MI BIG
Solar System, Galaxy and Universe V.4
Map (html) | Map
(Inspiration)
- All students will compare and contrast our planet and sun to other
planets and star systems.
- All students will describe and explain how objects in the solar
system move.
- All students will explain scientific theories as to the origin of the
solar system.
- All students will explain how we learn about the universe.
Overview
For centuries, people have looked to the full moon, the sunset, the
stars glistening in the sky for guidance in navigation, to tell time,
and to monitor the seasons. These phenomenon ask us to question what
lies beyond us and how the earth and our solar system originated.
Critical in K-12 education, the standards in the solar system, galaxy
and the universe, provide the basis for interesting questions such as,
"What makes the seasons?" "How do we measure the length
of a day, a month or a year?" "Why the moon has phases?"
"What does space exploration tell us?" "What are the
patterns of the galaxies?"
Essential Background Narratives
Comparing and contrasting our planet and the sun.
Describing and explaining how objects in the solar system move.
Origins of the solar system and how we learn about the universe.
Students' understanding of the solar system, galaxy and universe begins
with understanding our sun, earth, and moon system. In the earliest
grades, children can be introduced to the concepts that the earth is a
planet, the sun is a star and the earth orbits the sun. Research with
children tells us that the ideas that our sun is a star and that the
earth orbits the sun are difficult ideas for students to understand.
Observations of the moon may include the identification and prediction
of moon phases. These observations provide first hand experiences for
students to which they can tie their subsequent learning. Repeated in
the middle school years, these same observations might be extended by
telescopes or binoculars and include other space objects such as other
planets and their satellites, stars, constellations, and comets.
Students often think that the phases of the moon are caused by the
earth's shadow on the moon or by the shadow cast on the moon's surface
by clouds. Modeling the position of the sun, earth and moon while the
students observe the moon phases may help students understand how the
system works together. In order to understand the phases of the moon,
students also need to understand the idea that light reflects and that
the moon is not its own source of light. Deep understanding of all these
ideas is difficult for some students because of their lack of knowledge
of the relative size, motion and distance of the sun and other solar
system objects from the earth. Modeling of the earth, moon and sun may
help students realize that the moon can be visible in the day as well as
the night, depending on its position.
In order to understand the day/night cycle, students must first accept
that the sun is stationary and that the earth turns on its axis. The
apparent movement of the sun across the sky leads novice astronomers to
think about the movement of the sun rather than the movement of the
earth. This is not difficult to understand given that for 1500 years
professional astronomers thought similarly. Common terms like sunrise
and sunset support the idea that the sun moves around the earth.
Moving beyond the solar system, farther out into the universe, we know
that students have difficulty understanding certain aspects of stars.
They might assume that stars are all the same size and that the
brightness of stars depends on how far they are from the earth. In fact,
the brightness of most stars like our sun is more dependent on the mass
of the star, larger stars burning brighter. Students also need to
maintain their night sky observations to realize that the stars appear
to move across the sky. The constellations visible in the night sky
change as the seasons of the year change, due to the position of the
Earth in its orbit. This cycle of constellations has been used for
centuries as a means for navigation and telling time.
The movement of the solar system objects and of all objects in the
universe is caused by gravity. Elementary students, in general, may not
see gravity as a force and attribute the falling of objects to some
feature of the object. High school students frequently have difficulty
understanding the interaction of gravitational forces. These issues are
critical when learning about the universe and must be attended to in
teaching.
The scale of the solar system and the overwhelming immensity of the
universe are difficult to understand. Young students and some adults
find it hard to fully comprehend distances to other planets, or the sun.
They may also not fully realize the enormous size differences among the
planets in our solar system and other celestial bodies. The elementary
and middle school years focus primarily on our solar system and the
objects in it. Identifying the differences among the sun, the earth and
the moon, understanding how the sun, the earth and the moon move
together, comparisons of the earth to other planets, and describing how
those other planets move with regard to the sun, are all critical ideas
for the elementary and middle school years.
Discussion of the relative sizes of planets and distances between solar
system objects is begun at the middle school level with the introduction
of key concepts of relative size and relative distance. The high school
student is prepared to discuss more abstract concepts regarding the
universe. High school is the appropriate time to compare our sun to
other stars and how to describe how our solar system moves in the
universe. These concepts begin to build the idea of the age of the
universe and methods used to determine that age.
Scientifically literate students at the high school level should be able
to explain the tools of astronomy and the historical contexts of
astronomical advances. According to AAAS Project 2061, these
explanations may be difficult even for high school students who may
"think their predecessors were intellectually and morally inferior
or may account for their thoughts and behavior with stereotypes before
they understand that past values, beliefs and attitudes were often
different from those of today."
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