Activity

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

The Australian CurriculumScience / Science as a Human Endeavour / Nature and development of science

Science involves testing predictions by gathering data and using evidence to develop explanations of events and phenomena. Year 5.  (ACSHE081)

Important contributions to the advancement of science have been made by people from a range of cultures. Year 5. (ACSHE082)

Scientific knowledge changes as new evidence becomes available, and some scientific discoveries have significantly changed people’s understanding of the world. Year 7. (ACSHE119)

Science / Science as a Human Endeavour / Use and influence of science

Scientific understandings, discoveries and inventions are used to solve problems that directly affect peoples’ lives. Year 5. (ACSHE083)

Discussion Questions1. 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.

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Episode 2815th October 2013

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 http://www.wordle.net/ 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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Orbit Asteroids

Comet Galaxy

Gravity

Black Hole

Meteors Milky Way Nebula

Planet Atmosphere Constellation

Light Year Satellite Universe

1. How many planets are in our solar system?a. 6b. 7c. 8

2. What is in the centre of our solar systema. Earthb. Sunc. Moon

3. What is the closest planet to the sun?a. Saturnb. Mercuryc. Earth

4. Approximately when was our solar system formed?

a. 2,013 years agob. 1 million years agoc. 4.6 billion years ago

5. What 4 planets are closest to the sun?a. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Marsb. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune

6. What galaxy is our solar system part of?a. Milky wayb. Andromedac. Whirlpool

7. How is distance measured in our solar system?

a. Kilometresb. Astronomical Unitsc. Magnitude

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

a. Voyager 1b. Explorer 1c. Sputnik 1

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

a. Andy Thomasb. Neil Armstrongc. Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin

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

a. Gravityb. Buoyancyc. 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

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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. http://splash.abc.net.au/media?id=30447

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 http://www.abc.net.au/btn/story/s3693796.htm 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.

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This activity presents an engineering challenge based on the science information students nowhave 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 – http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/education/index.cfm?page=275Spacecraft design questions (for students) – http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/education/index.cfm?page=277 Designing a spacecraft script (for leader) – http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/education/index.cfm?page=276

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...

8 Related Research Links

ABC Splash – Our Solar Systemhttp://splash.abc.net.au/media/-/m/144754/solar-system-and-space-exploration?source=search

ABC Splash – Space Week live chat: as it happenedhttp://splash.abc.net.au/livestream

ABC – Voyage to the planetshttp://www.abc.net.au/tv/voyage/guidebook.htm

ABC Splash – Scaling down our solar systemhttp://splash.abc.net.au/media/-/m/30339/scaling-down-our-solar-system?source=upper-primary-science

CBBC Newsround – Voyager-1 is first man-made object to leave the solar systemhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/24064800

BBC – Explore the Solar Systemhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/solarsystem/

NASA – Voyager the Interstellar Missionhttp://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/

NASA – Our Solar System: Overviewhttp://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=SolarSys

YouTube – The Solar System: our home in spacehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsF_hdjWJjo

CBBC Newsround – Space news facts and quizzeshttp://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/14082427

Behind the News – Shuttle Shutdownhttp://www.abc.net.au/btn/story/s3277510.htm

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