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Content Based Unit [CBU] The Solar System Milky Way Galaxy Solar System Submitted to Deborah Morse By Eitan Bar August 2010 The S lar System Rationale for Teaching a 9th Grade Class We live on a tiny and wonderful planet. However, it is somewhat an insignificant blur bluish tiny point at the edge of the Milky Way galaxy. We belong to the human race and share this precious blue planet with endless of other different species of life. Our planet boosts with life and although we fight and kill each other frequently, most of us cherish life more than anything else. XHumans were clever enough to invent insurance. We insure everything; starting from our homes, cars and body, however we have no insurance for our dear planet, there is no other alternative, yet. RO We humans are explorers. It is in our blood, in our genes. We have already explored every little corner of our planet and we make use of our natural resources without any long term planning. Problems such as global warming and demographic issues start to pop up and a small volcano on a distant icy island can turn our daily life into a nightmare. Combining the aforementioned features leads to one conclusion; humans should try and reach other planets. The closest and reachable planet to establish our next home t is within the solar system which contains a number of planets. In order to succeed in this great journey of our race we should gather information, as much as possible and get to know our neighboring planets. A good starting point will be to know the names of the planets and few interesting facts about them. Well, we should also take better care of the one we have! BTW, hasn’t it already been ascertained that we can’t support life on any of the planets we know of in our solar system? Nowadays the students are exposed to an enormous amount of information which is easily accessed by a finger click. It seems that sometimes they just get lost in this soup of information and have difficulties distinguishing between important facts of life and the “background noise” in which they are so immersed in. They are so focused in the small daily details that they miss the big picture and the right perspective. I believe that it is better that one knows what goes on out there, beyond the clouds. The more they know about our close neighboring planets and the future possibilities the more they will become aware of their lives on Earth and cherish them. People have been watching the stars ever since. Ever since when? Not so long ago many of them worshiped the sun and the moon ascribing them God- like characteristics. They didn’t know much about them; however they identified their periodical behavior. They have been watching them with their eyes and encountered them each and every day. Galileo, a very clever man who lived at the beginning of what? between the 17th to 18th centuries, is known to be the inventor and first builder of an astronomical telescope. The telescope wide opened the eyes of the astronomers and enabled us/people/scientists to see deeper and deeper into space. Thanks to Galileo, his followers, and the development of new technology, the knowledge we have today about the solar system and the universe is enormous. I would like to expose the students to a small fraction of this exciting field and let them be aware of the magnificence of space. I love looking at the sky at night and being able to understand where we humans float in space upon this magnificent rhapsody which is called Earth. I would like to share some of my personal knowledge and enthusiasm with the students and open new frontiers for them. This is a great opportunity to teach English through a very interesting field of knowledge. The natural interest the students might have in the content will help me strengthen their English skills. Cognitive Map Physics Classical Observation of celestial objects with naked eyes Astronomy Mathematics Engine technology Computer science Material science Modern Use of a variety of optical instruments and advanced technological methods (spectroscopy, radio telecopy and other) Space exploration Robotic Stars Few planets Earth’s moon Cosmic eventseclipses, aurora Archaeology – Stonehenge and similar structures. Constellations, zodiac and Astrology. Paganism and celestial objects. Different kinds of stars All planets + dwarf planets Other planets’ moons Asteroids and comets Super novas and nebulas Galaxies Universe – deep field exploration Black holes Satellites Space ships Robotic surface vehicles. Manned Man on the moon project. International space station. Space shuttles. Future missions to Mars. - An Outline - The Solar System Where no man has gone before… (Star Trek) 1. Terminology. A. stars B. Planets C. Dwarf planets D. moons E. Solar system F. Galaxy G. Universe 2. The Solar System. A. Position within the Milky Way galaxy. B. Names of planets. C. Order of planets around the sun. D. Inner planets (solid) and outer planets (gaseous) - characteristics. 3. Comparison between Earth and Mars. A. Dimensions. B. Different features [temperature, atmosphere composition, existence of water]. C. Up to date unmanned missions. D. Future planned manned missions. The Solar System – Content Outline The Solar System is the name that was given to the collection of celestial bodies that contains the Sun (which is a star by definition) and eight planets (which Earth is one of them) that orbit the sun regularly. In ancient times, people gazed at the night sky. They observed thousands of spots of light which kept their position and also few dots of light that changed their position. They named those dots of light – planets, meaning wonderers. Eitan – they mean wAnderers, which is a whole different thing. They named those dots of light after Roman gods such as Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Venues and Saturn. They didn’t know much about them except of their movement in the night’s sky. At the beginning of the 17th century, Galileo Galilee, a very talented scientist, managed to build the first astronomic telescope (1609) after he placed a couple of convex and concave lenses at both sides of a metal tube. Soon enough he and his colleges again – I think you mean colleagues here had started looking at the sky. With the great magnification that the new instrument enabled, astronomers could spot details that they couldn’t have observed before. Step by step, more and more information was gathered and eventually 3 more planets were discovered. Uranus was discovered in 1781, Neptune in 1846 and finally the smallest of them all, Pluto, which was recently downgraded to a dwarf planet, was discovered in 1930. Four dwarf planets except Pluto were discovered in recent years. Except of the planets and dwarf planets that orbit the sun, the Solar System consists of other kinds of celestial bodies such as asteroids (relatively small rocky bodies) and comets. There’s a huge belt of asteroids which is positioned between Mars and Jupiter and there are comets that occasionally can be seen in the night’s sky because of their gaseous tail which is formed during their voyage through space while orbiting the sun. As science and technology developed, new scientific methods and new instruments were invented. One of the biggest achievements of human kind was to land upon Earth’s moon. Men first landed on the surface of moon in 1969. The efforts and financial investment of the American government were immense. The technological tools that were specifically designed for that mission paved the way for many other developments. What is a star? A star is a celestial body that produces light. Its radius can range from few dozens of kilometres (neutron stars) to practically billions of kilometres (Mu Cephi star, a red giant, 1.4 billion km in diameter). The emitted light is produced via thermonuclear fusion which occurs at the core of the star. This process in very energetic and large quantities of energy leaves the surface of the star in the form of light and heat. Stars differ largely in their physical features such as dimensions, luminosity, mass, density and also their chemical composition. The nearest star to Earth is the sun. It is an insignificant star among billions of other stars; nevertheless it is the most important star for us, humans. It is the source of life. It supplies the light hence the energy needed for the development of vegetation and sustains the process of photosynthesis. It is responsible for Earth’s climate and creates the right conditions for water evaporation and the formation of rain clouds and water cycle. It holds Earth in a fixed orbit that maintains the range of temperatures so that