Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Thanks for sharing the video link, it reminds me of the old favourite “Powers of Ten” – which is aimed at adults/ older children:
Making constellations with paper cups works really nicely – and children can explore how sharp the “stars” appear depending on the size of the hole they stab. I tend to give them quite narrow diameter wooden skewers rather than pencils.
Nessa – adding in aeroplanes is very interesting, since one of the definitions of space is that it is where aircraft cannot use aerodynamics to get lift. This referred to as the Kármán line, and is 100km up.
This also means that rockets don’t need to be particularly aerodynamic – since those forces will only act on the rocket as they move through the air – once they are in space, there is almost no air (ish – there is still a little bit – which does slow the ISS a bit).
Nessa – would you also include altitude and how it affects temperature? You can access the weather report for Mount Kilimanjaro, and see that this week, it is due to snow and be -7!
I include this mountain, since it is very close to the Equator, yet the altitude makes it very cold.
Nell – you have nicely included maths, PE and music. I know that the science of planets is tricky for young children, but you could include the different colours of the planets, and close observation of photographs (using the See, Think, Wonder approach to thinking skills) to help draw out what they notice and what they think might be different from one planet to another.
Aoife: here is the Moon seen this morning: https://photos.app.goo.gl/vkZHS7rAnuwxCF9Q7
and it will be last quarter around September 17 and again October 17, 2022.
The appearance of the Moon and the different shapes / craters / mare are all interesting to explore, and making a textured surface for the children to see how impacts make craters really lets them test out their understanding.
Do check different types of sand — if you use very fine playground sand, it is often too silky and runs rather than makes craters. You could try some coarser builder’s sand, although when I buy it, it is often very wet and needs to be dried out before use.
Karen – the Planets activity was designed as the first in the 80-strong activity set from ESERO – and is ideally suited for Junior Infants. I agree that having the children physically demonstrate the motion of the planets with the hula hoops can help to bring the solar system to life.
If you wanted to stretch out the activity (literally!) you could ask children to move apart to demonstrate the spacing of the planets in the solar system – this spaceweek.ie resource has the distances.
Hi Claire, can you please check the access to your mind map – it is currently private to yourself.
Gravity and magnets are often compared – they both are attractive forces, although magnetism can also repel.
Be careful with the discussion about “I would start the lesson with a discussion about space and gravity. What happens to astronauts in space?” since a common misconception is that there is no gravity in space – whereas the more correct terminology is to describe the orbiting environment of astronauts on the ISS as being weightless or microgravity. As they orbit, they are falling towards to the Earth at the same speed as the space station – so they don’t feel the space station pushing on them.
Magnetic fields related to the Earth is great to explore, particularly if you can make a compass.
Karen, could you include some science thinking – and ask the children to relate senses to body features? It’s a stretch – but could access:
become aware of the role of each sense in detecting information about the environment and in protecting the body
from Science>Living Things> Myself for 1st/2nd class.
Hi Nell – welcome to the course. There are plenty of 1st class teachers here, so please do check over the forum posts for lots of ideas and suggestions for books/videos and great activities.
I tidied up the formatting in your post – to avoid carrying it over if you have written your post in another document, right click in the forum response box and then choose paste as text.
Your inquiry activity touches on a few areas of science — the idea of light travelling in a straight line, of objects that are opaque vs translucent vs transparent, as well as moving the Sun/light source.
You might want to spread these out over a few lessons and let the children really play with the torches and shadows.
Eilis – you have a lot of concepts in this activity set – how much time do you think this will take? Will you split it across a few weeks?
I have done the modelling the earth-moon-sun with adults and second level students – and it is quite complicated. How would you simplify it for young children, particularly with respect to axial tilt?
I do like the inclusion of the polar day and night – I think that is essential for children to appreciate how the Earth actually does move around the Sun.
Aoife – the rocket mouse might be a bit simple for 2nd class- the balloon rockets might give them greater scope for explaining the forces and the gas escaping out the end of the balloon being like the gas that launches a real rocket.
It could also link to Air and Water Power or Moving Air from primaryscience.ie
Keith – how will you draw out the children’s thinking about the sun and shadows? Would you ask the children to try to model the path of the Sun as they make shadows in the classroom?
Keith – the three little pigs have a purpose to their houses– to make a house strong enough that it won’t blow down. Would you include different materials and why they might be good/bad for making a house?
This could be explored with the sand — is sand a good material to make a shape that won’t get blown away?
