5E Lesson Plan

1. Authors: UFTeach 2. Teaching Partners: Kristen Quintana 3. Title of Lesson: Trip Around the Solar System 4. Date of Lesson: Week of Nov. 12-16, 2012 5. Length of Lesson: 50 minutes 6. Grade: 5th grade 7. Source of the Lesson: 8. Concepts: Our solar system is filled with a wide assortment of celestial bodies the Sun (a mid-sized star), eight planets (inner, rocky and outer, gas), dwarf planets (such as Pluto), and asteroids. Asteroids are small bodies that are believed to be left over from the beginning of the solar system 4.6 billion years ago. They are rocky objects with round or irregular shapes up to several hundred km across, but most are much smaller. More than 100,000 asteroids lie in a belt between Mars and Jupiter. These asteroids lie in a location in the solar system where there seems to be a jump in the spacing between the planets. Scientists think that this debris may be the remains of an early planet, which broke up early in the solar system. Several thousand of the largest asteroids in this belt have been given names. The inner solar system is occasionally visited by comets that loop in from the outer reaches of the solar system on highly elliptical orbits. Comets are lumps of ice and dust that periodically come into the center of the solar system from somewhere in its outer reaches. Some comets make repeated trips. When comets get close enough to the Sun, heat makes them start to evaporate. Jets of gas and dust form long tails that can be seen from Earth. These tails can sometimes be millions of miles long. In the outer reaches of the solar system, we find the Kuiper Belt and the Oort cloud. Still farther out, we eventually reach the limits of the heliosphere, where the outer reaches of the solar system interact with interstellar space. Solar system formation began billions of years ago, when gases and dust began to come together to form the Sun, planets, and other bodies of the solar system. Windows to the Universe: http://www.windows2universe.org/our_solar_system/solar_system.html

9. State Standards (including cognitive complexity):

Benchmark Number Benchmark Description Cognitive Complexity
Level 1-Recall Low

SC.5.E.

Recognize that a galaxy consists of gas, dust, and many stars, including any objects orbiting the stars. Identify our home galaxy as the Milky Way. Define a problem, use appropriate reference materials to support scientific

SC.5.N. 1.1

Level 3 High

understanding, plan and carry out scientific investigations of various types such as: systematic observations, experiments requiring the identification of variables, collecting and organizing data, interpreting data in charts, tables, and graphics, analyze information, make predictions, and defend conclusions.

10. Performance Objectives:

Student will be able to do: Identify objects (Sun, planets, moons, asteroids, comets) in the Solar System based on their location, description, and picture. Locate Earth in Solar System in relationship to its location to other Solar System objects. Create a scale model by collecting data into a chart that can be interpreted and analyzed for further investigation.

11. Safety Considerations: 12. Materials List and Advanced Preparations: 5 packs of clay to make planets 5 white posters for students to show work Sun 2 Comets- beach balls (1 with ribbon for tail, 1 without) 10 Skewer sticks to place planets in grass 5 boxes of markers for posters

13. Lesson Plan

ENGAGEMENT What the Teacher Will Do Re-introduce and greet the students. Present a model of the solar system that is familiar to the kids and generally thought to be an accurate demonstration of the solar system. Grasp the amount of knowledge the students have in terms of what is true about the solar system demonstrated on the poster and what is not. Use questions to grasp the amount of information the students know. Create a goal. Teacher Instructions and Probing/Eliciting Questions Good-morning. Im Miss Q and Im here today to teach you one last lesson. You guys have been learning about the solar system for quite some time now and I want to ask you some questions to see what you guys already know, which Im sure will be a lot. So here is an example of a picture used to demonstrate our solar system. Lets try to point out all the things wrong with it. --------------------------------------Who can tell me something thats wrong with this picture to start us off?

Time: Minutes Student Responses and Potential Misconceptions

------------------------------[orbit shapes] [lack of moons] [general sizes of planets] [lack of asteroid belt]

Weve pointed out several misconceptions and lets create our goal for today.

[What is the solar system REALLY like?]

EXPLORATION What the Teacher Will Do Identify the parts of the solar system that are going to be explored.

Show the students a more realistic view of the solar system.

Teacher Instructions and Probing/Eliciting Questions The center of our solar system is the what? --------------------------------------- ------------------------------How many planets are there? [8] 9- Pluto-DWARF planet --------------------------------------- ------------------------------Can someone name them? MVEMJSUN --------------------------------------- ------------------------------What distinguishes the inner inner- rocky and outer planets? outer- gaseous --------------------------------------- ------------------------------Is Pluto a planet or a dwarf [dwarf planet] planet? --------------------------------------- ------------------------------What else is in our solar [asteroids] system? [comets] --------------------------------------- ------------------------------Where do you think the No idea what response asteroids came from? Ill get here! (Bens first question after Believed to be the someone else tries) remains of an early planet but details come later. Now that weve identified what was wrong with this picture, lets look at a more realistic one. --------------------------------------- ------------------------------What do you notice is [Spacing of planets] different? [Shapes of orbitals] [Asteroid belt] --------------------------------------- ------------------------------Look at the comet. Where do [outer reaches of the those come from/go? solar system to anywhere] --------------------------------------- ------------------------------What are comets? [lumps of ice and dust]

Time: Minutes Student Responses and Potential Misconceptions [Sun]

Model Making Pass out handouts to the students with charts that allow them to organize the information they will be receiving. Describe scale models Use the worksheet to go through the steps the groups will have to take in order to create their part of the model. Assign 1 planet to each group and have them figure out the diameter of the planet as well as its distance from the sun. Use Saturn as an example to go through step by step.

What shape is the comets orbital? --------------------------------------Some comets have tails. Who can tell me what theyre made of? --------------------------------------These comets and their tails are visible from Earth. Although they arent what we call them, what is the name we use for them when we see them? The handouts you guys are getting are front and back. On the front is a chart we will complete by the end of class and on the back is some questions you guys will have to answer later. Lets focus on the front for right now though. The first column.. The second column.. The third column.. The fourth column... *Assign planets Im going to now give each group a poster and on the poster I want you to write all the work your group did to figure out the approximate scale diameter and approximate scale distance from the sun for your planet. What are you going to do on the poster?

[elliptical] ------------------------------[gas and dust]

------------------------------[shooting star]

Make sure the models are okay.

[Write your work]

Walk around the class and assist groups as needed. Things to look for: Correct procedures Understanding of procedures Accuracy (as accurate as possible) Focus more on size of planets Have the students make the planets.

What is the scale you are going to use? --------------------------------------WHEN WALKING AROUND: --------------------------------------How did you come upon that answer? --------------------------------------What does a scale represent/ help us do?

[TBD]

------------------------------[description of math] ------------------------------[makes things that are big smaller]

Using the diameters you guys found make the planet your group was assigned out of clay.

EXPLANATION What the Teacher Will Do Gather the information needed to make a scale model. Do the math as a class. Fill out the whole chart. Calculate rotation time with them. (simple div) Asteriod belt Teacher Instructions and Probing/Eliciting Questions Each group will now present the information they found and show the class. *Go in order of the planets Show us how you got the scale diameter and distance from the sun for your planet.

Time: Minutes Student Responses and Potential Misconceptions

Between the inner and outer planets is the asteroid belt. Some believe that is it what is left of a planet that broke apart early in the solar system.

ELABORATION What the Teacher Will Do If not enough time to go outside show video of a scale model from discovery education. If time, Go outside. Teacher Instructions and Probing/Eliciting Questions A Scale Model of the Solar System

Time: Minutes Student Responses and Potential Misconceptions

For the next part of the lesson we are going to go outside. You will sit in your groups and we will put together all the information we learned in order to make a scale model. Let each group measure the distance and place their planet where it belongs. Have a paper with rock looking structures to place between Mars and Jupiter to represent the asteroid belt.

EVALUATION What the Teacher Will Do Provide an individual assessment for each student. Formative Assessment Review their answers to determine success of the lesson.

Time: Minutes Student Responses and Potential Misconceptions CORRECT ANSWERS IN LESSON PLAN

NAME: __________________________________
1. How does the size of Earth compare to: The sun: _____________________________________________________ An asteroid: ___________________________________________________ Where is Earth located compared to: The sun: _______________________________________________________ Mars: __________________________________________________________

2. How are planets and moons different from comets and asteroids?