Culminating Unit Project
This unit and the tasks associated with it will take place gradually over the course of the first marking period or nine weeks, of the school year. Students will learn about the introductory information on the universe, galaxy and solar system as context, as well as the stars and will complete interactive notes and stations about these aspects of space. Once this context has been set, and students begin to learn about the Stars themselves, students will create a Timeline of a Star in the class activities. This activity will be ongoing as students will complete one piece of the timeline per day as the warm-up, as we being to learn about the characteristics of a star. Students will use the NASA Timeline resource for stars to help with this timeline as part of our daily anticipatory set. For the main part of each lesson after about star classification, students will take interactive notes about a new characteristic of a star, complete stations based on this characteristic, and will determine in their graphic organizer how this will apply to the star they are creating. Students will use the same graphic organizer and notebook for this each day and will name the star they are creating on the graphic organizer. Once students have a base of knowledge about stellar characteristics, they will begin their final project, by constructing a star model using plastic orbs, colored bulbs, circuits and cardboard provided by the teacher. Students will create the star model using the classroom makerspace with help from the Teacher. Students will also complete a final Classification Chart that will go with the star model they have built. This will all be accompanied by a backdrop of cardboard and galaxy paper, as well as a one-page writing assignment about the story of their star they have created. The STEM projects will be presented as a whole class. This project will give students an opportunity to apply their knowledge of stars to their own creation.
Comments: