Solar System to Scale | Mini-Project
- May 26, 2020
- 2 minutes read - 332 words
Overview
A NASA-inspired variation of the receipt paper solar system, this version includes a little more math.
Materials
3-4 rolls of receipt paper, color pencils and/or markers, meter sticks, calculators
Resources
Pacing
Suggested Pacing
Day 1 - introduce project | model calculations
Day 2 - calculations and drawings
Pacing w/ Teacher Notes
Day 1 - Understanding the space between planets is hard. I try to get them to think about abstract units by giving them a warmup on Earth relative to the Sun and showing them the Cosmic Eye Video afterwards. I let them know that the project we’ll be working on will help them visualize our solar system.
After grouping students in 3-4, I go over the instructions with them and we do the first two together. This is also a good time to define vocabulary such as AU or light years, before letting them start their calculations. I ask that while they only need to turn in one page of work, I want all of them to be working on it individually before coming together as a group.
To clean up, I suggest that they fold it in half until it’s more compact and I give them a paperclip to hold it together. After asking them to make sure their names and periods are on it, I give them a place to put their projects by periods.
Day 2 - Mostly a student work day. I use it to roam around and make sure that they understand how to do calculations and I show them again if necessary. If they finish their calculations, they can begin drawing on their receipt paper.
After they finish, I show them the To Scale: The Solar System Video and If the Moon Was Only 1 Pixel to highlight how vast our solar system is.
Credits: NASA and my colleagues for sharing the resources.