all kinds of living species can survive. Source: http://starmatt.com/gallery/astro/ic1396.html - Mu Cephi star What is a planet? A planet is a celestial object that orbits around a star. The force which holds the planet in orbit around its star is the force of gravity. Planets have round shape. It is so because of their own gravity that pulls them into a spherical shape. Planets differ from stars by not producing light by any kind of nuclear processes. Being non-lightemitters, planets are quite hard to spot. They can be seen only by the fact they reflect the light of the sun. The two most distant planets in the solar system, Uranus and Neptune, were discovered only in the 20th century due to their very pale light reflection. There was a great disputation over the definition of the term planet after the discovery of several Pluto-like objects in recent years thanks to the advanced technology. The International astronomical union, IAU, had finally published its definition (2006) and it is hereby quoted: The IAU therefore resolves that planets and other bodies in our Solar System, except satellites, be defined into three distinct categories in the following way: (1) A "planet"1 is a celestial body that: (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and (c) has cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit. (2) A "dwarf planet" is a celestial body that: (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape2, (c) has not cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit, and (d) is not a satellite. (3) All other objects3 except satellites orbiting the Sun shall be referred to collectively as "Small Solar System Bodies". Footnotes:1 The eight planets are: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. 2 An IAU process will be established to assign borderline objects into either “dwarf planet” or other categories. 3 These currently include most of the Solar System asteroids, most TransNeptunian Objects (TNOs), comets, and other small bodies. The IAU further resolves: Pluto is a "dwarf planet" by the above definition and is recognised as the prototype of a new category of transNeptunian objects. The above citation is adopted from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_definition_of_planet What is a moon? A moon (or a natural satellite) is a celestial body which orbits around a planet. Until the beginning of the 17th century and the invention of the telescope, only one moon was known, Earth’s moon (or Luna in Latin). Galileo was the first man to discover Jupiter’s 4 biggest moons. Since that occasion hundreds of moons had been discovered by astronomers within the limits of the solar system. The Milky Way galaxy What is a galaxy? A galaxy is a collection of stars, cosmic dust and gaseous matter that circle around a massive gravitational centre. The sun and planets of the solar system are only a tiny fraction of the Milky Way galaxy. Our galaxy is 100,000 light years in diameter, an inapprehensible big number. The smallest galaxies contain millions of stars while the largest ones contain hundreds of billions of stars. Our universe is nowadays known to contain billions of galaxies. A proof for this was achieved by the Hubble space telescope in 1995. Scientist aimed the space telescope towards an insignificant, seemingly empty and dark spot in the night’s sky. The telescope camera continuously shot that dark small area for over a week without ant interruption in order to achieve long exposure. Afterwards the data was processed and the result was astonishing. More than 3000 galaxies were revealed in the picture. Galaxies of all kind of shapes and characteristics appeared in the photo. This image “opened up” the universe in front of us and proved that our universe is much richer in matter than anything we could have imagined before. The planets of the Solar System. [Brief information] The following table presents major features of the eight planets of the Solar system: Name Ordinal Average Planet’s Cycle No. of number distance diameter time moons from the from sun [km] [year] sun [m- km] Inner Mercury First 58 4,878 0.24 0 planets Venus Second 108 12,104 0.62 0 Earth Third 150 12,760 1.00 1 Mars Fourth 228 6,790 1.88 2 Outer Jupiter Fifth 770 142,800 11.86 63 planets Saturn Sixth 1427 120,536 29.46 61 Uranus Seventh 2871 51,118 84.01 27 Neptune Eighth 4497 49,528 194.79 13 Planet Mercury Mercury is the smallest planet in the Solar System and the closest to the sun. Because of its closeness to the sun, its surface temperature rises up to 400 degrees Celsius and it lacks any atmosphere. It has the shortest orbit around the sun and one orbit lasts around 88 days. It is hard to spot without a telescope as it is so close to the sun. It can be spot just before sunrise or just after sunset. It has been known for ages and records of it were found in Babylonian scripts. The Babylonians and Greeks believed there were actually two stars and the named them differently. Only in the 4th century A.D, astronomers understood it was the same star and the Roman name of Mercury became common. It is the less explored planet in the Solar System because of its position near the sun. However great efforts were made to map its surface and collect data. The first mission took place between 1974 and 1975 by NASA’s Mariner 10 spacecraft. The following mission still continuous by the Messenger space craft which was launched by NASA in 2004. The space craft is about to enter an orbit around Mercury in 2011 and finish the mapping of its surface. Planet Venus Venus is the second planet from the sun. It resembles earth in diameter and density; however other features are extremely different. The Roman’s named it after their beloved goddess of beauty – Venus, probably because it was and still is the brightest body in the night’s sky. It is covered with a dense layer of sulphuric clouds that reflect very well the light of the sun. It is the hottest planet in the solar system even though it is not the closest to the sun. This phenomenon occurs due to its highly dense atmosphere which consists mainly of carbon dioxide gas. The high concentration of the CO2 gas is responsible for a radical green-house effect which keeps the surface temperature very high. At least a dozen of exploration missions to Venues were executed by the Americans and the Soviets. The first interplanetary mission was headed by the soviets towards Venus, probably because it is the closest planet to Earth. Most of the space probes didn’t reach the planet’s surface due to the extreme atmospheric pressure that is 100 times than of Earth’s. The atmosphere is poisonous and can’t sustain human life. Planet Earth Earth is the third planet from the sun. It is home for us humans and for other thousands of species of life. It is a dynamic planet with a sophisticated ecosystem. It is the only planet in the Solar System to have liquid water because of its convenient range of temperatures. Its orbit around the sun lasts 1 year and it rotates around its axis within one day. It has a strong magnetic field and its atmosphere is rich with oxygen. Due to its atmosphere it is relatively well protected from meteorites and its surface is almost “crater-free” unlike Mercury. However there were some great impacts in the past and one of them is believed to extinct the dinosaurs about 65 millions years ago. Thanks to that ancient extinction we exist today. The human race is in race for its existence thus develops space technology rapidly. However the vast distances and the hostile environment of outer space still pose a huge barrier in front of manned space exploration and settlements. There is no doubt that human kind will achieve the technology required for interplanetary manned missions, it is just a matter of time and budget. Meanwhile the human race is at the mercy of heaven. Planet Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the sun and the second closest to Earth. It is relatively small in comparison with Earth, about half of Earth’s diameter. The Roman god of war, Mars, is the source for its name as his reddish appearance in the sky resembled somewhat the colour of blood. Mars and Earth share some similar features such as the length of the day which is almost identical and also the change in seasons due to the fact both planets have almost the same tilt angel. Mars has no liquid water upon it; however there are large quantities of icy water, especially at its poles. Mars is the most explored planet in the solar system and enormous budgets are invested in its research. It is considered to be the most suitable place for human colonisation in the solar system. The major problem is lack of oxygen and also radiation and low