Lesson Plan of Natural Satellites (Asteroids, Comets, Meteors)

General Science Grade VI

Students’ Learning Out comin

 Compare the Physical Characteristics of Comets, Asteroids & Meteors.

 Describe different kinds of meteors.
 Inquire into the sight of Halley Comet, describe what would they feel if.

Information for Teacher

Comets:
 Comets are the icy bodies exist in huge clouds.

 They are composed of rock, dust a form of, ice and frozen gases.
 In space they look like a bright ball with a long tail.
 Occasionally, they can crash into planets and moons and make craters.
Asteroids:
 Asteroids are the rocky objects.
 There are thousands of asteroids between Mars & Jupiter.
 They are very small in size.
 The word of Asteroid means “like stars”

Meteorites:
 These are probably fragments of asteroids.
 These are the portion of a meteoroid or asteroid that survives its passage through the atmosphere.


Meteors:
 A meteor is a meteoroid that enters the Earth’s atmosphere making visible track.
 Meteors typically occur in the mesosphere and their range are from 75 km to 100 km.
 Millions of meteors enter in the Earth’s atmosphere every day.

Concept Map
 Material / Resources
Charts, use as model to give idea of meteoroids, pictures of comet 3-d model for the concept of space

Worm up activity
 Show the chart of Asteroids, Comets and Meteors and ask some questions related to the pictures given in
the chart.
 Are there some other objects present in the solar system?
(Expected response: Yes)
 Have you ever seen asteroids or comets at night?
(Expected response: Yes, these are like the fire balls)
 Do you know the exact path of asteroids in our solar system?
(Expected response: No)
 After asking these questions tell the students that today we will learn about natural satellites like
Asteroids, Comets, and Meteors except moon.
 The moon is also a “Natural Satellite”.

Development

Activity 1
 Collect the reading materials for comets, meteors and asteroids a day earlier.
 Divide the class in three groups and provide them the collected material.
 Draw the following table on the board and ask them to copy and complete the table.
Asteroids Comets Meteors Comparison
Size
Shape
Composition
Location
 Each group will present his observations.
 Conclude the activity by summarizing the data.
Expected filling of the chart will as:
Asteroids Comets Meteors Comparison
Size Up to 1000 Up to 20 From few cm
km in km in to few meters
diameter diameter in diameter
 Shape Irregular Irregular Irregular
Composition Carbon, Iron, rock, Iron, rock etc.
iron & ammonia
other & other
metals gases
Location Between They These are the
Mars & move in wandering
Jupiter elliptical bodies in the
orbit solar system.
around
the sun

Sum up / Conclusion
 Conclude the lesson by recapping the definitions of the natural satellites and give the following activity to
check the students’ learning.
Extended activity:
Fill in the blanks by using given key words:-
Vapors, deflected, atmosphere, source, comets, water
Millions of small _______ strikes the earth yearly and breakup into water ______.
Some scientists believe that they are _______ of ______ in Earth’s ocean and ____ asteroids crossing the
earth’s path will either be ____ or detonated.
(Answer of the extended activity: Millions of small comets strike the earth yearly and break up into
water vapors. Some scientists believe that they are source of water in earth’s ocean
and atmosphere . Asteroids crossing the earth’ path will either be deflected or detonated).

Assessment
 Conclude the lesson by asking the following questions:-
 What is the exact location of Asteroids?
(Expected response: lies between Mars & Jupiter).
 Describe the composition of Asteroids?
(Expected response: carbon, iron and other metals)
 Compare the sizes of asteroids and meteors?
(Expected response:
 Why the comets have tails?
(Expected response: comets’ frozen gases)

Follow up
 Draw the diagram of Asteroids on the notebooks.

 Write the difference between meteors and meteorites.

 Paste the picture of natural satellites on the scrap book.

Asteroids, Meteors & Comets

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Objective
SWBAT compare and contrast the physical properties and locations of
asteroids, meteors and comets.
Big Idea
Through this series of activities students will be able to explain the differences
between these three objects.

Introduction
This set of 10 lessons is designed to teach, reinforce, and challenge students
while meeting the diverse needs of a variety of learning styles. A minimal
amount material is required for each lesson. Unless otherwise stated a
computer with Internet access and a science journal to record data and ideas
are all that is needed. Some lessons include directions for hands-on labs.
Feel free to supplement these to fit your needs.

If you are not yet using Google class or Google docs with your students these
lessons are a great opportunity to explore the usefulness of using Google
Docs to collect student work and manage their learning.

Each lesson is divided into eight sections with an optional ninth extension
section. A description of each section follows.

After a short Summary that includes the learning objectives for the lesson
students begin with the first section titled Comprehension. Students read a
short passage that gives them background information on the topic then
answer a few questions about the reading. Visualization comes next.
Students will watch a short video relevant to the topic followed by some
summary questions. In Demonstration students engage with or watch a
demonstration to help them begin to make connections with the content.
With Exploration/Simulation students conduct a hands-on or virtual lab
where they can manipulate variables and collect data. Organization is
designed to review and reinforce key vocabulary and concepts. Students
create a visual model with Illustration.
Next students respond to short answer prompts in
the Reflection section. In Evaluation students are assessed on their
knowledge of the topic. Each lesson concludes with Extension. These can be
used as optional activities for students who finish early or may want additional
practice.
I am in the process of developing additional sections. Calculation will be
added next where students will be given different mathematical challenges
related to the topic. Check back as I will add these in the future.

These lessons give you the flexibility of having students only complete the
sections that you have the time for or feel are necessary. Each section
reinforces the overall learning objective under study.
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Getting Started
The setup for each of these lessons is follows a similar routine. I make the
nine sections available in an online format. I use the Versal platform. Versal
has both a free and Pro option ($50/yr) to meet your needs. The Pro option
obviously has more features which are pretty great and are worth the small
fee. If your school uses an LMS, you have the flexibility of linking the Versal
lesson right into the platform. Directions can be found at the Versal site. Along
with Versal, each of my students has a Google account that are attached to
my Google Classes. I set up class folders at the start of the year and have
students submit assignments right to Google. This allows them to use Google
docs and collaborate with their peers. I use this along with Schoology (our
LMS) to manage students work. It has made management of my classes
much smoother.
Here is a direct link to the lessons.
Should you just want to proceed with the activities, I created an A,M,C Answer
Sheet and include it in the resource section. However, I really encourage you
to explore the electronic options if possible. If you'd like to access my Versal
classes, I would be happy to share them with you. In this regard you have the
ability to flip this lesson and let students progress at their own pace. You can
own your own version of the course and manage your own set of learners. To
do so, I would need to invite you as a contributor and then you would be able
to copy the gadgets in your course and then paste them into another course of
your own.
Step by step instructions:
1. You email me (keser@mysciclass.net) and I invite you as a contributor to
the course.
2. You accept the invite.
3. You enter edit mode for the course.
4. You copy and paste all gadgets in the course, lesson by lesson.
5. You create a new course and enter edit mode in that new course.
6. You paste each lesson's worth of gadgets into individual lessons you have
created. Here's a link to a video that shows you how to copy and paste
gadgets.
These activities lend themselves to being supplements with hands on labs.
For instance, in the second lesson, Lunar Phases, you could opt to include an
all-class demonstration using a light source and ping pong balls and walk your
students through the various phases. They can they complete the other
sections on their own or with partners. This gives you the flexibility to work
with individual students as needed, even leaving out some of the sections if
you deem them to be unnecessary or keep them in should a student need
more reinforcement.
In the video I share my ideas on what the teacher is doing while students are
working through these interactive lessons.

