ARTIFACT #2 1

Matt Clough

EDU 202

Artifact #2

12/01/19
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I am a true Science fan by heart, so naturally I would love to teach Science! Specifically

I would want to teach Astronomy. I have a really interesting lesson plan that aims at teaching

students about our solar system. It is simply called “Our Solar System”. The lesson requires a

computer for students, they can work in groups if needed, to run a program called Universal

Sandbox 2. It is an educational program that lets the user explore the universe, understand how

celestial bodies work and behave, and mess with all of it. After all, the only difference between

Science and messing around is writing it down. For my particular lesson, the students will

receive a worksheet that has multiple blank spots for the students to fill out. The students will

have to find information in the program like Mass, Radius, Density, and Surface Temperature of

the Sun and each of our 8 planets. Additionally, the students will be told to mess with the mass

of the sun and write down what they observe. They are to write down what they think will

happen before hand. Lastly, the students will be tasked with creating a black hole in the solar

system, they will have to write down their observations along the way and how they did it. All

of these things can be done in the program.

There are multiple concepts that I am teaching the students here. First, of course, is the

scientific method. Part of the worksheet is having the students think about how something will

happen (thinking about what happens when you increase the mass of the Sun), and then

observing what actually happens and writing it down. Other concepts would include how mass

affects gravity and other objects near it, how the composition of planets affects it, and our solar

system. Some Vocab words that the students should know include; Mass, Density, Star,

Celestial Body, Gravity, Orbit, Black Hole, and Surface Temperature. This lesson plan attempts
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to appeal to many of the different intelligences, including Visual/Spacial, Logical/Mathematical,

Linguistic/Verbal, Naturalistic Intelligence, Even Intrapersonal and Interpersonal intelligences

(Cherry, 2019)​.

Beginning of Class

The students will spending the entire period working on a computer activity. At the

beginning of class greet the students and inform them that “You will be working on an activity in

the computer lab using a program on STEAM.” Go ahead and pass out the worksheets to each

student, you can let them choose their own groups or assign groups for them, your choice. After

handing out the worksheets, walk the students to the computer lab.

Expectation​- The students are to be QUIET in the halls. Make sure they aren’t wandering. If

you have issues with them, write their name down and let me know.

Computer Lab

When in the computer lab, the students are to gather in their groups that they chose or you

assigned and wait for your instructions. The instructions are the expectations of the students

listed below.
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Instructions for Administrator

Name of Lesson:​ Our Solar System

Grade Level Appropriateness:​ 11-12th grade

Objective:​ The student will understand how to use the program to visually and actively learn
about our solar system. They will also test theories and act out scenarios and write down their
observations. The Student will use the program to learn the compositions, densities, mass, and
surface temperature of the Sun and all of the planets of the solar system and how things interact.

Materials needed to facilitate the lesson: ​You will need a school computer for each group,
STEAM platform installed on every computer and, Universal Sandbox 2 installed on each
computer as well.

Suggested group size: ​4 to a group

What is expected:​ Students can talk to their groups. They are to be

sitting with their groups at the computer and actively working on the
worksheet. If they are messing around with the computer, browsing
unrelated websites or apps, or walking around and talking to other
groups, feel free to have them log off the computer and read the next
chapter in their books.

Once a group is complete, have them shut down their computers,

turn in their worksheet to you, and sit with their group. They may
talk amongst their group but keep it to a reasonable level.

Procedures for Students​: Help the students by giving them these instructions.
Log onto the computer.
1. Open STEAM.
2. Have them click on the Library tab and open Universal Sandbox 2.
3. The game should open up to our Solar System. Have the students right click on the sun.
A panel full of information will appear.
4. Have the students look through the information and write down the Mass (in “Earths”),
Radius, Temperature, and Density of the Sun. Have them do this for all of the 8 planets.
Sorry Pluto.
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5. After they have written down the information of the Sun and the planets, they are to click
on the sun again. The panel will appear on the right and on that panel should be a ‘Mass’
tab. Have the students click on that, it will drop down to reveal multipliers. Have the
students click the button ‘X2’ and have them write down their observations. Have them
do this 3 more times while writing down their observations. When they are done writing
their observations, have them click on the button at the top left or
hitting escape on the keyboard until the menu opens, click on
‘Open existing simulations’, then the first option should be called
‘Solar System’. Have them click on that. This will reset the
simulation. (This Image ->)
6. Their last and final part of this project is to figure out how to
make a black hole in the solar system using the panel they have
been using. THEY ARE NOT TO ADD A BLACK HOLE BUT
TO CREATE ONE THEMSELVES. Try not to help them do
this, but if it takes them a while to figure it out you can give them
a hint to increase the mass of any celestial object by an incredible
amount until it turns into a black hole. Have them write about
what they did.
7. If there is any extra time, try to have them make the Sun go
supernova. That’s just for fun.

STUDENT SAMPLE

Matt Clough
Our Solar System

​ un
S
Mass= 333060 earths
Radius= 702098 km
Density= 1372 kg/m cubed
Surface Temperature= 5775 Kelvins

Mercury
Mass= 0.0553 earths
Radius=2440 km
Density= 5427 kg/m cubed
Surface Temperature= 173 *C
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Venus
Mass= .815 earths
Radius= 6052 km
Density= 5243 kg/m cubed
Surface Temperature=473 *C

Earth
Mass= 1 earth
Radius= 6731km
Density= 5513 kg/m cubed
Surface Temperature= 15.1 *C

Mars
Mass= 0.107 earths
Radius= 3390 km
Density= 2924 kg/m cubed
Surface Temperature= -65.9 *C

Jupiter
Mass= 318 earths
Radius= 69911 km
Density= 1326 kg/m cubed
Surface Temperature= -163 *C

Saturn
Mass=95.2 earths
Radius= 58232 km
Density= 687 kg/m cubed
Surface Temperature= -191 *C

Uranus
Mass= 14.5 earths
Radius= 25362 km
Density= 1270 kg/m cubed
Surface Temperature= -213 *C

Neptune
Mass= 17.1 earths
Radius= 24622 km
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Density= 1638 kg/m cubed

Surface Temperature= -224 *C

Sun mass increase observation

With the first mass increase the four inner planets orbits had changed drastically.
Mercury’s orbit became tighter, while Mars’, Earth’s and Venus’ orbits became oblong and oval
like. The outer 4 planets are unchanged. The second click didn’t change the orbit of the planets
but did suck in the main asteroid belt just past Mars. The third click started to change the orbit
of Saturn, Uranus, and Jupiter. Their orbits become much stronger and oval like. With the fourth
click, planets are sucked in and destroyed by the sun. If they are not destroyed by the Sun they
actually slingshot around and not Pluto has reached escape velocity and left the Sun’s orbit.
Also everything is burning.

Black Hole
I chose to turn Earth into a black hole. I did this by increasing the Earth’s mass until it
eventually turned into a black hole. I noticed that the more massive it got, the hotter the surface
temperature got. It eventually got so hot that the whole planet caught on fire like a magma
planet. It got so massive, that even before the planet turned into a black hole, it started pulling in
the Sun. After the Earth got to the mass of 78355 Sun’s the planet turned into a black hole and
destroyed the system.
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REFERENCES

50 Innovative Teaching Methods in Science. (2019, July 8). Retrieved from

https://www.edsys.in/innovative-science-teaching-methods/​.

7 Effective Teaching Strategies For The Classroom. (2018, February 28). Retrieved from
https://www.quizalize.com/blog/2018/02/23/teaching-strategies/.

Cherry, K. (2019, July 17). Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences. Retrieved from

https://www.verywellmind.com/gardners-theory-of-multiple-intelligences-2795161​.

Sadker, D. M., & Zittleman, K. (2009). ​Teachers, Schools, and Society​. McGraw-Hill College.