Objectives
The students at the third grade level are being introduced to the concept of the Solar System. I have to remember that when these students were in second grade, they were not introduced to any of the ideas or concepts that are being taught now. This means that I have to be understanding, more so than ever, when students ask probing and clarification questions. The objectives that are going to be addressed during this Unit are many and cover a broad range of topics. A typical Curriculum Unit taught in the area of Science would take about three to four weeks. My plan for this Unit is to each it within those same confines. However, I realize that if my students need more time to grasp the concepts, I will extend the time length. My individual lessons will last anywhere from about 45 minutes to one hour per day. During that time block, each lesson will begin with a review of the past days objectives and end with a preview as to what will come the next day. I want my students to get excited about the information they are learning. In order to facilitate this, I will preview the next lesson either though visual stimulation or literature.
By the end of the Unit, I would like my students to be able to identify objects that are located in space and compare them with the objects that are within the Earth's atmosphere. This can include but not limited to the birds, planes, stars and the Moon as well as other planets in our Solar System. The students will be involved in investigating the enormous distances that separate the objects in space as well as observing that an object's size appears to change when its distance is altered. The closer an object is to a person's face, the larger it is going to look, whereas when an object is very far away from the face, it appears very small. It is important to note here, that this is true for an object that does not change in size or shape naturally itself. The Sun is a bright star in our Solar System that illuminates light 360 degrees around and it is Earth's principal light and heat source.
In order for the students to grasp the concept of time, they need to understand that the Earth rotates counter clockwise (as viewed from the Northern Hemisphere) and revolves around the Sun in the same direction. Rotation is what produces day and night every 24 hours, whereas the Earth's revolution around the Sun happens in a year's time. The Sun's position in the sky changes throughout the day. In order for the students to see this, they will create a sundial to track the positions of the shadows that are made because of the Sun's movement. Just as they will track the Sun's position, they will also observe the different phases of the Moon every night for approximately thirty days. Since the Moon has no light source of its own, the students will learn that the light comes from the reflection of the Sun on the Moon's surface. At the conclusion of the Unit, one option for student assessment will be for them to make a physical model duplicating the Moon, Sun and Earth's positions in relation to space. As an extension activity, the students will also identify the environmental differences between Earth and space, identify the needs for human exploration in space, and view equipment developed and manufactured by Delaware scientists and businesses for space exploration.
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