Activity 3: Planet Hollywood
Purpose:
Students have a difficult time making a conceptual picture of distance and size. Throughout my unit I discuss the size of a planet and its distance from the Sun or from Earth. This activity will help the students understand the vastness of space and the distance and size of a planet by means for a concrete hands-on activity. Students should also observe the elements of thrust, angle and launching needed to have a successful flight into space. Before participating in the playground activity, students should practice launching a Shuttle on http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/interactives/gravity.html . This will allows the students with not only a fun game but also an explanation of why their Shuttle might not reach the designated target.
Objectives:
Students will utilize their notes on Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars along with teacher information on Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Pluto (dwarf planet) to form a visual conception of our Solar System.
Material:
Large Beach ball, basketball, soccer ball, softball, grapefruit, golf ball, walnut, acorn, marble, kidney bean, tape measure, and a copy of Index 3.
Procedure:
Explain to the students that a model of the Solar System is going to be made in the playground area or baseball field so that can understand the size and distance of the planets. Make sure to explain the "shrunk down" process. Have the students pretend the Solar System just shrank down and landed on the baseball field. Using a tape measurer, the teacher and the students will place the objects above using the distance chart below.
Distance and Size:
Sun - Home Plate - *explain size relationship
Mercury - 1 yard (from Sun) Marble
Venus - 2 yards - Walnut
Earth - 3 yards - Golf ball
Mars - 5 yards - Acorn
Jupiter - 16 yards - Basketball
Saturn - 30 yards - Soccer ball
Uranus - 60 yards - Softball
Neptune - 100 yards - Grapefruit
*Pluto - 125 yards - Kidney bean (dwarf planet)
Evaluation:
Prior to telling the students which object coincides with the planet, let them hypothesize and have them record their conclusions. Once the project is over they can compare their hypothesis and the actual representation in a classroom discussion later.
Comments: