Lesson Plans: Solar System Discovery

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EDU 357

Use of Media in Education

Lesson Plan Integrating Technology & Pedagogy

Name Roberta Peryea                                                                          Date 10/25/2006

NYS STANDARD 4: Students will understand and apply scientific concepts, principle and theories pertaining to the physical setting and living environment and recognize the historical development of ideas in science.

KEY IDEA 1: The Earth and celestial phenomena can be described by principles of relative motion and perspective.

Performance Indicator 1.2  sections a-d.

Lesson Objectives:    Students will be able to name all eight planets and have knowledge of some of the more notable stars within our universe.  The students will be able to produce key facts about the planets.  For the stars, they will know which constellations that the stars live in.

Introduce the Learning Activity:  First off, I would peak the interest of the students but asking if anyone can name all eight planets.  Then, I would proceed in telling the class that the Earth is but only a miniscule part of our entire universe and that in order to understand the Earth and how it is affected by space, we need to explore other objects out in space such as other planets, stars, galaxies, comets and meteors.  By studying these other celestial bodies, we can ascertain Earth’s role in the whole scheme of things. But for our purposes, we will only cover the other planets in our solar system as well as some key stars visible to us. After this introduction we will visit the website: http://www.nineplanets.org/intro.html  for a virtual tour of the solar system.

Provide Information:  Definitions of certain astrological items such as:

1.      Solar System:  Everything that revolves around the sun.

Vs.

2.      Galaxy:  A large cluster of stars

Vs.

3.      Universe:  Every celestial item out in space.  It consumes every part of space.

Ex:  Our Solar system exists within the Milky Way galaxy which is part of the Universe.

After students grasp the understanding of these terms, I will then introduce the eight planets starting closest to the sun.

1.      Mercury

2.      Venus

3.      Earth

4.      Mars

5.      Jupiter

6.      Saturn

7.      Uranus

8.      Neptune

After introducing the planets, I would then present to the class specific facts about each planet that they will have to memorize.  Once planets have been discussed, I will introduce recognizable stars in our night sky such as:

I would show students pictures of each constellation and point out each star that they are to know and memorize.

Provide Practice:  Since school does not meet at night time, students will be expected to observe the night sky and sketch the stars and planets they see for a period of one week.  Each student is responsible for their own night observations.

For two weeks, students will be assigned a research project.  They will pick a planet out of a hat and be split up into groups accordingly. There will be class time to go online and to do research on their assigned planet. At the end of the two weeks, the groups will then present their findings to the class using a slide show presentation, poster board or any other means of visual aids they like.

Individually, each student will have those two weeks, also, to do a separate report on one constellation of their choosing provided it can be seen from our location. They are to use a digital camera, regular camera, or a video recorder to provide pictures of their chosen constellation.  Within the report, they will need to know one key star within the constellation (ones mentioned in class are only some options), be able to point it out in their pictures, and they will be responsible for knowing the mythological story behind the constellation. Knowing the story behind what you study helps in remembering it later on.

If at all possible during the weeks that we are studying the stars and planets, a trip to the Plattsburgh State University Planetarium might be arranged to provide another way for students to interact with the starry night.

Provide knowledge of Results:  At the end of the first week, one class period will be strictly used for the groups to show me how their projects are coming along.  I would verbally give them advice as to how they could better their project or if they were progressing well. They would also be expected to provide a rough draft of their planet research paper to me so I could check for errors that they can correct for their final paper.

Review Activity:   At the end of each class, I would call on a number of students to recite the order of planets to me.  After, I would show pictures of the constellations and stars using the overhead to make sure students would be able to locate the stars at night. To wrap up the class, I will re-iterate that students are expected to be doing night sketches research on their planets, observing stars and constellations and photographing them.

Method of Assessment:  The method of assessment will be a presentation made by the groups describing their chosen planet.  The presentation is to be at least five minutes long up to ten minutes maximum.  Each person must speak once during the presentation. The presentation will be solely graded by me.  The next meeting will be individual presentations concerning the constellations and stars.  Each person will have to provide at least two pictures of their constellation and tell the story behind it.  This particular presentation is peer graded to 25% of the final grade.

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Roberta Peryea
Hosted By: SUNY Plattsburgh
Email: rpery001@plattsburgh.edu
Last Updated: September 18, 2008