temperatures, however a great deal of efforts are invested in order to come up with suitable long term solutions. NASA already has started working on a long term project of landing men on Mars. The optimal forecast for such an event lies far as 25 years into the future. There are still many problems to overcome and the great distance is somewhat difficult to abridge for a manned mission with nowadays technology. Planet Jupiter Jupiter is the “giant” of the solar system. It is 11 times bigger in diameter than Earth and it is 1300 times bigger in its volume than Earth. Its mass is 2.5 bigger than the mass of all the other planets of the solar system combined together. It is a completely different world than Earth. It is a world of gas that is held together by immense power of gravity. Jupiter’s atmosphere is composed of 71% hydrogen, 24% helium and 5% of other different light elements. Jupiter can be spotted easily with naked eyes during the night however its unique patterns were discovered only after the invention of the telescope. It has a large number of moons (63) of which some of them have very strange patterns. Europa, the second largest moon of Jupiter is an icy world. Measurements indicate that liquid water is present under the icy surface. Some speculate that there is a possibility to find forms of life in this under terrain sea, however there is no evidence for this. There are future plans to send a space probe to check this issue. Few space crafts had flown by it in the past and captured many detailed photos. Only one space probe was sent into its atmosphere. This probe made measurements for about 1 hour before it was crushed by the immense pressure. The “red eye” which is easily spotted even with an armature telescope is a huge storm that has been blowing upon Jupiter for centuries. Planet Saturn Saturn is best known for its magnificent planetary rings which consist mainly of ice, dust and small rocks. There are 9 rings. Few theories regarding the origin of the rings were developed however none of them was proved. Similar to Jupiter, its neighbour, it is classified as a gas giant. It is the sixth planet from the sun. Because of its distance from the sun, it takes Saturn almost 30 years to complete one circle around the sun. Its gaseous composition somewhat resembles Jupiter’s and contains a mixture of hydrogen and helium. Saturn was “visited” several times by unmanned space crafts. High resolution pictures were sent to Earth and lots of data was collected. Planet Uranus Uranus is the seventh planet from the sun. It also possesses a Roman god name. Although it was around for many millions of years and it is somewhat visible to the naked eye (blurred), it wasn’t considered a planet until late 1781. In that year it was officially declared as a planet after it was observed carefully by astronomical telescopes. It was the first time in history that a new planet was found by a telescope. Because of its very slow orbit around the sun (84 years), it was mistakenly considered to be a star. Uranus is the coldest planet in the solar system. It is very far from the sun thus its temperature is about 50 degrees Kelvin which is -223 degrees Celsius. Uranus also possesses a set of planetary rings similar to Saturn; however they are much darker in appearance and they seem to be in a vertical position when observed from Earth. Its bluish hue (or cyan) is formed due to high concentration of methane gas in its upper atmosphere. The only time it was approached was in 1986 by the voyager 2 space craft on its way towards Neptune. It managed to produce high resolution pictures, to discover 10 new moons and to make some measurements. It took Voyager 2 almost ten years to reach Uranus, however in cosmic scale this distance is nothing. Planet Neptune The eighth and last planet from the sun is Neptune. It is called after the Roman god of the sea (former Poseidon by the Greeks). Differently than the other planets, Neptune was rather found after its existence was calculated mathematically. Astronomers observed some kinds of distortions in Uranus orbit and speculated there was another object which was responsible for that phenomenon. However it was finally found only in 1846. It is quite similar to Uranus in composition. Neptune also has a bluish hue, similar to Uranus, due to the presence of methane in its upper atmosphere. Being the most distant planet from the sun influences its temperature which is very low. Nevertheless it is not as low as Uranus’ temperature due to internal high energy source which is not yet clear to scientists. Neptune also has a set of planetary rings which were photographed by Voyager 2 space craft in 1989. Voyager’s approach was the only exploration attempt of this remote planet. Similar to the “red eye” storm of Jupiter, Neptune has also an “eye” of its own, a powerful storm with extremely rapid winds of up to 2000 km per hour. Dwarf Planets This category was added recently by the international astronomical union (IAU). The major “victim” was the once considered planet – Pluto. Pluto was discovered only in 1930 and since than till 2006 it was considered the ninth planet of the solar system. In the late 20th century 2 more celestial bodies similar to Pluto in dimensions were found. These new findings led the astronomical union to create the new category. So far, this category consists of 5 dwarf planets: Pluto, Eris, Ceres, Haumea and Makemake. ILOs – Intended Learning Outcomes 1. SWBAT list at least 6 out of the 8 planets of the solar system and 2 dwarf planets. 2. SWBAT sequence the planets, at lest 6 of them, by the right order from the sun. 3. SWBAT define the terms: sun (star), moon, planet, solar system and galaxy. 4. SWBAT compare and contrast the different features of planet Earth with planet Mars (Atmospheric composition, diameter, distance from the sun) Central questions These are no central questions I ever approved! There are never more than two! I would think they would be: What is the solar system? Why is it important for us to know about it? 1. What is Earth and where is it located? 2. What celestial objects exist in our near surroundings? 3. What lies beyond the stars which we can observe with our naked eyes at night? 4. What means exist for space exploration and why are we so keen to explore it? Course outline Activity A reading passage regarding the planets of the solar system which contains numeric facts and general features. The students will scan the text for specific information and also read it for profound understanding. Nine Planets song. Students listen to a song in which they follow up (identify and mark) the names of the planets and verify/correct their order from the sun. Listening to a debrief of a team of astronauts prior to their mission to planet Mars. On a large piece of paper attached to the wall, groups will create an appealing advertisement as if they represent a tourist space agency. Compose a short poem in which the 5 new words will be integrated Chain story- incorporates new vocabulary and knowledge into an improvised plot that takes place in the solar system. ILO Skills Scanning and reading 1,2 Listening 1,2 Listening 4 3 3 4 Writing English Objective Swbat scan for the names of the planets, their diameters and position relative to the sun (make use of ordinal numbers) Swbat recognize the names of the planets and their ordinal sequence from the sun. Swbat listen for specific information (numbers) and write it down correctly according to the factual numbers that they hear on a recorded debrief. Swbat synthesize new vocabulary into different context Writing Practice the use of new (Homework) vocabulary within a poem context, Hots, rhyming. Free interpretation. Swbat speaking freely interpret a plot while making use of facts about Earth, Mars and the solar system. I don’t really see the connection here. Your whole unit is a scientific one – all about them learning the names of the planets, defining terms, gettting them to see the differences – and then y ou move to a sort of literature thing. Why not get them to do what you really want which is to analyze whether or not these planets are inhabitable? Why not get them to practice more in learning the names – like inventing games etc? Teaching the unit Why isn’t this in your course outline? In order to evaluate the students’ knowledge, a pre-test was given after a brief presentation of the subject. Full name: ____________________ Class: ___________ May 9th, 2010 The Solar System – Check your knowledge! Instructions: Please match the names of the planets from the “planet bank” to the schema of the Solar System. Planet “Bank” 8 Earth, Neptune, Mars, Venus, Mercury, 7 Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus Planet 1 ___________________________ Planet 2 ___________________________ 6 SUN Planet 3 ___________________________ 1 Planet 4 ___________________________ 5 2 3 Planet 5 ___________________________ Planet 6 ___________________________ 4 Planet 7 ___________________________ Planet 8 ___________________________ Fianl Quiz Full name: ____________________ Class: ___________ May 11th, 2010 The Solar System – Check your knowledge! 