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Instructional Project Proposal Guidelines
Sponsoring Organization:
The Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center, Alpine School District
Contact Information:
Aleta Clegg – [email protected] (Curriculum development)
Megan Warner - [email protected] (Center director)
Dr. Vicki Carter - - (Supervising principal)
Purpose:
The space center provides field trips for 5th and 6th grade classes during the school year. We like
to be able to offer a choice of presentations to the teachers that are relevant and applicable to the
Common Core Curriculum. This lesson presentation would be one of three to five that we are
developing.
Evidence of Need:
It would be nice to get a new perspective and some new ideas for our classroom experience. We
are currently restructuring our program and new presentations would be a good step forward.
Description of Desired Product(s):
(please include the scope and how you intend to use the product(s))
The classroom presentation is an exciting 45-minute multimedia presentation and a 30-minute
planetarium show that incorporate various topics from the Utah Common Core for Science for
grades 3-8th. Most of our groups are 5th or 6th grade, so that is our primary focus, but we
occasionally get other grades. The topic we are planning on developing is “Size and Scale – from
the Solar System to the Universe.” The presentation should include a 3-4 page planetarium script
for the presenter (if you know how to program for a Digitarium digital planetarium system using
Nightshade, that would be beyond awesome), 4-7 page script for our presenter; a Keynote file
containing slides, movie clips, sound clips, or whatever else fits with the presentation; and a list
of supplies needed for the demonstrations and experiments the class will observe and perform
while at the center. This presentation must be over-the-top and exciting. It's like the week before
Christmas all the time at our center. Our presenters are top-notch performers. They need quality
material to present.
The total budget for supplies, including any disposable items, is under $100 for the school year.
We have some items, such as marbles, a bowling ball, fiber optic lamps, etc, but any new item
requested for the lesson would need to be inexpensive and easily obtainable. For example, our
lesson on Gravity uses foam cups and marshmallows. We prefer hands-on when possible, but
also recognize that with classes of 30+ kids, this can be difficult to manage within the constraints
of our presentation.
Our presentations have a two-fold purpose. First, they are designed to challenge even the most
gifted students. We do not teach for retention. Our presentations work well as introductions to the
subject or review of material already taught in the regular classroom. Our goal is for the children
to leave the class with more questions than they had before. We want to spur their curiosity by
exposing them to new ideas or concepts they probably haven't heard before.
Our second purpose is to give the teacher ideas for easy and inexpensive classroom
demonstrations and experiments that they can replicate and then expand upon back in their own
classroom.
The presentation would be used for the Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center for the field
trips. It would not be used for any other venture or venue. We have some DVDs that we use
regularly for our movie clips, if those would be of value. They include The Universe Seasons 14; Hyperspace with Sam Neill; How the Universe Works series; Planet Earth; The Powers of Ten;
and possibly other videos as we can get them from the district library.
This particular presentation, Size and Scale, needs to cover the following topics, either in the
planetarium or the classroom or both:
*6th Grade benchmark for CC Science – The solar system consists of planets, moons, and other
smaller objects including asteroids and comets that orbit the sun. Planets in the solar system
differ in terms of their distance from the sun, number of moons, size, composition, and ability to
sustain life... The sun is one of billions of stars in the Milky Way galaxy, that is one of billions of
galaxies in the universe. Scientists use a variety of tools to investigate the nature of stars,
galaxies, and the universe. Historically, cultures have observed objects in the sky and understood
and used them in various ways.
*6th grade benchmark for CC Science – The appearance of the lighted portion of the moon
changes in a predictable cycle as a result of the relative positions of the Earth, the moon, and the
sun. Earth turns on an axis that is tilted relative to the plane of Earth's yearly orbit. The tilt causes
sunlight to fall more intensely on different parts of the Earth during various parts of the year. The
differences in heating of Earth's surface and length of daylight hours produce the seasons.
*3rd grade benchmark for CC Science – Earth orbits around the sun, and the moon orbits around
the earth. Earth is spherical in shape and rotates on its axis to produce the night and day cycle. To
people on Earth, this turning of the planet makes it appear as though the sun, moon, planets, and
stars are moving across the sky once a day. However, this is only a perception as viewed from
Earth. (We also like to touch on phases of Mercury and Venus.)
*7th and 8th grade benchmark for CC Science – All matter is made up of atoms that are far too
small to see. (I'd like to have an additional 10 minutes of presentation that deal with the smaller
scale – atomic, subatomic, and quantum.)