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Hi Gemma. Thankfully you don’t need to know lots about space to use it to teach enquiry-based learning. If you don’t know something you can always turn it into a series of questions, as if you and the class were explorers who were trying to discover something for the first time – which is one of the exciting elements of enquiry-based learning – and when you’re exploring you don’t always know the answer. As long as your approach is well grounded, such as using the ESERO Framework, then the richness will be in the conversations and interactions and observations and conclusions.
Welcome Rachel. I’m sure you’ll learn lots and get some great ideas – there’s already a bunch of great ideas from other teachers, and the module material gives some great ideas on which to build.
Hi Emma, welcome to the forum. Thanks for the fun space fact about puffy-faced astronauts. You could explore if the class think the puffiness in space would be the same if the astronaut turned upside down. If there’s no gravity, does “up” and “down” mean the same thing?
Hi Valerie. Welcome and thanks for the fun space fact. How long would it take to make the same journey by car, or how long would light take? Great way to compare speeds and distances.
Hi Kate, welcome. That’s a very interactive approach and allows for both individual and group learning and contribution. What would happen if we were on Mars or Jupiter? How would that affect the time taken for light to reach us?
Hi Siobhan, welcome to the forum. Great space fact. Great opportunity to ask kids how they think sound travels and what is missing from space that sound needs to do so. Can be related to presence/absence of “something”, in this case air.
Thanks Marcia. “Learning through doing” and “building confidence” are two critically important aspects of enquiry-based approaches to problem solving. The latter is often overlooked and is so important. Confidence encourages questioning and testing and reduces the fear from not knowing everything.
This is a great open-ended activity Sinead. Especially ideas around what good (and not-so-good) moon shelters would look like. There’s lots of different options for designs that all have their strengths and weaknesses, which is often a part of the scientific method that gets overlooked – there isn’t always a single or perfect answer … and that’s ok!
Hi Marcia, that’s a new and excellent fun space fact. It’s crazy to think we see everything in space as it was some time ago, sometime a long long time ago such as the time when dinosaurs roamed the earth.
Hi Riona, welcome! I’m sure you’ll come up with a fun space fact by the end of the course. Does gravity on the Moon or in space affect the way blood flows in the body? Or on a planet larger than Earth, such as the giant planet Jupiter where the gravity is much stronger. Could there be world’s where aliens evolve to take account of gravity and what might they look like?
Thanks Irene. Lots of interaction potential and opportunities for discussions with this! What does the class think might happen on the Moon? Do things behave differently on the Moon. Is gravity the same everywhere?
Hi Irene, that’s a great space fact and as Amy says it gives a great perspective on how small our planet is by comparison to other objects in the solar system. Could be incorporated into Alyson’s classroom activity relating sizes and distances.
Nice idea Colin. Would there be an opportunity to add in a discussion about animal “fingerprints” I wonder, for example a dog’s or cat’s pawprint?
Hi Alyson, a great example of just how small the earth is in comparison to the sun. Makes one wonder why the sun looks so small if it’s so much bigger than the earth. A nice way to think about distances and apparent sizes of objects at different distances.