8 7 Planet 1 ___________________________ Planet 2 ___________________________ Planet 3 ___________________________ 6 SUN Planet 4 ___________________________ 1 Planet 5 ___________________________ 5 2 3 Planet 6 ___________________________ Planet 7 ___________________________ 4 Planet 8 ___________________________ 1. What kind of planet Pluto is? Name one more of his kind________________________________________________________ 2. What is a star, give an example? __________________________________ 3. What is a galaxy? In which galaxy do we live? ______________________ ____________________________________________________________ 4. What is a moon? ______________________________________________ 5. Which planet is bigger, Earth or Mars? ____________________________ 6. How long is a Martian year [days]? __________and Earth’s? ___________ 7. How much oxygen [%] exists on Mars? ______and on Earth? __________ Reading activity The Solar System The Sun is the only star in the solar system. It is located at the centre of the system and all the planets circle around it. The gravity force of the sun (remember Newton’s apple?!) is the reason why Earth and the other planets revolve around the sun year after year. Our planet is called Earth and it’s the third planet from the sun. It looks blue if you look at it from outer space because it has blue oceans. The oceans are 70% of earth’s surface; the other 30% is land. It is indeed a beautiful planet. Our planet is only one out of eight planets that circle around our sun. Earth has a diameter of 12,760 km. Jupiter is the fifth planet from the sun and the largest one in the solar system. Jupiter is so huge in comparison with Earth that only it’s famous “Red Eye” powerful storm is much larger than Earth itself. Jupiter is 142,800 km in diameter. Jupiter is next to Mars which is also known as the “Red Planet” because it appears red in the night’s sky. Mars is the most interesting planet today and most of the exploration efforts are focused on it. This is because people think that it is possible to reach Mars and live there. The Americans have already sent two spaceships and also a special robot-car that actually drove on the surface of Mars. Mars is 6,790 km in diameter. The first planet from the sun is called Mercury. Because Mercury is so close to the sun (“only” 60 million Km), the temperature on its surface is so high that there is no water and no life. It is as hot as 400 degrees Celsius at ground level, yet a NASA spaceship [Mariner 10] approached it and explored it in 1975 and a second spaceship [Messenger] went there in 2008. It is 4,878 km in diameter. The eighth planet from the sun is called Neptune. Neptune looks blue and it is very cold and covered with ice. It is number four in size with a diameter of 49,528 km. Many years Pluto was considered to be the ninth planet from the sun and the most distant in the solar system. It was also the smallest. However, with the development of new technology, some other objects similar to Pluto were found. Astronomers reclassified Pluto and now it is considered only a “dwarf planet.” One other dwarf planet is Makemake which is located beyond Pluto’s orbit and is ¾ of Pluto’s size. The sixth planet from the sun is called Saturn. Saturn has beautiful rings that surround it and give it a unique look. It is the second largest planet at 120,536 km in diameter. There is a planet which is located between Saturn and Neptune and is called Uranus. Uranus is the seventh planet from the sun. It is the coldest of all planets (–224 °C) and is 51,118 km in diameter. Finally, the second planet from the sun is called Venus. Venus is similar to Earth in size but it is much closer to the sun, so it also has high temperatures and life is impossible on it. The Americans and the Russians sent 5 spaceships (with no crew) to land and explore this planet. It is 12,104 km in diameter. * A4 pictures of the planets were presented during this activity. Post reading activity: Now, after you have read the text regarding the planets: 1. Write down the names of the planets according to their position relatively to the sun and complete the missing ordinal numbers: 1st (first) 2nd ( ) 3rd( ) 4th( ) 5th( ) 6th( ) 7th( ) 8th( ) SUN Solid Gaseous 2. Write down the names of the planets from the largest to the smallest: The biggest: Diameter = [km] Diameter = [km] Diameter = [km] Diameter = [km] Diameter = [km] Diameter = [km] Diameter = [km] Diameter = [km] Write down the names of the dwarf planets that appear in the text: ____________ ______________ Mnemonic device: During the lesson the students were taught a new strategy to help them remember the order of the planets of the solar system: It is called a mnemonic device. The principle that rules this strategy is the fact that the human mind can easily remember “chunks “of information rather than separated objects. So the order of the planets was integrated into a sentence which is quite easy to remember. Each first letter in each word also represents the first letter of a planet’s name. Venus My Mercury very Mars educated Saturn mother Earth just Jupiter Neptune served us noodles. Uranus “Cosmic riddle” It was handed to the students at the end of the first lesson [laminated little cards]. Find out what’s wrong with this picture! …and the answer is: Mars is missing! Indeed we can see eight celestial objects (excluding the sun which is partially shown), however the last one is Pluto which is not a planet anymore and the fourth one (which is Mars) is absolutely missing. THE SONG OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM (well… Pluto is just a dwarf…isn’t it?) Well you got nine, nine, nine. Sing it one more time. Yeah, you got nine, nine, nine. Look at how they shine. When you got Nine planets in the solar system Some are so darn small you might have missed them Like my favorite one, that’d be Pluto It’s so alone and far away You want to put it in your pocket for a rainy day and sing Nine planets in the solar system If we had to name them all We just might miss one or two or maybe three let’s wait and see Mercury, well it’s too hot Is Venus cold?, It’s just so not Some people say Mars has got Martians and I guess they got a point But Earth’s got weird people too Well you got nine, nine, nine. Sing it one more time. Yeah, you got nine, nine, nine. It’s almost a crime. When you got Nine planets in the solar system If we had to name them all We just might miss one or two Maybe three or four. Let’s name some more. Jupiter, well it’s not small at all And Saturn with its rings, it’s not like a ball at all Neptune and Uranus should hardly detain us When Pluto’s just right down the hall Well you got nine, nine, nine. Sing it one more time. Yeah, you got nine, nine, nine. It’s almost a crime. When you got Nine planets in the solar system Some are so darn small you might have missed them Like my favorite one, that’d be Pluto It’s so alone and far away you want to put it in your pocket for a rainy day Take it out every once in a while and say That’s a mighty nice planet that I got, Why yes it is Listening Activity II (about 4.5 minutes, self recorded) Good morning astronauts! You are the best team in the world. You were chosen to the most adventurous and also dangerous mission that man has ever gone to, a space mission to planet Mars. That’s right, your heading to planet Mars. I know you are very excited before this great journey begins, however, before you go there you should know some important details regarding planet Mars and how it is different from our planet –Earth. The First thing you’d better know is that Earth is about 90 million kilometres from the sun while Mars is about 150 million kilometres from the sun, so now you can understand how far Mars actually is. It is simple Mathematics, it’s 150 million minus 90 million, and the answer is 60 million. Yes, 60 million kilometres separate between Earth and Mars and it will take you around 6 months to get there, you heard correctly, 6 months, half a year, 180 days- you name it, but surely you will have to get along on the spaceship during this long period of time. Second important thing you should know is that the day on Mars is longer by 40 minutes than the day on Earth, that’s