A,M,C Answer Sheet

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Part 1 (Comprehension - Visualization - Demonstration)

20 MINUTES
Demonstration

Comprehension
(Strategy Focus: Science Literacy: Use of informational texts relevant to
student inquiries as part of the literacy development a) is inherently
interesting to most students, b) motivates further reading, c) builds
background knowledge (concept understanding and vocabulary) for future
learning because it helps children learn about the world around them.)
What this looks like in my classroom: Students read the passage and
answer the follow up questions. The passages is short and contains the
relevant background information and details needed to proceed through the
other sections. Follow up questions highlight the "need to know" content.
Visualization
(Strategy Focus: Content/Lecture Videos: Use of internet generated or
teacher created videos a) allow students to follow along at their own pace,
pause/play, rewind/fast forward, b) demonstrate a large variety of resources
that exist on the Internet to help teach and provide examples of concepts and
c) promote self exploration of additional resources. )
(Strategy Focus: In-Video Quizzes: In-video quizzes are a type of informal
assessment that appears within lecture videos, typically after a key concept
has been explained. In-video quizzes allow for lecture videos that are more
interactive, dynamic, and personalized. In addition, these quizzes facilitate
retrieval-based learning and enable students to test their understanding on the
spot. Research shows that such interactivity plays a critical role of the efficacy
of videos in e-learning environments (Zhang et al., 2006).In addition, research
shows that even simple retrieval questions have significant pedagogical value.
For example, in two papers in Science, (Karpicke & Roediger III,
2008; Karpicke & Blunt, 2011) show that activities that require students to
retrieve or reconstruct knowledge produces significant gains in learning -
much more so than many other learning strategies.
What this looks like in my classroom: Students watch Comet, Asteroid or
Meteor and answer quiz questions that follow.
Demonstration
(Strategy Focus: Science Demonstrations. Demonstrations have the
potential to provide a beginning point for experiencing science, talking about
experiences, proposing questions, suggesting patterns, and testing those
questions and patterns; structuring these into a ritual with a specific content
focus provides another structure for emotionally intense and cognitively
focused interactions that support student learning. Demonstrations are used
to capture the attention of the class and prepare them for the lesson that
follows (questions about what they saw or what happened that leads into an
Exploration).
What this looks like in my classroom: Students complete or watch a hands-
on demo, experiment, or virtual model that allows them to connect the
information through application.
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Part 2 (Exploration/Simulation - Organization - Illustration)

30 MINUTES

Exploration/Simulation
(Strategy Focus: Exploration. Exploration includes the skills required for
developing and carrying out investigation. This includes planning and
designing, using instruments to measure and record, collecting data,
constructing, inventing and experimenting.)

What this looks like in my classroom:Students manipulate equipment and

materials to explore scientific models and theories.

(Strategy Focus: Simulations. Simulations can help students a) translate

among multiple representations, b) build mental models of physical, chemical
or biological systems, c) engage in hands-on, active learning experiences d)
understand equations as physical relationships among measurements, e)
collaborate on learning f) investigate phenomena that would not be possible to
experience in a classroom or laboratory.)

What this looks like in my classroom: Working in pairs, students use computer
based simulations to explore scientific models and theories.

Students use the Comet Ison Sim. The image below describes how to interact
with the sim:
Organization
(Strategy Focus: Reviewing. In this strategy students are going back over
what they have done to pick out key points, make connections, and find
relationships between key components. This allows them to identify further
questions for investigation and consolidate their thinking.)
What this looks like in my classroom: students work in lab or small groups to
review key points and make connections between ideas.
Illustration
(Strategy Focus: Making Thinking Visible. Visible thinking strategies are a
collection of approaches designed to help students communicate their
understanding of concepts using a visual model. The focus can be on the
"why" and/or the "how" of an issue concept or idea, main ideas organized and
presented in a logical format, and/or connections between investigations and
course material.)

What this looks like in my classroom. The teacher may present a model for
students to use or students may self select a model they are familiar with to
create an illustration of their ideas.
Students draw images of comets, asteroids and meters using an iPad. Check
them out below:
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Part 3 (Reflection - Evaluation - Extension)

30 MINUTES

Reflection
(Strategy Focus: Reflecting. After performing a scientific inquiry, it's necessary
for students to reflect upon the process, make links to key concepts, identify
areas that are poorly understood or require clarification, and determining how
this learning fits with their previously held beliefs.)

