Download Pocket Solar System

FACILITATORGUIDE
PocketSolarSystem
Learningobjectives
Thisactivityexploresthefollowingideas:
• There’salotofemptyspaceinoursolarsystem—distancesbetweenplanetsarevast!
• ThesolarsystemismadeupofeightplanetsandmanyotherobjectsorbitingtheSun.
• NASA’ssciencemissionsareexploringoursolarsystem,andbeyond.
Materials
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Rollofreceiptpaper
Scissors
Meter-lengthmeasure
Solarsystemstickers
Markers
ExploringtheSolarSysteminformationsheet
Illustratedfacilitatorfoldingguide
Optional:examplePocketSolarSystemmodel
Activityandfacilitatorguides
TheExploreSciencetoolkitcomescompletewithallnecessarymaterialsforthisactivity.Materials
arealsoreadilyavailabletocreateorrestockactivitykits.Thesolarsystemstickersprovidedinthe
physicaltoolkitarecustom-made,butyoucanuseotheroff-the-shelfstickersintheirplace.Graphic
filescanbedownloadedfromwww.nisenet.org.Allothermaterialsareavailableatdiscountstores.
Advancepreparation
Itmighttakealittlepracticetofigureoutjusthowtofoldthepaperandplacethestickers.Before
doingthiswithguests,tryfollowingeachstepandusetheillustratedfacilitatorfoldingguideifyou
needhelp.(Youcanalsowatchtheactivitytrainingvideo:vimeo.com/191168509.)Notonlywillthis
allowyoutopracticethesteps,butitwillalsoprovideanexamplevisualmodelforparticipants.
Pre-cutthereceiptpaperintometerlengthsinadvanceofdoingthisactivitywithguests.Youwillneed
onemeter-longstripofpaperperparticipant.Ifyou’reunabletocutthepaperinadvance,youcancut
eachstripwitheachvisitorbeforeyoubegin.
Notestothepresenter
MakingthePocketSolarSystemmodel
Refertotheillustratedinstructionsheettoguideparticipantsthroughthefollowingsteps:
1. PuttheSunatoneendofthepaperandtheKuiperbeltattheotherend.
2. Foldthepaperinhalfandmakesureyoucreaseitfirmly.Unfoldthepaper,drawalineinthe
creasetomarktheorbit,andplacetheUranusstickersomewhereonthiscrease.
3. Refoldthepaperinhalfandfolditinhalfagain(youshouldnowhavefourths).Atthehalfway
pointbetweenUranusandtheKuiperbelt,drawanorbitlineandplacetheNeptunesticker.At
thehalfwaypointbetweenUranusandtheSun,drawanorbitlineandplaceSaturn.
4. Now,foldtheSunuptoSaturn.UnfoldthepaperandplaceJupiteratthehalfwaypoint
betweenSaturnandtheSun.Besuretoaddalinerepresentingtheorbit.
5. FoldtheSuntomeetJupiter.Unfoldthepaperandplacetheasteroidbeltstickeratthehalfway
pointbetweenJupiterandtheSun.
6. FoldtheSuntotheasteroidbelt.UnfoldthepaperandplaceMars,anditsorbitline,atthe
halfwaypointbetweentheSunandtheasteroidbelt.
7. FoldtheSuntoMars.Leaveitfoldedandfoldthatsectioninhalfagain.Unfoldthepaperand
youshouldhavethreecreases:MercuryanditsorbitgoonthecreaseclosesttotheSun,Venus
goesonthenextcrease,andEarthgoesonthefinalcrease.
Guests,especiallyyoungervisitors,mayneedclosesupervisionandhelptofolloweachstepofmaking
thescalemodel.Asyougothrougheachstepoffoldingandplacingstickers,youmayliketoinvite
participantstomakeapredictionaboutwhichplanetwillgoonthatcrease.
Optional:Somevisitorsmaywanttotrypredictingwheretheythinktheplanetswillfallinascale
modelofthesolarsystem.Thisworksespeciallywellforoldervisitorswhoarefamiliarwiththeplanets
andhavelearnedtheirorder.Beforetheystartfolding,encouragethesegueststodrawinallthe
planetsandotherobjectsinthesolarsystem.Worktogethertorememberalltheplanets.Then,have
themflipthepaperoverfortheactivity.Whenthey’redone,theycancomparetheirpredictiontothe
model.Howclosewastheirprediction?Whatwascorrect?Whatwasdifferent?Aretheysurprised?
Conversationalprompts
Aftervisitorshavemadetheirscalemodelsofthesolarsystem,encouragethemtolookatsomeofthe
missionspacecraftimages.Humanshavesentmanysatellitesintospacetostudytheplanetsandother
objects.Dotheywanttoaddinsomeofthehuman-madeobjectstravelingthroughthesolarsystem?
EncouragevisitorstothinkaboutplanningtheirownNASAmission.
• Wherewouldtheywanttosendaspacecraft?
• Whatinstrumentswouldtheirspacecrafthave?Acameraforcapturingpictures?Amicrophone
formeasuringsound?Athermometerfortakingtemperaturereadings?Achemistrykitfor
testingfordifferentminerals?
• Whowouldtheyneedontheirspacecraftteam?Whatrolewouldeachpersonplay?