right, just 40 minutes. While the length of a whole day on Earth is 24 hours, the day on Mars is 24 hours and 40 minutes, so as you can see, the day on both planets is very much alike. Third important data regards the size of Earth and Mars. Earth is 12,760 kilometres in diameter while Mars is only 6,790 kilometres in diameter, so Earth is much larger than Mars. Hey you, that’s right, you with the broken helmet, did you get that? You weren’t listening. I’ll repeat once again- 12,760 kilometres for Earth and 6,790 kilometres for Mars- please write that down. The fourth fact you’d like to know is that a whole year on Earth is 365 days but a year on Mars lasts much longer- it is 687 days, almost double. Because the Martian year is so long, as I have just mentioned – 687 days, each season is much longer on Mars than on Earth. The fifth interesting fact you’d like to know is where on Mars you are going to land with your spaceship. So, you’re going to land near the highest volcano on Mars, actually it is the highest volcano in the solar system, it is called Olympus Mons and it is 23 kilometres high, much higher than any mountain on Earth. The highest volcano on Earth is just 10 kilometres high, it is called Mauna Loa and it is located in Hawaii. The sixth and last crucial fact regards the atmosphere of mars. It is poisonous for humans. It contains 95% CO2 (carbon dioxide) and no oxygen. In order to cope with 95% CO2, you have to use oxygen masks. Earth has 21% of oxygen in its atmosphere and almost no CO2. Having 21% of oxygen makes life possible on Earth. There is much more information you need for your mission, but for now it is enough. I wish you good luck and may you return in peace (one piece please). While listening to the astronauts’ debrief, the students have to fill in the table below with the numbers which they occasionally hear. The activity is planned to be redundant enough so the students will have the opportunity to succeed. 9th grade – listening activity Earth vs. Mars Instructions: Listen to the information at the astronauts meeting and fill in the table with all the numbers you hear: Parameter Distance from the sun Length of day Planet’s diameter Length of year Highest volcano height % CO2 (carbon dioxide) in atmosphere % O2 (oxygen) in atmosphere Earth Mars million km hours million km Hours minutes km km days days km km % % % % Astronomical definitions in a nutshell [taken out of a dictionary]. Star Astronomy. Any of the large, self-luminous, heavenly bodies, as the sun, Polaris, etc. Planet Astronomy. a. Also called major planet. any of the eight large heavenly bodies revolving about the sun and shining by reflected light: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, in the order of their proximity to the sun. b. a similar body revolving about a star other than the sun. Moon a. The earth's natural satellite, orbiting the earth at a mean distance of 238,857 miles (384,393 km) and having a diameter of 2160 miles (3476 km). b. any planetary satellite: the moons of Jupiter. Solar System a. Often Solar System The sun together with the eight planets bodies that orbit the sun. and all other celestial b. A system of planets or other bodies orbiting another star. Galaxy Astronomy. a. a large system of stars held together by mutual gravitation and isolated from similar systems by vast regions of space. b. (Usually initial capital letter ) Milky Way. An example of a short poem which makes use of the above words and has a rhyme pattern: My planet is Earth It’s my place of birth I like its moon so much I raise my hand to touch Our galaxy is so wide You really need a good guide So, get into rhythm And visit the solar system Don’t forget to play your guitar While you pass near a star Second writing activity On the basis of the defined terminology and the example of a short poem which were presented in class, the students were asked to compose short poems of their own as homework. Speaking activity The last activity of the unit was a chain story which takes place in the Solar System. The story was commenced by me in this manner: In the year 2525, Gizmo, a very intelligent police robot of the galactic police force was sent to planet Mars in order to investigate a case of murder… it was a complicated case and the first clue was found on planet Mars… to be continued. Final quiz By the end of the last lesson the students were given a similar test to the pre-test which was given to them on the first lesson except of two differences; first, the names of the planets weren’t listed on the form so the students had to rely solely on their memory and the mnemonic device strategy that they have just studied and secondly, I added some questions to reflect the ILOs. This time, those who attended all the lessons made it quickly, confidently and quite successfully. Student’s Feedback Form Activities The order of the planets relative to the sun(reading and listening) Numeric facts of Earth and Mars (listening) Definitions of solar system’s related terms (reading) The galactic tourist agency group work (writing) The investigation of a murder that occurred on Mars by a police robot (speaking) Questions Did you enjoy learning about the solar system? Did you learn new information during the unit? Do you feel you would like to learn some more about this topic? Will you share your new acquired knowledge with your friends and family? What was your over all experience of the unit? 1 2 3 4 5 Evaluation and Reflection Reflection I May 9th – first lesson – 6th hour. I came early to school today. I wanted to absorb the atmosphere. I feel I don’t spend enough time at school and I want to feel the rhythm of it. I was a bit confused. I thought I need to teach on fifth hour, but I was wrong, it was the sixth hour. Sunday is not my regular day at school and I am not familiar with the schedule of this day. However, during the hours I spent at school, I observed other lessons. While I was observing, I thought about my CBU and whether I chose wisely to start over with the informative reading passage at the first lesson. The more I got closer to the sixth hour, the more I felt some inconvenience. I chose not to change anything and go with the plan. I stepped into the class with a great feeling that I am going to teach my students some valuable knowledge through material that interests me- the Solar System. It took them some while to enter the class, they were heavily breathing after a sports lesson that took place in the lower building. They entered the class with great fatigue and I couldn’t start the lesson for at least 5 minutes as more students came in lately. Eventually, I told them we’re going on a tour into space, emphasizing the word space, which in my opinion is a superb word that encompasses mystery and greatness just in its sound. I wrote the names of the planets on board and elicited some information from the students. They were tired and not very focused and I had to make some stunts in order to get them focused. The subject was very interesting but indeed the 6th hour is quite problematic. If I get these late hours next year, I will think what can be done to help the students maintain their focus and benefit something from the lesson. I know they like me a lot, however it’s not sufficient and I should maybe have thought of some activity to loosen them up a bit… but I didn’t. I had so many methodologies to follow up in order to fulfil the goals of this unit. I also had to check their knowledge, so some short while after the presentation of the names of the planets and after we pronounced together the names of the planets in chorus, I pulled out the small quiz I have prepared and told them to fill in what they know, “please don’t guess” I told them, if you don’t know, just write “I don’t know”. I told them it wasn’t a test, it is just to help me evaluate how to teach them the new material. Some of them didn’t like it at all and were bitter, they in a way didn’t anticipate to be tested by me. Many of them don’t like being surprised and have difficulty to admit that they don’t know something. I had to check their baseline knowledge according to the instructions; however I didn’t feel good about it. I must confess that it was the first test I gave my students this year, so maybe deep inside me I felt it shouldn’t have been done this way. I collected the sheets; many of them were just blank. They had to order the planets according to their general knowledge. Many of them didn’t have the slightest clue; others knew the order more or less, so indeed there are huge gaps of general knowledge in this class. I proceeded as planned. Those who knew what I was talking about were interested and followed the