Task+Instructions

=Task Instructions=

This task is designed to teach students about the Solar System - what the planets are called, how to differentiate them, how long they take to orbit the sun, their distance and size differences between eac h other and the sun, other astrological bodies in the Solar System such as dwarf planets and the asteroid belts, and the role the Sun plays in how each of the planets is affected. All of this is in line with what the Australian Curriculum requests.

You will likely need to collaborate with an art teacher for this part, as you may be unsure of the processes involved in construction of these models.

The Curriculum guidelines, taken from the Australian Curriculum website.

1. Teachers Will Give A Brief Overview Of The Solar System
Explain what's in it, show them pictures of the Solar System; name and point out the different planets and the Sun; tell them what the Sun does, for example, provide sunlight which keeps everything warm, provides food for plants, which then feed the animals. Only a brief overview is needed, because most of these facts the students will be finding on their own.

2. Send The Students Out To Gather Information
Use books or the internet, or both (maybe get them to find two or four sources via book and internet) to find information on the Solar System, making sure they take only from sources they can understand. Maybe ask them to take notes, because they will need the information later. It can be on anything related to the Solar System, any tidbit of information.

3. Write It All Up On The Whiteboard
Get the students to pass on what they learned from their sources. Put it up in sub-headings (Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Asteroid Belt, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Dwarf Planets, Moons) and then you the teacher writes up the details underneath. After this, get the students to pick which planet or astrological object they'd like to focus on. If you include the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and dwarf planets, you have ten topics, with which you could divide your class into (a standard class of thirty means three students per topic) - you could possibly add the asteroid belts and the moons into the equation too, if you need an extra category to even out the numbers.

4. Get The Students To Write Reports On Their Planets
Tell the students to go research their chosen astrological bodies, focusing on the size, the possible colour, the length of orbit around the sun, the number of moons it possesses if it is a planet, its position in the Solar System, how it is affected by the sun, how cold or hot it is, and what it is made of, such as ice, metal, rock or gas. This is not a very intensive report, it is simply fact finding for the next part, and research and writing practice for later schooling. Make sure they include images of the report topic.

5. Begin Construction of the Planet Models
You will need wire frame models of the planets ready for the students to use, built on a scale consistent with the other astrological bodies. Make sure the Sun is much larger than the others, but not a behemoth that will take up everyone's time working on. Using the facts gathered through their reports, the students will then work out which of the wire frames is theirs -they will need to discuss with each other how big their planets are compared to the other. They will then decorate the models according to the images they found and the information they gathered, including details like Saturn's rings, Earth's continents and Jupiter's Great Red Spot.

6. Set Up The Solar System
Find an area large and clear enough for the students to set up their Solar System together, using discussion amongst each other to work out where in the system they belong, remembering to take into account the distances between the planets and other participants. Get the students to mark out the orbits of the planets on the ground, and get them all to participate in 'orbiting' the sun by walking along their orbit at a speed appropriate to the length of that planet's orbit. Again, have them discuss amongst themselves to figure out the details.

7. Put On Display
This last section is really just suggestion. After you've completed the task, you could possibly put it on display, or put on a show for teachers, other classes, parents (who you perform to depends entirely on the class's circumstances), involving the reading of the reports next to the reporter's planet model, showing them the orbit and organising each other back into the correct order.

These links may help you in your completion of this task. [|Teacher Resource Pack]

[|Glossopedia Solar System Article]

[|Glossopedia In Class Worksheet]

[|Writing a Report. (Includes Marking Rubric)]

[|Label the Solar System Activity]

[|Solar System Quiz]

[|Extension Activity: Observing Our Moon]