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Leanne,
I am not familiar with the story ‘Welcome to Alien School’ , but found this resource from Scholastic:
https://shop.scholastic.ie/resources/250184
and long list of suggested ideas from https://www.teachingideas.co.uk/books/welcome-to-alien-school/
I think with this as an engaging starter, the idea of stations over a week makes so much sense – there really are so many ways to take this theme and link to the curriculum, as you have described.
Mary,
your description fits very well into the inquiry framework from this module.
You have used a story as a strong prompt to engage the children’s interest, then allowed them time to explore how the paper airplanes work. Then, naturally, from this activity they will have questions, which can be stated as “starter questions”, predictions can be made and tested.
Inquiry in action! You’ve planned for a next step and have a lovely way to wrap it up with “What advice would we give to Humpty Dumpty”.
Grainne,
The Planet Song by Hopscotch Songs is at https://youtu.be/PCxjuDePdCI?si=0_0o0F_1M38raPpR
Good to have the lyrics:
Lyrics:
We all come from a place
The entire human race
Depends upon our planet
Racing through outer space
And there are eight planets
That orbit around the sun
Come on, we’ll introduce you
And name them one by one: ….and Venus is just great – so dramatic!
I am Venus, my atmosphere’s super hot
I spin backwards in a way the earth does not
I’m closest to the earth in distance and size
I have no moons, I hope you can sympathizeA next step could be to work on the spacing of the planets – they can be in order, but an image like this doesn’t capture the distance between them.
source: https://www.esa.int/Education/Teach_with_Rosetta/Our_solar_system_images
Grace,
you have described a gentle, yet informative series of activities for young children to experience and connect with “hot and cold weather”.
This connects to both SESE Science – Strand: Energy and forces>strand unit Heat
The child should be enabled to
• recognise the difference between hot and cold in terms of weather, food, water and the bodyand SESE Geography – Strand: Natural environments>Strand unit Weather
The child should be enabled to
• observe and discuss a variety of weather conditions using simple vocabulary
rainy days, sunny days, foggy daysand the next step of exploring the effect of warm water on an ice cube gives access to
Strand: Materials>Strand unit Materials and change
• explore the effects of heating and cooling on everyday objects, materials and substances
ice-cream, butter, chocolate, water.Hi Allie,
physical modelling of the Earth – Moon – Sun is a popular activity for us at the Observatory in Blackrock. We ask groups of three (or more) students (and sometimes teachers!) to create their Earth-Moon-Sun model, asking them to identify the features that they feel are important to show, and then asking them to articulate what they have demonstrated.
Important features that are often missed are that the Moon keeps the same side towards the Earth, and the Moon has to go around the Earth each month, while the Earth and Moon together are orbiting the Sun.
Even having the Earth spin at the correct rate for the Moon to orbit it poses difficulty!
Good luck with modelling other planets!
Ciara,
SFI, now part of Research Ireland, used to have a project on “Greenwave” which had a useful selection of weather instrument making.
Currently you can find this resource from ESERO, but it is designed for 3rd/4th class children. There is this make a rain gauge for younger children.
The Phoenix Mars lander had a wind speed indicator – a “telltale”. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/pia10756-how-phoenix-measures-wind-speed-and-direction/
Ciara,
falling objects in air is a lovely topic to explore via inquiry, since it is a complicated set of ideas that over the years have puzzled many scientists.
An early theory, attributed to Aristotle, is that objects fall at speeds that are proportional to their weight. You can see more about it here (for older children and for teachers). From this resource is the following section:
The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle proposed that the speeds at which objects fall were proportional to their weights. It is easy to see how he could have developed that misunderstanding—if you drop a feather and a hammer from the same height above the ground, the hammer will land before the feather. For thousands of years, people incorrectly believed that heavier objects fell faster than lighter ones. However, we now know that the difference in the speed of the objects is due to air resistance. Because of differences in the shape and size of the feather and the hammer, the upward force resulting from air resistance varies, and the objects fall toward the ground at different rates.
Leanne,
I like how you have taken a design and make approach to this science activity. It is a natural way for young children to explore the world. They will access the curriculum skills in design and make as they explore, plan, make and evaluate, and create a memorable lava lamp.
We have done a similar activity in the past at Blackrock Castle, using baby oil as the liquid oil since it is colourless. Groups could try different types of oil to see if the type of oil makes a difference. Try to avoid green food colouring, it seems to react with the bubbling chemical and turns a rather dull brown quite quickly.
Hi Clodagh,
as described in the module, children have “science capital” from their early encounters with science, and most will be aware of images of the Earth in space from story books and tv shows.
However, there are variations in science capital and it is a difficult metric to measure, as described in this article from the UK: https://learning.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/blog/including-young-children-with-low-medium-science-capital-in-learning-research/
and this further article that defines science capital: https://learning.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/blog/what-is-science-capital/
with a useful summary in this short animated video:
https://youtu.be/Sp8N_B0Bn50?si=VrCawFIego-nw0SD
Rachel,
this can be a lovely activity of drawing early in a unit on space and aliens, and if you retain the drawings, they can return to them at the end of the unit and compare how much more they understand at the end. This is similar to the assessment in the EU-UNAWE, Universe in Your Classroom that we mention in module 4.
Orla,
Chris Hadfield’s videos might be perfect for your astronaut role play on day 1.
His “Chris’ Kitchen” outlines the difficulty with crumbs in space and explains why the ISS occupants eat tortillas instead.
The links from the Canadian Space Agency offer additional images and infographics: https://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/multimedia/search/video/17836
Have you a particular Brian Cox video you prefer? This one is of a talk to primary children, but is quite long:
Elaine,
there is the opportunity here to discuss how some stars are brighter, some are dimmer. This is linked to both how far away they are from us and how naturally bright they really are.
Would you offer different size and different point star shapes? Some cookie cutters come in different points, but 5 pointed stars seem to be the most common.
This could make an extra layer to the large Plough asterism that the children create, how would they represent the slightly brighter stars that make it up?
Brenda,
have you a particular video you have in mind? A search for that title brings up a few options:
Ranger Rick: https://youtu.be/6IDeyAIjbbo?si=5VDTDNqySlEosblo
Mystery Science: How do Polar animals survive the cold?: https://youtu.be/6suM2QMwjUE?si=bqAz9vj08DfTl3Bg
this has a nice connection to humans and has ‘pause the video and discuss’ to promote discussion amongst the children.
Orlagh,
thanks for sharing your specific experience with inquiry, where a scenario has been used as the prompt and children have had the opportunity to link their everyday understanding (that paper towels soak up water, so must be waterproof) to a prediction for an investigation. As you have commented, the discovery of the results helps children to discover new science.
Matthew,
which rocket would you think to use with your 1st class children? We have found that foam rockets stretch their fine motor skills, so making them is possible, but you may need additional older people with stronger hands to do some of the cutting.
There will also be at least two children per class who will cut three or five cuts in the end of the foam instead of four.
This could be a good opportunity to buddy up with an older class who can assist (and make their own rockets).
The simpler pop rockets with the fizzy tablet are more accessible and here the children may spend more time creating and decorating their rocket, knowing that the launch is relatively straight forward if you have a supply of new rocket bodies to be used.