lesson. There were few students that this material just didn’t appeal to them and they weren’t focused. Now I told them they have just met our neighbours in the solar system – the seven planets(without Earth), but we have forgotten the most important STAR (on board) in the solar system… some of them answered the Sun. The sun is the heart of the system and the entire planets orbit around it, each one in its own pace. I drew a rough schema of the solar system on board and without the proper name of each. I told them that it is most common to relate to the planets according to their position relatively to the sun. I told them that our home planet-Earth is the third from the sun and I wrote 3,3rd and third next to the third circle in the schema. We moved together from planet to planet on the board and I called students to the board to fill in the ordinal numbers next to the schema and practiced the pronunciation of the ordinal numbers and the names of the planets as we proceeded. Than I told them that in order to get to know our neighbouring planets we will have to read the latest gossip at the back page of THE Sun magazine… only a few understood the humour. I told them that each planet is special and unique and they are very different one from the other. I instructed them to look for the proper names of the planets (capitalized!) the ordinal numbers and the diameters of the planets-scan for information – I also explained graphically on board what is a diameter. Afterwards, I handed two handouts and let them scan and read for 10 minutes to complete the assignment. I advised them to mark the specific details they were looking for with a marker. They had to figure out the right order of the planets and also to order them from the largest to the smallest. At this point many of them were engaged with the work, however I had about 4 students that were off track and just didn’t want to do anything. I rapidly grouped those 4 around me and lead them through the text. After they have finished I asked them to tell me, without looking at their pages, which is the seventh planet? Which is the second planet? They had a problem with that and had to check their notes, so now I offered them a way to memorise the order and put on board the sentence- My very educated mother just served us noodles. At first they laughed because they didn’t see any connection, but after I had shown them how easily the order of the planets can be derived out of this sentence, they liked it. They started improvising other versions of the sentence with words in Hebrew.. ( נקניקיותfor the n at the end). At the last minute of the lesson I handed them with small laminated colourful cards which I have prepared. I told them to take a close look at it at home and try to figure out what’s wrong with the picture. Actually it was a small riddle in which you can see eight planets but the last one is Pluto and the fourth one, which is Mars, is missing. I told them we’ll talk about it tomorrow morning. When I drove back home, I felt on the one hand that some how I have managed to teach them what I wanted to teach them, however I didn’t feel satisfied. I believe that I took it too personally because I like this subject so much, so of course everyone else should also like it. But this is B.S as I truly know, so I must stop this habit of taking things too personally, that won’t help me! It’s good to have personal interest in a subject. On my behalf, when ever I have a personal interest in a subject I also share the knowledge more naturally and enthusiastically. Reflection II May 10th- Reflection- Double lesson I was excited to start the lesson and really waited for it. The lesson on Monday is a double one, so I figured out we can have a great learning session together. The troubles started already early in the morning. It was such a hot day, 38 degrees Celsius, that everyone at school looked so miserable including me. The airconditioners didn’t function at all and the 7th grade students were nervous and agitated. I hoped that the 9th graders will take it easily, but the minute they entered the class, I saw their red cheeks and sweaty faces so I anticipated some class management problems. I drew out the laminated card and waved it up high above my head and quickly went to the middle of the class to draw their attention. Some of them followed me with their eyes and one of them shouted that he knows the answer. I asked if he was the only one to know, and than about half of the class told they knew the answer. So, I asked the first student to stand up and tell us the answer. He told it was Mars. Mars was missing from the picture. While he was talking, a constant buzz was evolving in class, half of the class was complaining about the heat, they were thirsty, they asked to open the windows and the door, but it didn’t help, there was no wind, the air just stood heavily and sticky. I told them that on Mercury and Venus it is much hotter and we’re lucky to be the third planet from the sun, otherwise we would all be barbecued. I asked them to recall the sentence I taught them yesterday and some of them remembered it. I wrote it on the board and than I told them I’m going to play them a cute song about the solar system and I asked them to mark down the names of the planets in the song and to try and follow the rhymes and the tone. I handed them with a paper with the words of the song and played it loudly via my laptop. Some of them giggled, they liked the sound of it. Others looked at me as if I just fell of the moon. Three girls joined in at the refrain and sang along. During the song I went around the class and tried to extinguish the “fires”. On the one hand it was a happy song so it helped some of them to forget about the heat and focus upon the lovely melody. Others weren’t paying much attention and I needed to give them the” stare” in an attempt to calm them down. After the song was over I asked them to take a look at the names of the planets they have just marked and asked them to tell me what was wrong with the order of the planets. They immediately spotted that Mars was mentioned before Earth, which is the other way around, Earth is the third and Mars is the fourth from the sun. I asked them to use the ordinal numbers when they answer the question. Neptune and Uranus also switched places in the song, but it took them a while to figure that out. Than I went through a transition phase in the lesson, I picked up a table in the middle of the class and set on it. I asked them why do they think Mars is such an interesting planet and why does NASA invest so much money in its exploration. Why don’t invest the money here on planet Earth? Few students wanted to answer and spoke of an alternative to Earth. Some of them switched to Hebrew and I let them. I told them that some people think that in planet Mars lies the future of the human race and that we should seek for an alternative for our species because Earth is vulnerable and we must find a second place which we can develop, you can never know what will happen…It is scientifically proved that the great dinosaurs were extinct due to a collision between an asteroid and Earth 65 millions years ago. It was an asteroid of only 10 kilometres in diameter but because of its velocity, it hit Earth with an intensity of a billion nuclear bombs. So now, we’re going to listen to a meeting between the astronauts on the Mars mission and their guide. Before they go to a totally new place they should learn a lot of facts about Mars. The guide will tell the astronauts interesting facts about the planet, actually numbers. I wrote on the board the number 1000 and asked them to pronounce it loudly, than I 12,000 and asked them to say it. After I wrote 100 and than 700 and they pronounced it. Than I wrote the number 12,700 which is a combination of the numbers they have just pronounced and asked them to pronounce it, some of them had difficulties as it is a long string so I repeated it twice. I handed them with the sheets and asked them to listen to the numbers that the guide tells the astronauts about Mars and Earth, so that at the end they will have 5 different new facts about Mars and Earth. At this point they were already much more focused. I played the recording and went through the class to figure out whether the recording was clear enough from a distant seat. The sound was reasonable, but I must buy a new set of loudspeakers and a new microphone in the near future, I must minimise the background noises, it is difficult enough for the students even without any background noise. The length of the recording was about 4.5 minutes and I planned it to be redundant. I went around the class and glimpsed at their tables. Some of them were doing well, some of them had mistakes, they wrote different numbers and some didn’t write anything. After it was done, they asked me to play it once again. I told those who finished to check themselves and those who didn’t do anything, that they have a chance to complete it now. After the second time, we checked it briefly and I asked them to keep the tables in their notebooks. After that, I let them go out for five minutes to refresh and drink even though they have no break during a double lesson. The heat was just horrible. They came back and I immediately started a group work. I wanted to try that out and see what I can learn from the experience. I wrote five words on the board: moon, planet, star, solar-system, and galaxy. Why did I write them in this way? Some figured out they where written by the order of their size. From the smallest to the largest. I gave them a very short explanation about our galaxy, The Milky Way. Why it is called like that. How big it is. How much we already know about it and how many stars similar to our sun exist only in the Milky Way (aprox. 