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Hi Elaine, welcome! Thanks for the fun fact. We have evolved to deal with gravity and when it’s gone our bodies change. Your example of getting taller is a great one. With the Moon being one sixth the gravity of earth, and Mars about half, you could ask the kids if they think aliens on Mars and the Moon (if they existed, and no evidence they do, at least not on these two planets) would be taller or shorter in general than people on Earth. What would happen to their spine of they came to Earth where the gravity is greater?
There’s a huge amount of very valuable ideas being shared here. Maybe one thing to reflect on more is the school self evaluation in relation to science skills which is one of the outcomes for reflection within this module. It’s aim is to encourage thinking at the level of the whole school, or year, rather than treating classes and activities as standalone.
It’s also useful to reflect on how science skills connect to skillsets not traditionally associated with science (creative arts, humanities, social sciences). In the word of astronomer Carl Sagan – “Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge”. I think that sums up the way to think of science skillsets. They’re not about knowing scientific facts. They’re keys to unlock new and better understanding in all domains, to help us meet the many challenges we fact as a species on a small planet, to work towards a healthier and happier and more equitable society for all.
Hi Ellen, thanks for that reflection. I think there’s always pressures for us to focus on “today’s activity” and perhaps lose sight of how we integrate one-off activities into a more coherent approach, ideally at a school level. I like the observation from Siobhan Rooney about making sure we don’t get so overwhelmed by the potential breadth of the inquiry-based process that we do none of the fundamentals well. It’s a tricky one and how that is implemented in practise may differ from one school to another. But important to keep in mind.
Thanks Caoimhe for this very insightful and important commentary. As we all know, evidence shows the importance of inculcating an inquiry-based way of thinking from as early an age as possible. So linking the Junior and Senior activities in the school in a joined-up way will surely be hugely beneficial. Your approach to effectively perform a “gap analysis” where you identify what’s going on in the school, what items are being addressed and what are not, will give you that evidence-based data to enable the school to plan coherent next steps.
Hi Noreen, weather is indeed something that the kids are familiar with and indeed our changing weather is probably a conversation that happens much more frequently now than it did when I was young. You could expand your lesson to ask about weather on other planets? There’s a nice resource from NASA in this instance which outlines the weather on different planets https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/weather-on-other-planets/en/
Hi Sinead, your lesson plan got me thinking about how the kids would build a village on the Moon, what it would contain and how would they name the streets. Without an atmosphere everything activities would either take place indoors or whilst wearing space suits (which we might call Moon Coats perhaps, based on earlier discussions on the forum?) On the Moon, where the gravity is one sixth, you would find it easier to kick a ball or a sliothar much farther (at least six times farther!) and the kids could explore and imagine what it would be like to play their favourite sport. This applies to all activities – imagine a pole vaulter going six times higher than on Earth! It would need a very long pole vault!
Could you add in an element to the lesson in which you ask whether the same requirements are present all year round on Earth. Or do the seasons mean that sometimes “cold” means “very cold” (in winter) and sometimes means “not so cold” or even “warm” (in summer). This connects the seasons with the behaviour of animals and opens the door to an inquiry-based lessons on why Earth has seasons in the first place.
We do indeed take our coats for granted! What types of coats do we need when we explore beyond the earth? We might call them “space suits”, but they also act as coats. What extra things do our space suit coats need (e.g., a supply of air to breath). This gets the kids thinking about the relationship between environment and the coats we wear, and that environment is extreme in a space context.
Nice! How would that walk be on the Moon or Mars? What environmental factors do we take for granted when we walk on the earth – heat, air, solid ground, etc.
Lots of great inquiry-based opportunities and thanks for sharing. Could you extend to habitats beyond Earth? Could any animals that live on earth live on another planet in the solar system. Or is earth unique. If unique, what makes it so? This type of inquiry reinforces how both the earth and the life on it live in symbiosis, not separately. By comparing with other planets we get to see just why it’s so important to protect the ecosystem that the earth and the life on it has established over billions of years since the very first life appeared.
Hi Evelyn, that’s a very nice usage of stellarium. While stellarium defaults to Greek constellations, it can also show others (e.g., native north american indians) and this opens up possibilities to discuss cultures from across the globe, to recognise they have different myths and histories, etc.
And maybe extend the lesson to the kids building somewhere to live on the Moon or Mars or Venus ….. or even Mercury. Would their houses look different and what environmental factors are they protecting the inhabitants from (heat. cold, wind, rain, frost, snow, etc.) and which might differ from planet to planet.
Thanks Valerie. As humans are animals (mammals) we are subject to many of the same issues that face other animals in terms of the need to protect ourselves from the cold. As we return to the Moon, where the nightime temperatures plummet to minus 150 celsius, you could extend the activity perhaps to ask how would we survive the cold on the Moon (or Mars, which is a balmy minus 50 most of the time).