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Eve – would you have the children connect what they think of the other planet to the design of the alien they make? I know there is a huge variety of lifeforms on this planet – so pretty much any alien will ‘work,’ but asking the children to explain why the alien has the features it does can be both imaginative and scientifically based.
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.
Michael – I came across this simple flow chart for “what is that light in the sky” shared on APOD
In the resource, there is the suggestion of using flints — are they easy to get? I think rubbing hands together to show friction might be safer!
Stellarium (which we meet in the online tools) has a meteor shower function that nicely adds in shooting stars to the night sky.
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 🙂
Ciara – I appreciate that space week does come early in the year – and you are quite right on the cutting skills of some infants! I’ve found that with a good pair of adult scissors, you can print one template and cut out about 4 sets of rocket mice at a time. The curling them into a cone and applying tape also require some fine motor skills – so you might want to buddy-up with an older class to have some extra helpers.
Allowing the children to freely explore and play with the mice is essential – and then you can ask questions to probe what the children think is happening and what they think might happen if they change some aspect of how they launch — ie… do you think it will go as high if you push very slowly? what if you push much harder?…
Ailis, I like the emphasis on what the alien might eat and drink, and where it lives. I have found sometimes it can be a bit overwhelming to try to design an alien for a particular planet and trying to match the body to the environment does take a high level of science thinking.
This allows an imaginative approach, with a bit of science coming in as well.
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.
Patrice – if you wanted to make permanent aliens, then one of the air drying clay products might be perfect. I’ve used model magic and ‘jumping clay’ (see videos at: https://www.youtube.com/c/JumpingclayCoUk/videos). This can add colour mixing into the modelling.
Eimear, I like the way the science has been brought into this activity by linking the features of the planet to the aliens. It’s an imaginative activity, but rooted in high level science thinking.
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.