Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Great song choice there Sarah – I just played it out loud and got a “what on earth is that?” from the other side of the room!
Research tasks, like finding out about planets, can be inquiry based, particularly if the children choose a question that they would like to answer. Astronomy has always been an observational science. We can look at distant objects, and in the last 50 years have sent spacecraft to have closer looks at some of the nearer objects in our solar system, but we can’t ‘do an experiment’ on a planet! Instead, we ask questions and look for patterns in what we see and try to make predictions about what else we might see.
Hi Ciara – welcome to the course. Please do check the forums – they are rich with shared experiences of the Junior end of the school.
Magnets is a great inquiry topic – since simple ideas can easily be tested — ie “I think all metals are magnetic” – and if the children have a range of metals to test, they very quickly find out that only some metals are attracted to magnets! The trick is then getting them to work that into their own science thinking. I once did this activity with an informal group, and one of the leaders (an adult!) told the children that all metals were magnetic, and then made up some very odd explanation as to why the tinfoil didn’t stick to the magnets.
Teresa – Please can I join you when you do this!! Seriously – we do live links into classrooms during Space Week (the ESERO Space Goes to School programme – this will be updated by end of August with the plans for Space Week) and I’m sure either I or one of my colleagues could Zoom into you to be interviewed about the work we do observing….
Bernadette – now you’ve got me wondering — does the size of the opening of the bottle make a difference to the force the air exerts on the rocket mouse? I’m thinking of water hoses, and how if you narrow the opening you can get a squirt of water that will go across the garden and water the plants that otherwise you wouldn’t reach… I wonder if it is the same for air… and how could we find out?
Patrice, thanks for sharing that video link – I had forgotten that one! I like how it shows the relative sizes of the planets -(ish). I have done an activity on modelling all the planets to scale – but it uses a lot of playdoh! There is a version here for older children, as well as an alternative for the Earth/Moon and for Earth/Moon and Mars.
Marcella – I like the way you have considered how your school context can enrich the learning around this topic. I’d be asking the parents to come in and show pictures of housing typical of where they come from – Canadian houses are usually designed with lots of insulation and roofs that snow can slide off easily!
Marcella – and what if the children were asked — “can you make two constellations that still look the same when viewed above / below ?” I could see that being a real maths stretch for a confident child.
Marcella – your older children might be able to explore how the model of the Moon’s surface is or is not like the actual Moon surface. The nature of the Moon’s surface (the layer called the regolith) was only really sorted once un-manned space craft landed on it.
If you read the transcript of Neil Armstrong’s first moonwalk – he talks about the surface a lot. And this image shows it: https://airandspace.si.edu/multimedia-gallery/as11-40-5918hr-lunar-module-footpad
Nora – I love the way you have brought space across so much of the curriculum, and the music section brought to mind a video I saw (which I can’t find now!) of making a rocket/alien song in a group Each line has a different beat and one section of the group will say/sing each line in the final round.
It’s something like:
rock rock, we’re on a rocket
5…, 4…, 3…, 2, 1 (slow for 5, 4 and 3, then faster for 2, 1)
there’s aliens in space, oh yeah, (high pitch silly voice)and another line I cannot remember.
If anyone else has come across this – please share.
Karen – could you more explicitly explore the link between distance from the Sun and temperature of the planet? This could be linked to the Goldilocks zone / habitable zone. There is also a connection to the greenhouse effect – since Venus, with its thick thick clouds has the highest temperature surface in the solar system, even though Mercury is closer to the Sun. You could explore that with : Earth Under the Lid, an activity for 8-10 year olds.
Karen – there are some great pictures and posters of the planets, I like the simple ones from ESA: https://www.esa.int/kids/en/Multimedia/Downloads/Paxi_Posters.
There is a great opportunity to explore colours, why things are different colours etc – which the children might suggest or wonder.
Hi Emma – could you check settings and enable sharing of your mind map?
If someone gave you a link to this diagram they might also need to give you permission to view it.
Teresa – I have used LED lamps that I got from Halfords — and tried using desk lamps that could be plugged in, but small flashlight styles really are better – and sunlight is the best!
Great set of activities Deirdre, linked to a theme. I like how the trigger of astronauts can lead to “how did they get there?” –> rockets.
Karen Nyberg is great – is this the video you show? https://youtu.be/uIjNfZbUYu8
Have you also seen the crews competing in Space Olympics?