What this looks like in my classroom: Students work independently or as a

group to determine the applications of the investigation, recognize
connections between the investigation course material and examine the
results of their investigation along with development of questions which could
be addressed in future investigations.

Evaluation
(Strategy Focus:Assessment. Students are assessed on the knowledge and
skills acquired over the course of the lesson. A variety of assessment tools
can be used both formative and summative as well as project-based.)

What this looks like in my classroom: Complete assessment task determined

by the teacher or proposed by the student and agreed upon by the teacher
that demonstrates their understanding of the content being studied.

Extension
(Strategy Focus:Transfer of Learning. Students are challenged to explore
further questions that they have and extend their understanding.)
Space Rocks! A Giant Meteorite Board Game DESCRIPTION This is a board game. Students assume the
roles of meteorites and play a giant board game to learn about meteors, meteoroids, and meteorites.
They compete to get to Antarctica, where they have the chance to be found and studied by scientists!
OBJECTIVES Students will • Investigate the difference between a meteoroid, meteor, meteorite,
asteroid, and comet • Compare and contrast the characteristics of meteorites and Earth rocks • Explore
what happens to a meteoroid as it moves from outer space to the Earth’s surface. NATIONAL
STANDARDS National Science Education Standards (NSTA) Earth and Space Science • Properties of Earth
materials • Objects in the sky • Changes in the Earth and sky Science as Inquiry • An appreciation of
"how we know" what we know of science • Understanding of scientific concepts MANAGEMENT • Make
enlarged copies of the game board by using the largest paper possible in your copy machine (11 by 14
inch works well). • Parents, camp counselors, or older children can assist and act as game leaders.
Aerospace Education Services Project CONTENT RESEARCH • A meteor is the flash of light that we see in
the night sky when a small chunk of interplanetary debris burns up as it passes through the atmosphere.
"Meteor" refers to the flash of light caused by the debris, not the debris itself. MATERIALS • Copy of the
Space Rocks Game Board • Colored markers • Several large pieces of poster board • Wide cellophane
tape • One die per child • Game rules and answers for parents • 1 copy of the answer sheet per team •
1 token for each player • The debris is called a meteoroid. A meteoroid is a piece of interplanetary
matter that is smaller than a kilometer and frequently only millimeters in size. Most meteoroids that
enter the Earth's atmosphere are so small that they vaporize completely and never reach the planet's
surface. • If any part of a meteoroid survives the fall through the atmosphere and lands on Earth, it is
called a meteorite. Although the vast majority of meteorites are very small, their size can range from
about a fraction of a gram (the size of a pebble) to 100 kilograms (220 pounds) or more (the size of a
huge life-destroying boulder). • Asteroids are generally larger chunks of rock that come from the
asteroid belt located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. • Comets are asteroid-like objects covered
with ice, methane, ammonia, and other compounds that develop a fuzzy, cloudlike shell called a coma
and sometimes a visible tail whenever they orbit close to the Sun. LESSON ACTIVITIES • Space Rocks! A
Meteorite Game: http://www.lpi.usra.edu/education/space_days/activities/spaceRocks/boardGame.pdf
ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION QUESTIONS • Where can I find a meteorite? Meteorites fall all over the planet,
but they are best preserved and most easily found in hot (like Arizona) or cold (like Antarctica) deserts.
The dry climate of a desert slows rusting of the metal within many meteorites and the lack of vegetation
in deserts makes meteorites easier to find. • When can I see meteor showers? There are several major
meteor showers to enjoy every year at various times, with some more active than others.
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-11

