Submitted by: Nathan Shotwell
School: Holman Middle School
Summary
Space is big! This lesson allows students to pick any object in space and discover on their own how big the object is and how far away the object is from earth. The lesson will begin with a brief introduction to measuring size and distance in space (introduce new vocabulary such as: Astronomical Unit, Light Year, Parsec, etc.). Students will then choose any object (star, galaxy, black hole, etc.) they want to (some ideas can be provided to give students a push if necessary). Students will then do some basic research on their object including how large it is and how far away it is from earth. After some guidance and practice, they will complete 3 tasks:
1. Describe in words how big and how far away your object is from the earth.
2. Create a model that compares the size of your object to the size of a classmate’s object.
3. Develop a one page poster/fact sheet about your object.
The lesson will culminate in a sharing day where students view each other’s models and compare the size of different objects looking for patterns in the size of things. Ideally the teacher will have time between project submission and in-class sharing to develop some guiding questions that the students will reflect on as they view each other’s work.
TIPC Ratings
Approaching:
Students worked as a class (with teacher guidance) to identify specific questions that should be answered about each space object. Students identified appropriate digital resources and justified their selection.
Developing:
Students submitted their space object’s measurements to a Google Doc Spreadsheet that allowed classmates to access their object’s information. Students used their own object and a classmate’s object to create a scale model of the two objects. Students presented their findings to each other and explored the universe using the collected projects.
Approaching:
Students created 3D models of abstract objects to gain a sense of scale within the universe. After identifying an object to study they compared the object to another object in space to gather a deeper understanding the magnitude of distance and size in space.
Approaching:
After modeling the process of creating a scale model together in class, the students created their own scale models. They also put together a formal presentation, in the format they deemed appropriate, that addressed the major questions that the class developed together.
Student Artifact
