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Nora – You have realistically planned for how long this will take – and I like how you have added a final – “which is the best rocket?“
cute story – https://youtu.be/ko306WcHRns, but oh, my, the science in it!!
Gravity boots are not a thing. They don’t “grip the ground and stop you floating off.” There is gravity in space, micro-gravity is what you experience when your space craft is moving at the same speed as you — much like you jumping up in a lift just as it starts to go down — you fall down with the lift and it feels as if you are weightless – but gravity is still pulling you down.
Shirley – film canisters are so hard to find, I have used fizzy vitamin tablet containers, and recently saw a video suggested by one of the teachers – to use a plastic water bottle, with a cork, and to get the cork to fit, wrap it in electrical tape to make a snug fit.
There is also the option of using the drink bottles with the pushable-spout-thing (not sure what it is called) as in this video: https://youtu.be/z4645B03AC4
Edit: ok – they call it a sports cap: https://www.rigb.org/learning/activities-and-resources/fizzy-bottle-rockets
Shirley – the role play sounds good fun, and would be great for imagination based in a bit of science thinking. I’ve had children design aliens, then work together to figure out how all those aliens might live together on a planet. Do all the aliens live on the ground? can some fly? can some swim? etc. There is usually a child whose alien might not have come out quite like they intended, so we make that a chameleon alien — it looks one way to fool the others, but it can change to look like something completely different.
Shirley – I have a weakness for asking children to draw where they see the Sun rising and setting from their own homes … I did it as a student in middle school in Canada (aged about 10), and still remember how cool it seemed to me that the Sun rose in a slightly different place each day, and by the end of the week, at a clearly different part of the horizon! This was in the 1970s and I still have a photo I took of the Sun setting behind my house.
Leanne – so much scope for science there. Different children might design coats for different seasons — a winter coat needs to keep you warm, a summer coat needs to keep you out of the sun…
Paula – I love the link to water safety! I did an activity with an informal group, play acting a scene at the beach, and asking the children to choose an object that they could use to help someone who was in difficulty in the water. I had a range of things that you would normally take to the beach – and they had to choose one, show how they would use it safely and then explain why it was a good choice.
The RNLI have superb resources at : https://rnli.org/youth-education/education-resources/lower-primary
Sandra – I like bringing google earth into it – I wonder if you could find construction sites on it? I had a quick look at Carrigaline, Cork (always under construction!) and the difference across 20 years is phenomenal.
Marcella, that seems to be a perfect example of the inquiry approach to science — offer an interesting scenario that they have to think a bit about, and then let them explore their thinking with further practical activities.
Sandra — one mis-conception that older children have (this is from my time teaching 12 year olds), is that you have to boil water to have it evaporate. Could you ask the children: have you ever seen clothing drying outside on the line? What happened to the water that was in the clothing? Did the clothing ever get hot enough to be ‘boiling’?
Children could then think through what is happening and ask their own questions about where the water went. Ie – I think the water went into the air, but it happens faster if the wet clothing is outside on a warmer day –> then test this.
Welcome Paula, I hope you will find the space themed activities suitable for your infants. I do recommend taking the time to look over the forum posts – there are a lot of ideas and expansions of activities being shared.
Nora – great set of activities that have grown from a simple initial idea. Great example of the “Take the Next Step” from the Inquiry framework.
Lots of us followed him on social media last time he was aboard the ISS – this is typical: https://twitter.com/cmdr_hadfield/status/303602636899352576
and he brought out a book of his photographs: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/247235/you-are-here-by-chris-hadfield/9780345814944
Leanne – one of the capacities of Stellarium (which we meet in module 4) is that it can show different culture’s constellations. You can also find different ideas of constellations in Universe in a Box (from module 2).
Nessa, I really like how you have connected to underwater life. There are moons in the solar system that are considered good places to look for life, because they likely have liquid water oceans under their icy surfaces.
