Space Across the Curriculum Lesson Plan

Discovering Scale Using Our Solar System

Objectives

Participants will:

• Explain the concept of scale using the Earth and Moon. 
• Build a model of the solar system to scale using beads.  

Suggested Grade Level

3^rd-5^th

Subject Areas

Science

Math

Social Studies

Timeline

Two Class Periods 

Standards

Science

NS.K-12.4 Earth and Space Science

• Properties of earth materials
• Objects in the sky
• Changes in earth and sky

Math

NM 3-5 Measurement

• Students will understand the need for measuring in standard units.

Math

NM.ALG.PK-12 Use Mathematical Models to Represent and Understand Quantitative Relationships

Social Studies

NCSS People, Places and Environments

·       Encourage learners to construct, use, and refine maps, calculate distance, scale, and organize information.

Background

            Scale is a difficult concept for students to grasp. Creating 1:1 scales, or full sized maps and models, is a good start when discussing this mathematical concept. A real life application for using scale is reading maps. We need to be able to do math and discover correct distances when going from one town to another.  Cartographers (map-makers) cannot just guess sizes and distances on maps or there would be a lot of lost people wandering around looking for their destination saying “it’s around here somewhere.” Scale is a very precise math; not a guess.

A very great misconception in the science world is the scale of the planets in our solar system. We are going to give students a greater cognitive understanding of scale using the planets in our solar system. Oftentimes, pictures depicting the planets and moons are created without taking scale into account. This is what causes these misconceptions to formulate in students’ minds. Scale is a mathematical concept that you can create a model of a larger object in correct proportions. For example, NASA can create a 1:15 scale model of a rocket, be able to take measurements of that model, and from there make decisions about the full sized rocket without going to the trouble of measuring the 50 foot tall rocket itself. It is almost impossible to wrap our minds around how big the solar system is and how spread apart it is. So creating a small model of the solar system gives students a much better idea of the correct proportions and just how big space really is.

Vocabulary

Hypothesis, Scale, Model, Solar System, Planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune

Materials

Butcher Paper (two pieces per student)

Photos of space models at various scales (examples below)

Globe

Variety of different sized balls

Tennis Ball

8 planet beads per group (one orange, one red, one light blue, one dark red, one brown, one tan, one green, one blue)

1 piece of string per group

94 black spacer beads per group

String

Copy paper

Crayons/ Markers

Books about space

Lesson Day 1

1. Give each student a piece of butcher paper, roughly the size of the top of his or her desk. Ask students to place a few objects on the butcher paper and trace them with a marker. (Objects could include books, notebooks, pencils, glue bottles, etc.)
2. Explain that students have just created a map of their desks. Introduce the word “scale.” Tell students that the scale of their map is 1:1 or “full scale”. In other words the map is life sized: the actual size of all the objects.  Pose the following questions to students and allow them to discuss:

a.     What do we use maps for? To help us find which way to go.

2. If you created a 1:1 map of the school would be very helpful? No. Because it would be exactly as big as the school and you couldn’t use it to find your way.
2. Show students photos of models of different space objects at various scales. Ask why we build space shuttles at 1:15 scale. If we built it 1:1 it would be way too big. Building it to scale means everything is in its proper place. People could take measurements of the models, do some math, and the numbers would be accurate. (See examples below)
3. Tell students they are now going to create a 1:2 scale drawing of their desk map. Because it is 1:2, students need to divide every number in half. For instance, if the whole map was 2 feet by one foot, in scale it is 1 foot by six inches. If their notebook is 11 inches by 8 inches, to scale it would be 5 ½ inches by 4 inches.  When they are finished with their map they will give it to a partner and have them read the 1:2 map and try to re-create the full-scale map using the correct objects.
4. Explain that you are now going to discuss scale using the Earth and Moon. Hold up a 9 in diameter globe and say that this will represent the Earth. Ask students if this globe is the actual size of the Earth. No it is not. It is to scale. A full-sized model of the Earth would not be helpful because it would be as big as the planet.
5. Show students a variety of different sized balls from a bouncy ball all the way up to a basketball. Ask students to predict which ball was the correct size to be our globe Earth’s moon. Allow students to discuss among themselves, and then pick a few to come up and explain their reasoning. Tell students that the tennis ball is the correct size.
6. Now ask students how far away they think the Moon is from the Earth in our model. Pick a few to come up and stand where they think the moon would be.
7. Using string, show students how far apart the Moon and Earth should be. The distance from the Earth to the Moon is about the same as 9 and ½ times around the earth. So, if you wrap a piece of string 9 and ½ times around the globe, that will be how far away the tennis ball Moon model should be from the globe Earth.
8. That seems to be a really far distance. Ask students if they are surprised by this information.

Lesson Day 2

1. Begin by reviewing the concept of scale from yesterday.
2. Explain that in the model yesterday both the size of the Earth and Moon were correct and the distance between them was correct. Tell students that in our model today, the distance between planets will be correct, but the size will not be correct. Sometimes, as scientists, we need to pick only one thing to focus on. Today’s focus is correct scaled distance.
3. Place students in groups and pass out the planet beads and a handful of spacer beads to each group.
4. Write on the whiteboard what planet each color bead represents. Mercury=Orange, Venus=Red, Earth=Light Blue, Mars=Dark Red, Jupiter=Brown, Saturn=Tan, Uranus=Green, and Neptune=Blue.
5. As the students to make a hypothesis in their groups about how far apart all the planets are from each other. (Have a quick discussion to activate background knowledge about what a hypothesis is.) Have them lay the beads out on a desk and place black spacer beads in between the planet beads. Have students draw a picture of their hypotheses.
6. When they are done, ask them to count the total number of beads in their solar system. Then have one person from each group line up in order from smallest number of beads to greatest number of beads.

a.     Discuss good character and how we all have different ideas. It’s not okay to make fun of someone for having a different idea than you.  Our classroom should be a place where our classmates feel safe (to quote Ms. Frizzle) to take chances, make mistakes, and get messy.

7.     Pass out the pieces of string. As a class, read aloud the following chart and have everyone put the beads on the string correctly.

1 spacer

Mercury (orange bead)

1 spacer

Venus (red bead)

1 spacer

Earth (light blue bead)

1 spacer

Mars (dark red bead)

12 spacers

Jupiter (brown bead)

14 spacers

Saturn (tan bead)

30 spacers

Uranus (green bead)

34 spacers

Neptune (blue bead)

8.     Ask the students to discuss in their group if their hypothesis was correct. Then they need to draw a picture of what their string of beads looks like now.

Extensions

·       Each black spacer bead is equivalent to 30 million miles. Have students find the distance between Mercury and Neptune using their string of beads. They need to work in their groups to do the math. Then, they must write a paragraph explaining how they solved this problem.

·       Have students look through assorted books about space for any information regarding planetary scale. They can share what they find with the class.

Evaluation/Assessment

Informal observation: students working collaboratively together in groups and all students are participating

Drawing of hypothesized bead solar system compared to accurate drawing of bead solar system

Completed solar system string of beads (one per group)

Resources

Elementary Science Program: http://www.espsciencetime.org/student_life.cfm?subpage=295515

NASA Lesson: Solar System Math: http://quest.nasa.gov/vft/docs/SSML1/SSML1Tchr.pdf

Space Foundation Lesson- Play-Doh Scale Solar System

Space Foundation Lesson- Pluto’s Not a Planet

USGS Lesson on Map Scale: http://egsc.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/teachers-packets/mapadventures/malessn7.html

Examples of space models to scale: Would use larger pictures and hands on models with students.