious as to why it’s so smelly!
my favorite fact about space is that space is completely silent.
a fact I find interesting about space is that it is completely silent up there.
An interesting fact is that space is completely silent
A fact about Space that I find interesting is that one day on Venus is longer than one year on Earth.
I love space but my favourite thing is the position of our planet, just the right distance from the sun to not burn or freeze us but perfect!
I find the fact the sunset on Mars appears blue very interesting.
My favourite space fact is when measuring distance through lightyears astronomers are seeing what distant galaxies looked like millions/billions of years ago.
the fact that only 12 people have walked on the moon.
My favourite space fact is that one Venus day is longer than one year on Earth.
My favourite fact is that is rains diamonds on Neptune and Uranus (or is thought to at least). One of my boys taught me this.
My favourite space fact is that footprints on the moon don’t disappear as there is no wind there.
I find it so interesting that all the different planet have their own moons, some with hundreds and some with none at all.
My favourite fact about space is that a space suit cost over $12 million to produce
My favourite space fact is that you can fit 1 million Earths inside the sun.
My favourite science fact is that there are more stars in the universe than grains of sand on Earth. It is estimated that there are approximately 10,000 stars for each grain of sand on earth.
One of my favourite Space facts is that the gravity on the moon is weaker than Earth’s gravity because the moon is smaller than the Earth.
one fact I think is very interesting is that Space is so cold! Temperatures recorded at -270.45 celsius!
My favourite fact about space is that the moon is actually like a huge mirror reflecting light from the sun.
My favourite space fact is that the sun is 300,000 times bigger than the Earth. It’s amazing to think that the Earth is tiny in comparison to the universe as a whole.
My favourite fact about space is that it is silent.
My favourite fact about space is that they have successfully grown some foods like rice and cabbage there.
My favourite fact is that the universe is completely silent.
My favourite thing about space is that there is still so much unknown out there, there are so many possibilities for the future.
An interesting fact that I find interesting about space is that if you screamed in space, no one would hear you, because sound does not travel in space. Space is silent.
There are tyre tracks on the moon! due to the absence of an atmosphere. This, in turn, means there is no erosion of mankind’s tracks and prints, which still mark the lunar surface!Katie,
so much scope for fair testing in the way that you have described this.
If the children explore: How does the size of a rocket affect its flight distance?
then they need to be careful to use the same size milk bottle (I’m not sure a milk carton would work – I’d think they’d get squeezed in and not re-form their initial shape) and give the same amount of squeeze.
The mice are fun when launched straight up, but if you want to look at the horizontal distance you may need to set up a pile of books per group so that they can tilt their bottles to launch the rocket mouse sideways.
Size of a rocket might be easier to do with the balloon rockets, since there, the size is actually linked to the propulsion, since a longer balloon has more air in it.
Rohana,
Dancing Raisins (Irish version) is a great prompt for an inquiry. The children can be shown the phenomena and asked to try to explain what is going on in their own words. From that you can pull out a suitable starter question.
They might wonder
- does the 7 up work if it has been open for a day? (and think – not as many bubbles, so no).
- do other fizzy drinks work? (and think – yes, the bubbles are there)
- do other small objects dance – or is there something special about the raisins and try currants, dried apricots, peanuts etc.
Oisín,
since phases of the Moon appears in second level not primary, looking at the phenomena with a view to light and shadow is the best way to examine it.
From doing a similar activity with secondary students, there is a lot to it, and children need to take the time to explore. I would suggest starting with New Moon and Full Moon, and if you can, go outside with Moon balls (styrofoam on a stick) and let the actual Sun light up the Moon ball so that the children can directly connect the source of the light (the flashlight if you are inside) with the Sun.
Night Sky Network / Astronomy Society of the Pacific has a simple overview of this activity:
https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/docs/MoonPhases1.pdf
and the overview with video support is here: https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/download-view.cfm?Doc_ID=329
https://youtu.be/ai9VcMLBiQg?si=n-RYAcfKFix8jjs4
thanks Jane,
please do email cpd@teachnet.ie if you need help with the forum. Since you could post this much directly, there is probably some very odd little quirk that is affecting your ability to post.
I LOVE your 3 little pigs in Ireland plan. There’s so much to it, with great connections between Geography and Science and a super Design and Make from the children’s findings.
Katie,
encouraging the children to compare and contrast is a great way to start an inquiry process. It can serve as the prompt and the wondering of the initial engagement.
To fully incorporate inquiry science learning the children should go to asking testable questions based on their understanding to deepen and confirm their mental models.
So, if the children have noticed that the polar bears are white and the front of penguins are white, (and they might think this is because ‘white colouring for camouflage’) they might carry out an simple research activity to find images of animals in the arctic regions and classify them by colour.
https://www.activewild.com/arctic-animals-list/
They could predict that there will be more white animals than non-white animals. Then, they check the list and see if they are right.
Pamela.
Green Schools has an outline of Blubber Glove that might be useful here.
I’d consider enhancing this ‘task outline’ with the children’s own questions to bring it into an inquiry learning format as outline in the Framework for Inquiry.
They might look at the thickness of the blubber for warmth, or the material that the blubber is made of, or if smaller hands stay warmer for longer vs larger hands in blubber etc.
Laura,
could you check permissions please?
If someone gave you a link to this diagram they might also need to give you permission to view it.
I’ve circled where you can set the sharing on a sample coggle
Nice description here of how Newgrange was designed and how it’s not quite the same now. From RTE news 2011: RTÉ’s Richard Dowling speaks to Professor Tom Ray of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies inside the Passage Tomb at Newgrange.
Hi Eimear,
I think if you want the children to actually time something falling that you will need to give them objects with a lot of air resistance, otherwise, it’ll all be too fast.
Or, you could go to ramps, and have them at a very shallow angle and have objects slide down. If you have marbles that roll, or toys that roll, then a shallow shallow ramp may work.
Measuring time appears in the Maths curriculum for 3rd/4th class- would you introduce it much earlier? [compare, approximate and measure time using appropriate units of measurement.]