250-400 billions stars). I told them that the way people travel today from one country to the other with great ease; probably people will do the same in the far future and will travel from planet to planet in our galaxy. It is just a matter of time and technology and as we can see our race seeks for new technology all the time. I asked them to imagine they were tourist agents of the future and write down advertisement of an inter-galactic space agency. I divided them into five groups. Each group got a large A1 paper with few Lord Pens. One word had been already written in advance on each paper; Moon, Planet, Star, Solar System and Galaxy. They were asked to write an advertisement that will be attractive and to write down what they will offer the tourist when he arrives at the destination. I gave them about 10-15 minutes to plan and design it and went over all the time to help them establish their ideas. The idea was to make them think creatively, write in English and focus around the word they were given. Two groups managed to create a meaningful poster and wanted to present them to the class. I glue-taped both posters on the board and asked the groups to present their ideas. The three other groups didn’t manage to produce any significant outcome although I tried to help them with ideas. One of those group drew a very nice solar system schema, but didn’t write down anything and the remaining two group just didn’t have any inspiration and did nothing. Later: I must think it through again. How can I improve this kind of activity? I think it was a too open activity for them and for the English level they posses. Probably I should have brought them ready made slogans and several concrete ideas to help stimulate their minds. I should think about it, they really need help, they give up so easily and just say “we don’t know or we don’t understand or we can’t do that and so on. I would try this kind of activity as I believe it is beneficial to the students. It can have a good volume as they work the idea together in a group. They have to translate the idea into reality while cooperating with each other. However something was missing, an initiator or something similar. It seems they don’t believe in their capabilities and tend to be leaded instead of leading themselves. It is somewhat connected to the learning atmosphere in the classes and the fact that many of them seem to have lost interest in the studies. I will do my best to let them trust themselves and to be aware of the possibilities of knowing a language such as English. If they will be aware of the benefits of the language they will be much more cooperative and will want to expand their knowledge actively and I hope to see less and less passive behaviour as I encountered along the year. Reflection III May 11th- reflection The last lesson was planned to leave them with a good sensation. I knew I had to evaluate their new acquired knowledge, but I wanted them to feel good about the whole experience. The air conditioners were once again working and it was the second lesson, so at last I had good starting conditions. I started the lesson by calling the third group from yesterday and they have presented their idea. After that I wrote on the board the “famous” sentence- My Very Educated Mother Just served Us Noodles. They were “singing” the names of the planets at the right order. I just told them to pay attention to the fact there are two Ms , one for Mercury and one for Mars, but they should keep in mind that the second M is for Mars because it is Earth’s close neighbour, while the other M is for Mercury which is the planet closest to the sun. I told them that yesterday they made significant efforts to create nice posters around certain given words. Now I wanted to present them with the definitions of the words so that they will actually gain the knowledge and know what the definition of a moon is and how it is different from a planet and a star. I also wanted to show them how they can easily be creative by playing with the words. I handed them the sheets with the definitions of the words and mentioned I have taken them out of the Internet from www.dictionary. Com which is great English to English web dictionary site and I recommend them to use it as much as they can. This site has a function that pronounces the words in a very clear and accurate manner, so whenever they encounter a word they don’t know how to pronounce, they just have to type it and the computer will pronounce it for them- great thing! We went through the definitions, I chose 5 students and each one got to read one definition aloud to the class. They had some questions especially regarding the size of the galaxy. I didn’t want to confuse them with lots of data, so I just told them that in space we measure the distance with a unit that is called “light-year” which is the distant light passes in one year – a very big number (in fact there are other more scientific units for cosmic measurements). Afterwards I read them the little poem I wrote at the bottom of the handout and than two students asked to read it too, so they read it aloud. I showed them how I managed to use the five words we have just went through their definitions in the poem. As I cancelled the project I had in mind about a mission to Mars because of logistic problems with the computer class, I thought it will be nice to give them a small assignment to write a similar poem at home for next week. So I assigned them with this one and only homework assignment and asked them to bring it over for next Monday. After that part I decided to take them to an imaginable journey into space. I told them that I know a robot by the name of Gizmo. Gizmo is a very intelligent robot that investigates a case of murder that happened some where in our solar system. I will start the story and each of them has to contribute at least one sentence to the plot. They may use all the names of the planets they have just learned and also make use of the different facts about Earth and Mars in order to enrich the plot(I hanged the big table with the comparison between Mars and Earth on the board, the one they have completed during the second listening activity in order to help them). I started the story in this manner: In the year 2525, Gizmo, a very intelligent police robot of the galactic police force was sent to planet Mars to investigate a case of murder…. It was a very complicated case and the first clue was found on the summit of the highest mountain on Mars- The mighty Olympus Mons. Gizmo operated its double turbo rocket engine and with in a few minutes it was already near the summit…to be continued… I must say I cherish those moments, the class was somewhat electrified. All the students were attentive and followed my words eagerly. I felt that they lack these kinds of activities. Four students continued the plot one after the other; however the last one actually killed the robot and exploded it into small pieces. I had to intervene and create gizmo’s twin robot-brother that immediately replaced him in duty. Three more students continued the plot and that was it. I couldn’t get the rest of them to speak. They were interested in the activity but lacked the confidence to speak English. Some of them wanted to continue in Hebrew but I refused. I told them there’s no sense for Hebrew in this kind of activity. I concluded the story with several sentences of my own and I felt I did something great but I should return home and think it over in my mind. Those who didn’t speak actually listened to their friends and I found out actually who were the verbal