The Solar System!

Fertile Question Supporting Questions What is the solar system and how have Australians been involved in space exploration? What are the planets made from? How far away are the planets from each other? What is the solar system made up of? Why is Pluto no longer a planet? How have Australians helped in the exploration of space? What scientists have assisted in exploration? What have they discovered? How have technologies helped to aid space exploration? How long do the planets take to orbit the sun? How can we recognise the differences between the planets?
Science Understandings: The Earth is part of a system of planets orbiting around a star (the sun) (ACSSU078.Elaborations: 1. identifying the planets of the solar system and comparing how long they take to orbit the sun. 2. modelling the relative size of and distance between Earth, other planets in the solar system and the sun . 3. recognising the role of the sun as a provider of energy for the Earth. Science Inquiry Skills: Construct and use a range of representations, including tables and graphs, to represent and describe observations, patterns or relationships in data using digital technologies as appropriate (ACSIS090. Elaborations: 1. constructing tables, graphs and other graphic organisers to show trends in data. 2. identifying patterns in data and developing explanations that fit these patterns . 3. identifying similarities and differences in qualitative data in order to group items or materials Communicate ideas, explanations and processes in a variety of ways, including multi-modal texts (ACSIS093. Elaborations: 1. discussing how models represent scientific ideas and constructing physical models to demonstrate an aspect of scientific understanding. 2. constructing multi-modal texts to communicate science ideas. 3. using labelled diagrams, including cross-sectional representations, to communicate ideas Science as a Human Endeavour : Science involves testing predictions by gathering data and using evidence to develop explanations of events and phenomena (ACSHE081. Elaborations:. 1. researching how scientists were able to develop ideas about the solar system through the gathering of evidence through space exploration Important contributions to the advancement of science have been made by people from a range of cultures (ACSHE082. Elaborations: 1. researching the different types of scientists who work in teams in space exploration, and Australias involvement in space exploration Scientific understandings, discoveries and inventions are used to solve problems that directly affect peoples lives (ACSHE083. Elaborations: 1. describing how technologies developed to aid space exploration have changed the way people live, work and communicate

Relevant Content Descriptions

Understandings

Assessment

The Solar System is made up of many parts not only the planets. Each planet spins at a different rate and moves around the Sun at a different speed. Each planet is a different distance from the sun and is made up of different gases/content etc. The further the planet is from the Sun the difference in temperature of the planet. Scientists are continually finding new technologies to investigate our Solar System, which has changed dramatically over the years. Throughout the unit the students will be creating a weebly (web page) which will provide information about a chosen planet and human involvement in space exploration. Students will create an information report, which they will put into the weebly. They will also have a page included, which will be in information report genre, that will answer the following questions: Who is a scientist that has developed ideas about the Solar System? What have they found? What has been Australias involvement in space exploration?

Unit Resources

How have technologies developed for space exploration changed the way people today live, work and communicate? Wall wisher (interactive paper where students share ideas and all of the other students can view it online) Weebly. You Tube Blow up planets from the library. Information books about the planets and posters from the library. Websites in the sorting out phase of the unit. Food resources to discuss relative size of planets.

