ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)



Activity

Voyager

Key Learning

Students will develop their understanding on space exploration and investigate discoveries that have significantly changed people’s understanding of the solar system.

The Australian Curriculum

|Science / Science as a Human Endeavour / Nature and development of | |Science / Science as a Human Endeavour / Use and influence of science |

|science | | |

| | |Scientific understandings, discoveries and inventions are used to |

|Science involves testing predictions by gathering data and | |solve problems that directly affect peoples’ lives. Year 5. |

|using evidence to develop explanations of events and phenomena. Year | | (ACSHE083) |

|5.  (ACSHE081) | |[pic] |

|[pic] | | |

|Important contributions to the advancement of science have been made | | |

|by people from a range of cultures. Year 5. (ACSHE082) | | |

|[pic] | | |

|Scientific knowledge changes as new evidence becomes available, and | | |

|some scientific discoveries have significantly changed people’s | | |

|understanding of the world. Year 7.  (ACSHE119) | | |

|[pic] | | |

Discussion Questions

1. What is the name of the spacecraft that became the first ever man-made object to leave the solar system?

2. Who launched the spacecraft?

3. Where in the United States was the spacecraft launched? Locate using Google Maps.

4. In 1977 Voyager was launched. Calculate how many years ago the spacecraft was launched.

5. Describe what life was like in 1977.

6. What two planets was Voyager first designed to explore?

7. Approximately how big is Voyager?

8. Voyager took photos on one of Jupiter’s moons. What did the images show?

9. How fast does Voyager travel?

a. 63 km/hour

b. 6,300 km/hour

c. 63,000 km/hour

10. What do you think Voyager will find now that it has travelled outside of the solar system? Illustrate.

Activities

|Engage |

After watching the BtN Voyager story, facilitate a questions and answers discussion to encourage students to engage with the topic and learn more about our solar system. Throughout this activity students will keep a science journal entering what they know, what they have learnt and what they would like to learn. Students may want to organise their diary in the form of a KWLH chart (What do I know? What do I want to know? What have I learnt? How will I find out?).

• Ask students what they already know about our solar system. Students will name three things they know off the top of their heads. Record student’s responses on the whiteboard.

• Discuss the debate about whether the Earth is flat.

• Discuss the movements of the Earth, sun and moon.

Students will start a glossary of scientific terms related to space. Follow up this activity with a class discussion to ensure students understand the terms.

Ask students to present the glossary in an interesting way, for example:

• Wordle word cloud

• A handbook for other students to use

• A poster to go up around your school

• Use these words to form your own sentences

• Illustrate the terms in an interesting way.

Working in teams create a 3D model of our solar system, including Earth, sun and moon. The model will represent their appearance and relative size and position.

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1. How many planets are in our solar system?

a. 6

b. 7

c. 8

2. What is in the centre of our solar system

a. Earth

b. Sun

c. Moon

3. What is the closest planet to the sun?

a. Saturn

b. Mercury

c. Earth

4. Approximately when was our solar system formed?

a. 2,013 years ago

b. 1 million years ago

c. 4.6 billion years ago

5. What 4 planets are closest to the sun?

a. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars

b. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune

6. What galaxy is our solar system part of?

a. Milky way

b. Andromeda

c. Whirlpool

7. How is distance measured in our solar system?

a. Kilometres

b. Astronomical Units

c. Magnitude

8. What is the name of the first man-made object to leave the solar system?

a. Voyager 1

b. Explorer 1

c. Sputnik 1

9. Who was the first person to walk on the moon?

a. Andy Thomas

b. Neil Armstrong

c. Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin

10. What is the name of the force holding us to the Earth?

a. Gravity

b. Buoyancy

c. Weightlessness

Answers:

1. 8 – Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

2. Sun – the sun is the star at the centre of the solar system.

3. Mercury – Mercury is the smallest and closest planet to the sun.

4. 4.6 billion years ago – scientists believe that the solar system evolved from a giant cloud of dust and gas.

5. Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars – these four planets are called the ‘terrestrial’ planets because they have solid, rocky surfaces.

6. Milky Way – The solar system is located within one of the outer arms of the Milky Way galaxy, which contains about 200 billion stars.

7. Astronomical Units – one astronomical unit is equal to the distance between the sun and Earth (approx 150 million km). One astronomical unit is also known as 1 light year.

8. Voyager 1 – Voyager 1 was launched by NASA in 1977 to study the outer solar system.

9. Neil Armstrong – Neil Armstrong was an American astronaut and walked on the moon in 1969.

10. Gravity – Gravitational force is an attraction between masses.

|Explore |

In groups of 3-4, students will explore the planets in our solar system. Students will work together on the following:

• Identify the 8 planets in our solar system.

• Each group will conduct in depth research into one of our solar system’s planets. Ensure that each group is researching a different planet.

• Trivia – list some interesting facts

• Geological features – climate, gaseous or rocky

• Distances – how far is this planet from the sun?

• Movement – identify the path of this planet. How fast does it travel around the sun? Calculate what position the planet will be in after an hour or 24 hours.

Encourage students to present their research using graphics, drawings and diagrams in an interesting way. Remind students that they will need to cite their references in a bibliography.

|Explain |

Use the internet to research Galileo’s story and evidence to support the theory that the Earth orbits the sun.

• Who is Galileo? Create a short biography.

• How long does it take for Earth to orbit the sun?

• How long does it take for Earth to rotate on its axis?

• How has Galileo helped us to understand our solar system?

Refer to ABC Splash’s teacher resource Meteorites, asteroids, orbiting and gravity.

Some of the things to think about in this activity include:

• What do you know about the work of Galileo?

• On the moon do you think a feather or a cannonball would fall to the ground faster?

• How do Galileo's experiments help our understanding of falling objects?

• On the Apollo 15 mission an astronaut dropped a hammer and a feather on the moon to test one of Galileo's theories. Use the internet to find out the result.

Further investigation

• Explain and illustrate the difference between a meteoroid, meteor and meteorite. Refer to BtN’s story Space Rock

• Discover where you can find asteroids and comets in the solar system in relation to the sun (add this discovery to your 3D model of the solar system).

• Use a Venn diagram to show as much as you know about meteoroids, asteroids and comets. Remember to use overlapping parts of the diagram to show what they have in common.

|Elaborate |

Here is your design problem for today. How can you design a spacecraft that will make it all the way to Saturn - 800 million miles away from Earth? To design your spacecraft, you and your design team are going to work together, by brainstorming, revising your plans, building your design and then presenting to the class.

This activity presents an engineering challenge based on the science information students now

have on Saturn and Cassini. Engineering is the subject of taking ideas from scientists and designing and building instruments and spacecraft to travel in space and test the ideas of scientists.

My Saturn Spacecraft: Grades 4-5 Activity –

Spacecraft design questions (for students) –

Designing a spacecraft script (for leader) –

|Evaluate |

Students will reflect on their learning, using their science journals.

• I learned that...

• I enjoyed/did not enjoy...

• I want to know more about...

• I was surprised to discover that...

( Related Research Links

ABC Splash – Our Solar System



ABC Splash – Space Week live chat: as it happened



ABC – Voyage to the planets



ABC Splash – Scaling down our solar system



CBBC Newsround – Voyager-1 is first man-made object to leave the solar system



BBC – Explore the Solar System



NASA – Voyager the Interstellar Mission



NASA – Our Solar System: Overview



YouTube – The Solar System: our home in space



CBBC Newsround – Space news facts and quizzes



Behind the News – Shuttle Shutdown



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Episode 28

15th October 2013

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Light Year

Constellation

Atmosphere

Universe

Satellite

Planet

Asteroids

Nebula

Orbit

Milky Way

Meteors

•

Comet

Black Hole

Gravity

Galaxy

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