Make Your Own Solar System

Resource: NRICH Lesson

Overview

Brief Description of the Resource: From the amazing organization NRICH, this is an activity that merges data and science seamlessly. Students are asked to make a scale model of the solar system -- not only in distance between planets but also in size of the planets in the model. Using their corresponding table to help them organize their data and the materials, students are guided toward a better understanding of the solar system in this fractions/ratios/percents and astronomy task.

Technical and Cost Considerations: Cost considerations include materials needed for the lesson (toilet paper, blow-up ball, sphere-shaped objects, etc.). There are limited technical considerations as the only connection to technology is the fact that the lesson is digitally available for teachers. However, teachers may want to give students access to a calculator.

A major requirement for this project is sufficient space for all materials. Teachers may want to pre-complete the activities to determine how much space they need to have available.

Evaluation

Description of the Learning Activity

1. Learning Activity Types

• LA-Explore: Students will explore/investigate mathematical ideas. They will examine relative distances and look at and convert data to help them explore their place in the universe.
• LA-Apply: Students will also apply mathematics to problems and situations; by using scaling and ratios, students will be able to create a scale model of the planets in the solar system.

2. What Mathematics Is Being Learned?

Standards

Depending on the way the teacher decides to approach this lesson, this could involve a heavy dose of fractions, involving these standards:

• CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.5.NF.B.5: Interpret multiplication as scaling (resizing), by:
• CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.5.NF.B.5.A: Comparing the size of a product to the size of one factor on the basis of the size of the other factor, without performing the indicated multiplication.
• CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.5.NF.B.5.B: Explaining why multiplying a given number by a fraction greater than 1 results in a product greater than the given number (recognizing multiplication by whole numbers greater than 1 as a familiar case); explaining why multiplying a given number by a fraction less than 1 results in a product smaller than the given number; and relating the principle of fraction equivalence a/b = (n × a)/(n × b) to the effect of multiplying a/b by 1.

Or, this could involve more CCSS Grade 6 concepts related to ratios:

• CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.6.RP.A.: Use ratio and rate reasoning to solve real-world and mathematical problems, e.g., by reasoning about tables of equivalent ratios, tape diagrams, double number line diagrams, or equations.
• CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.6.RP.A.3.D: Use ratio reasoning to convert measurement units; manipulate and transform units appropriately when multiplying or dividing quantities.

This lesson meets the following NCTM PSSM data standard strands for Grade 5:

• Formulate questions that can be addressed with data and collect, organize, and display relevant data to answer them
• Develop and evaluate inferences and predictions that are based on data

In terms of Next Generation Science Standards, this activity is related to the following standards for Grade 5:

• 5-ESS1-1. Support an argument that differences in the apparent brightness of the sun compared to other stars is due to their relative distances from Earth.
• 5-ESS1-2. Represent data in graphical displays to reveal patterns of daily changes in length and direction of shadows, day and night, and the seasonal appearance of some stars in the night sky.

Proficiency Strands

• Conceptual Understanding: Students must understand how scaling works to be successful with this activity. They will likely also develop a more nuanced understanding of scaling as they develop the scaled model of the solar system.
• Strategic Competence: Working with set tools (toilet paper and spherical items), students need to be strategic about how they relate these objects to the planets in the solar system. For example, they will need to determine how many miles (or kilometers) each sheet of toilet paper should represent and determine whether the objects they have work in terms of the relative size of the planets.
• Adaptive Reasoning: This activity may require quite a bit of trial and error. As students realize things aren't working, they will need to adjust them appropriately to fit their scaled model.
• Productive Disposition: Working together in teams can be challenging. Students will need to have productive dispositions to accomplish these tasks.

Additional comments on what is being learned

Students are learning about their place in the solar system and about the relative size of celestial bodies, but they are also learning to work together and about scaling and/or ratios. This activity can be quite challenging (and rewarding!) because students are not given a scale -- they have to create it. They are forced to think critically in order to accomplish the ultimate goal, which is creating that scaled model of the solar system.

3. How Is the Mathematics Represented?

The mathematics is represented in several ways here. First, data is organized systematically in a table. Using the information they have, students must then create the scaled amounts. Then, it is represented with manipulatives. Scaling and relative size of items come to life when students are putting their calculations into action by creating the model.

Despite the attempt to help students understand the relative size of the planets, this may slightly obscure how massive they truly are. By showing videos or pictures of the planets in comparison with other objects students know, this might be clarified even further.

4. What Role Does Technology Play?

If students are allowed to use calculators, technology would serve the role of helping students complete calculations more quickly. However, the only technology in the original lesson plan is that which is used by the teacher. Through websites and resource banks like NRICH, teachers from across the globe are able to pool resources and work together to facilitate learning in their own schools with their own students.
Affordances of Technology for Supporting Learning

• Representing Ideas & Thinking: The scaled models help students examine information in a real-life context that is more tangible than statistics listed on the page of a book.
• Accessing Information: Because of this technology, teachers are able to access a lesson plan created by teachers a world away and use it. 
• Communicating & Collaborating: This lesson plan helps students communicate and collaborate; while the technology itself is not the facilitator in their communication and collaboration, it is indirectly responsible for their being able to work together on this lesson since the technology was the platform which delivered this opportunity to their teacher.

5. How Does the Technology Fit or Interact with the Social Context of Learning?

In this case, the technology allows teachers to collaborate and pool resources. The lesson presented encourages collaboration and a social context for learning. The outlined activity is completed by students either as a whole class or in groups.

6. Additional Comments

NRICH is a phenomenal resource for math teachers. This lesson does an excellent job of merging math and science in an age-appropriate manner. I strongly recommend NRICH to all math teachers!

Having done this lesson, I would warn that the activity can get kind of messy with some kids wanting to sit back and let others do it for them and yet another bunch getting frustrated because they want to be in charge. One thing I did was split students into smaller groups. This required more materials, but from an organizational point of view, it made all the difference! I would recommend the section: "Working with your model." We ran out of time, but I think this would have been an extremely valuable extension for students.

This evaluation was developed in my work for the MSU Course, CEP 805: Spring 2017, and is also accessible on the private course wiki.