• Howmuchwouldtheirmissioncost,andwhowouldpay?
• Whatwouldtheydowiththeirspacecraftoncethemissionwasover?
• Whataretherisksandbenefitsofsendingaspacecrafttoexploreratherthanhumans?
Importantnote:Thepocketsolarsystemmodelshowstherelativedistancebetweenobjectsinthe
solarsystem.Itdoesn’tshowtherelativesizeoftheSunandtheplanets.Ifweweretoalsotakeinto
accountthesizeoftheSunandplanetsonthissamescale,theSunwouldbesmallerthanagrainof
sand,andyouwouldneedastrongmagnifyingglasstoseeanyoftheplanets!
Difficultconcepts
Thisactivity(orothereducationalactivitiesguestsmayhaveexperienced)cangivetheimpressionthat
alltheplanetsinthesolarsystemarelinedupinarow.Toavoidthismisconception,encouragevisitors
tothinkaboutthelinestheydrawonthecreasesaspartsofthefullcircularorbitsofplanetsaround
theSun.Remindthemthattheplanetscouldbeanywhereonthosecircularorbits,butwe’rejust
placingthemherebecauseoftheconstraintsofourmodel.Thelargeillustrationofoursolarsystemon
theposterrepresentsamoreaccuratedepiction(ofaparticularmomentintime).
Manypeopleimaginethesolarsystemasbeing“clean”oremptyasidefromtheobjectstheyknow.
Whileitistruethatthespaceinbetweentheplanetsisfairlyempty,manyplanetsare“messy”with
moons,bitsofdebris,andretiredspacecraft.Toaddressthisfact,youmightsaysomethinglike,“Yes,
spacesometimesseems‘empty’tous,becausethedistancesaresovast.Butthereareactuallylotsof
thingsinspace—they’rejustreallyfarapartortootinytosee!”
Someguestsmayhavelearnedthattherewerenineplanets:Mercury,Venus,Earth,Mars,Jupiter,
Saturn,Uranus,Neptune,andPluto.Plutoisnolongerconsideredatrueplanet,butresearchersthink
theymayhavefoundevidenceforadifferent,still-undiscovered“PlanetNine.”Ifvisitorssuggestthere
areactuallynineplanets,oraskaboutPluto,youcansaysomethinglike,“Yes,foralongtimewe
thoughttherewerenineplanetsinthesolarsystem.Aswelearnmoreandmoreaboutouruniverse,
wesometimesreviseourmodelsbasedonnewevidence.That’swhathappenedaswelearnedmore
aboutoursolarsystem.RightnowscientiststhinkPlutoistoosmalltobeatrueplanet—butthereis
someevidencethattheremaybeadifferentninthplanet!”
Scaleinthesolarsystemcanbeatrickyconcept.Listentoresponsesorwatchforinteractionswith
gueststhatmightindicatetheyarestrugglingtounderstand.Remember:
•
•
•
•
TheSunistheonlystarinoursolarsystem(therearenootherstarssprinkledthroughout.)
ThesolarsystemisinsidetheMilkyWayGalaxy(notinthecenter),whichispartoftheuniverse
(butalsonot“inthecenter”).Visitorsmayconfusethesevocabularywordsandusethem
interchangeably.
Thelargeamountofspacebetweenplanetsstillcontainsthingslikedust,plasma,andlight,so
itisn’ttruly“empty.”
TheSun,nottheEarth,isthecenterofthesolarsystem.
Stafftrainingresources
RefertotheTipsforLeadingHands-onActivitiessheetinyouractivitymaterials.
•
Anactivitytrainingvideoisavailableatvimeo.com/191168509.
•
Acontenttrainingvideoisavailableatvimeo.com/191172070.
TheNISENetworkhasacuratedlistofprograms,media,andprofessionaldevelopmentresourcesin
theNASAWavelengthDigitalLibrarythatdirectlyrelatetothetoolkit.Theseresourcescanbeviewed
anddownloadedfromnasawavelength.org/users/nisenet.
Creditsandrights Thisactivityisaclassicthatexistsinmanyversions.NISENet’sadaptationwasinspiredbytheNight
SkyNetwork’sPocketSolarSystem(retrievedfrom:https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/downloadview.cfm?Doc_ID=392)andbySciencenter’sversion,SolarSysteminYourPocket.
IllustrationofJunoorbitingJupitercourtesyNASA/JPL-Caltech.
PhotographofNASAcrewbuildingtheJunospacecraftcourtesyNASA/JPL-Caltech.
CloseupofJupitercourtesyNASA/JPL-Caltech.
PhotographofJunoLego®CrewcourtesyNASA/JPL-Caltech/KSC.
PlanetsinorbitillustrationbyEmilyMaletzfortheNISENetwork.
DevelopedanddistributedbytheNationalInformalSTEMEducationNetwork.
Copyright2016,ScienceMuseumofMinnesota.PublishedunderaCreative
CommonsAttribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlikelicense:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/
ThismaterialisbaseduponworksupportedbyNASAundercooperativeagreement
awardnumberNNX16AC67A.Anyopinions,findings,andconclusionsorrecommendationsexpressed
inthismaterialarethoseoftheauthor(s)anddonotnecessarilyreflecttheviewoftheNational
AeronauticsandSpaceAdministration(NASA).