Space Rocks! A Giant Meteorite Board Game DESCRIPTION This is a board game. Students assume the
roles of meteorites and play a giant board game to learn about meteors, meteoroids, and meteorites.
They compete to get to Antarctica, where they have the chance to be found and studied by scientists!
OBJECTIVES Students will • Investigate the difference between a meteoroid, meteor, meteorite,
asteroid, and comet • Compare and contrast the characteristics of meteorites and Earth rocks • Explore
what happens to a meteoroid as it moves from outer space to the Earth’s surface. NATIONAL
STANDARDS National Science Education Standards (NSTA) Earth and Space Science • Properties of Earth
materials • Objects in the sky • Changes in the Earth and sky Science as Inquiry • An appreciation of
"how we know" what we know of science • Understanding of scientific concepts MANAGEMENT • Make
enlarged copies of the game board by using the largest paper possible in your copy machine (11 by 14
inch works well). • Parents, camp counselors, or older children can assist and act as game leaders.
Aerospace Education Services Project CONTENT RESEARCH • A meteor is the flash of light that we see in
the night sky when a small chunk of interplanetary debris burns up as it passes through the atmosphere.
"Meteor" refers to the flash of light caused by the debris, not the debris itself. MATERIALS • Copy of the
Space Rocks Game Board • Colored markers • Several large pieces of poster board • Wide cellophane
tape • One die per child • Game rules and answers for parents • 1 copy of the answer sheet per team •
1 token for each player • The debris is called a meteoroid. A meteoroid is a piece of interplanetary
matter that is smaller than a kilometer and frequently only millimeters in size. Most meteoroids that
enter the Earth's atmosphere are so small that they vaporize completely and never reach the planet's
surface. • If any part of a meteoroid survives the fall through the atmosphere and lands on Earth, it is
called a meteorite. Although the vast majority of meteorites are very small, their size can range from
about a fraction of a gram (the size of a pebble) to 100 kilograms (220 pounds) or more (the size of a
huge life-destroying boulder). • Asteroids are generally larger chunks of rock that come from the
asteroid belt located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. • Comets are asteroid-like objects covered
with ice, methane, ammonia, and other compounds that develop a fuzzy, cloudlike shell called a coma
and sometimes a visible tail whenever they orbit close to the Sun. LESSON ACTIVITIES • Space Rocks! A
Meteorite Game: http://www.lpi.usra.edu/education/space_days/activities/spaceRocks/boardGame.pdf
ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION QUESTIONS • Where can I find a meteorite? Meteorites fall all over the planet,
but they are best preserved and most easily found in hot (like Arizona) or cold (like Antarctica) deserts.
The dry climate of a desert slows rusting of the metal within many meteorites and the lack of vegetation
in deserts makes meteorites easier to find. • When can I see meteor showers? There are several major
meteor showers to enjoy every year at various times, with some more active than others.
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-11

Asteroids and Comets: Teachers

Find out more about asteroids from NASA.

Learn about comets from NASA.
Learn about NASA's Near Earth Object Program for additional information on asteroids, comets and meteors
and find updates to missions related to these bodies.
Carolina Curriculum has a pdf book chapter devoted to asteroids, comets and meteors for you to use on your
interactive whiteboard with your whole class or for a small group – grades 5 and up. Great pictures and details
to help you teach about these bodies.
Create a comet in your classroom for a hands-on activity.

These lesson plans on asteroids and comets, including a Venn diagram lesson, may be helpful as you prepare
your teaching unit.
Here is a “Space Rocks” game board about comets, meteors and asteroids for you to make and use with your
class. Rules, instructions and answer key for “Space Rocks” game board here.
Comet Myths, Facts and Legends lesson.
PowerPoint for upper grades (4th and up) to help with discussion of comets and asteroids. Great images of
impact craters, asteroids, asteroid belt and lots more.
A simpler Power Point for younger students may be found here.
Asteroid, Comet or Meteor quiz – from DiscoveryKids.
Short videos about comets and asteroids to motivate and teach.
Make Asteroids out of mashed potatoes – sounds crazy right? It's from NASA so it probably tastes great!! But
the science is even better!!
The Dawn spacecraft's mission is to explore and orbit the two largest bodies in the asteroid belt. Watch Dawn's
discoveries from its orbits around Vesta and Ceres, and check out Dawn's educator resources and student page.
Interactive sharing of the anatomy and life cycle of a comet – with closed captioning.
Share the “Cool Comets” video with your class – from NASA