Tuning In Sessions 1 - 2 Students are to be involved in brainstorming the question What is the Solar System? How does the Solar System work? They are to use wall wisher to answer questions so that all other students can see and discuss. Students are to watch a You Tube clip about the explanation of the solar system and take notes on the clip. Looking for the answers to the following questions. What is the solar system made up of? How do the planets move? What is the sun made from etc. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5bVZTpVxy4 Watch You Tube clip which focuses on each of the planets in the solar system. Students are to identify the different planets in the solar system by name and identifying features eg. Mars is the red planet, Saturn has the largest rings. Share findings with class on blog. (Use student portal blog spot). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgNdN9ugs3o Finding Out Sorting Out Session 3/4 Use kidsastronomy.com to find the DISTANCES FROM THE SUN AND BETWEEN THE OTHER distances between the planets and PLANETS the sun. Investigate how long each planet takes to orbit the sun and use a table to record results. Decide as a class the scale you will use to describe the distances of each planet from the sun. Eg. If Mercury is 57 million kilometers from the sun: 1 footstep will equal 1 million kilometers. Demonstrate this using the children on the oval and get them to step out the position of the planets in our solar system. Students are to then represent this in their books Example: 1 mm = 10 million kms. Session 5/6 COMPARING PLANETS ORBITING THE SUN Use kids astronomy to find out how long planets take to orbit the sun and record in a table. Use WORD to create a graph, which shows the data for how long planets take to orbit the sun. Teacher models how to write questions before students create questions for each other, which compare how long planets take to orbit the sun. EG. How much longer does in take Neptune to orbit the sun than Earth? Session 7/8 MODELLING THE RELATIVE SIZE OF THE PLANETS Teacher Preparation: Collect food items, substituting as needed and arrange in random order on table. Copy the

http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/docs/modelingsolarsystem_2007

page of diameters, hiding the food identification. Classroom Procedure: 1) Look at the list of diameters of planets and other planetary bodies, notice the size relationships. Which is the largest planet? Which is the smallest? Are some planets close to the same size? 2) Look at the food items provided and decide which ones will represent various planets using the list of diameters as needed. 3) Arrange the food items in a line so they are in order from Mercury to Pluto, making sure the appropriate size scale is followed. The Sun is too big to represent at this scale unless you have a very large pumpkin! Questions 1) What is the difference between the planets in the inner solar system (Mercury to Mars) and the planets beyond Mars. Students can then draw this diagram in their books and label it accordingly. Session 9/10 FAMOUS SCIENTISTS Split the class into 6 groups. Give each group a famous scientist. Students are to research their scientist and find interesting facts about them. Use questions to assist, for example: what did they study and what were some of their findings/accomplishments etc. Share the findings of groups on blog so that other students can use the info to understand about the different scientists. Session 11/12 AUSTRALIAS CONTRIBUTIONS TO SPACE EXPLORATION Watch video on the right to introduce space exploration through the years. Discuss how much space exploration has changed and look at and discuss the timeline on the website. Then look at the second link to investigate Australias contributions to space exploration. Students work in teams of 2 or 3 and see what facts they can find. After 15/20 mins of investigating students can share what the learnt about Australias space contributions. Session 13/14/15 WEEBLY Introduce what a weebly is and discuss the assessment task. Students are to use the following sessions to work on the weebly and investigate for the task.

0112.pdf Planet Diameter K km Sun 1390 Mercury 4.88 Venus 12.1 Earth 12.76 Moon 3.48 Mars 6.79 Jupiter 143.0 Saturn 120.5 Uranus 51.1 Neptune 49.5

Food items listed below or substitute others of the same size (Lettuce, cantaloupe, lemon, lime, sm. radish, mac nut, sm grape, pea, sunflower seed)

WEBSITES OR INFORMATION SHEETS FOR THIS TO BE COMPLETED 2 x Galileo Galilei 2 x Omar Khayyam 2 x Nicolaus Copernicus

Watch Space Race video from this site and use for timeline: http://science.nationalgeographic. com.au/science/space/spaceexploration-timeline/
http://www.skwirk.com.au/p-c_s4_u-354_t-853_c-3157/SA/5/Austr

Processing Throughout the unit the students will be creating a weebly (web page), which will provide information about a chosen planet and human involvement in space exploration. Students will create an information report, which they will put into the weebly. They will also have a page included, which will be in information report genre, that will answer the following questions: Who is a scientist that has developed ideas about the Solar System? What have they found?

What has been Australias involvement in space exploration? How have technologies developed for space exploration changed the way people today live, work and communicate? Taking Action Now that we have learnt about this information, what can we do to take action. E.g. share with peers in a oral presentation format. Invite parents in to show them the work which they have completed.