stars of the class. It took less than 10 minutes but it was just great. Having them in good mood, I told them I would like them to write the quiz I gave them two days ago once again but without the names of the planets and with few added questions. I handed the quizzes and this time I felt they were ready and accepted it calmly. I read them the questions so that they would feel confident. They wrote it silently and than the bell rang. By the door I handed them with the feedback forms and asked them to bring them completed for the next lesson. Later: Indeed the speaking activity was great but it lacked the volume and because the class is so heterogeneous, many students just don’t speak. I don’t know, maybe they’re to shy to open their mouths or they are not used to speaking English and to improvise. Maybe I should have brought them some aids in order to ease the task. Maybe I should have prepared small cards with a general idea or a drawing or a picture and each student would have got one card. He or she would have had to relate to the card and develop the idea into a sentence or two. The next one would have had to relate to the previous idea and his own card and come up with a continuation to the plot. Maybe this would have been easier than a fully opened task as they were given. Regarding the use of web dictionaries; they are great and the students must be exposed to them. They are very user friendly and if I had an over head projector in class I would certainly have demonstrated the use of them. The way the students use their Facebook and other cool applications, they can use and benefit from the web dictionaries. I would certainly expose my students to it (English-English). ILOs’ Evaluation Here is the list of the ILOs of the unit. SWBAT list at least 6 out of the 8 planets of the solar system and 2 dwarf planets. SWBAT sequence the planets, at lest 6 of them, by the right order from the sun. SWBAT define the terms: star (sun), moon, planet, solar system and galaxy. SWBAT compare and contrast the different features of planet Earth with planet Mars (Atmospheric composition, diameter, distance from the sun) The basis for the evaluation was the data collected through the pre-test, post-test and my impressions during the process of teaching. Unfortunately the data is based only upon 10 students (6 boys and 4 girls) who were present all along the unit and fully completed all the activities, the tests, and filled in the feedback form. The table below presents the data of the tests’ results. Student Pre test results[%] Post test results[%] Student 1 0 92 Student 2 0 26 Student 3 0 8 Student 4 25 92 Student 5 37.5 92 Student 6 75 92 Student 7 75 100 Student 8 75 100 Student 9 100 100 Student 10 100 84 48.75 78.6 Average grade On the whole, this table shows an immense improvement. The level of knowledge with in the context of the unit’s content has increased dramatically. Let’s take a look at each ILO: 1st ILO: SWBAT list at least 6 out of the 8 planets of the solar system and 2 dwarf planets. This ILO was a major success. All the students except two (with the poorest results) scored the maximum score in the first section of the final quiz hence they internalised very well the names of the planets. Taking into account that 3 students that failed the pre-test did so well in the final test and 3 more improved their score dramatically, is indeed an achievement. The 2 students with the highest grade in the pre-test also got the maximum score in this section. I believe this ILO was easily achieved because of the multiple repetitions of the names of the planets in many activities and also the fact that the names are somewhat strange to the students and don’t resemble anything, contributed to this success. The second part of this ILO was also a great success. Most of the students had previous knowledge about Pluto. They knew it was a planet and most of them knew it was a remote one; however they didn’t know anything regarding its reclassification into a dwarf planet. This fact was easily remembered by them as it turns Pluto into a unique sort of planet (even though today it has 4 “brothers”) and also the students easily remembered the name of the other dwarf planet which I taught them – Makemake. I deliberately chose this one and not other dwarf planets such as Ceres or Eris, because I knew they will remember this funny name easily, and indeed I was right. 2nd ILO: SWBAT sequence the planets, at lest 6 of them, by the right order from the sun. This one was also a great success. The mnemonic device proved to be a very good strategy for this kind of knowledge. I recall how they had difficulties to remember the sequence on the first lesson and how easily they could repeat the order of the stars after they learnt the mnemonic device. Most of them had no problems to remember the sentence – my very educated mother just served us noodles. This sentence flows and it is logic and catchy, so most of them remembered it. Again, there were no mistakes in the final test in this section (aside of the 2 students who failed). 3rd ILO: SWBAT define the terms: star (sun), moon, planet, solar system and galaxy. This ILO is harder to evaluate in a complete way. I had no intentions overloading the students with questions so I covered only 3 out of 5 definitions in the final quiz. I chose galaxy, star and moon and didn’t choose solar system and planet. Few mistakes occurred when students tried to explain what a galaxy is. Some of them didn’t know how to write the definition properly and 2 of them confused it with a collection of planets instead of stars. Nevertheless, most of them were quite accurate and even used the term gravity force in order to describe the force which holds the stars together in a galaxy. I was also interested to find out whether they internalised the idea that the sun is the only star in the solar system by asking them to define a star and to give an example. Only one student wrote a wrong answer (aside of the two that failed of course). So the idea was indeed understood and these students know the difference between a star and a planet, however I would have checked it again in a different manner if I had had more time. 4th ILO: SWBAT compare and contrast the different features of planet Earth with planet Mars (Atmospheric composition, diameter, distance from the sun). This ILO was supported by the second listening activity and by the chain story speaking activity. The listening activity was good and helped them internalize the factual data regarding Mars and Earth. It was redundant enough so most of the students succeeded in capturing the data while listening, so they had a full table of facts that compares and contrasts Earth with Mars. However the chain story didn’t help so much. I tried to help them use the facts by hanging the table of facts on the board before they started improvising, however it was too challenging and most of them didn’t use the data. I think they know much more about Earth and Mars after this process; however I would have certainly taken them to observe Mars at night with a telescope and show them some films that were taken recently by NASA’s special robot-vehicles, Spirit and Opportunity. English Objectives evaluation 5. The first three English objectives were relatively easily achieved. The students actually scanned for specific information during the first activity and they read more thoroughly where needed. I could have assessed their success while walking in the classroom and watch how well they proceeded with their task. Indeed most of them performed well and found the needed information. Some needed more guidance and I could help them as most of the students could cope with the text on their own. The issue of ordinal numbers wasn’t cleared to the end. Each paragraph indeed contained an ordinal number which referred solely to one planet and the students had also to write down the correct ordinal number near the planet, however I felt it was not enough and I made efforts to emphasize the issue of ordinal numbers during the Nine Planets song activity.. 6. The second English objective was relatively easy and the students just had to recognize the names of the planets to which they were exposed the day before. The song was played twice so the students could get used to the words, tone and rhythm. The ordinal numbers weren’t mentioned directly in the song; however I used the song and the order of the planets as they appear in it for a short oral practice of the ordinal numbers. I believe it’s still not enough, but I did the best I could with the limited time I had. 7. The English objective was to train the students to convert numbers they hear to written figures. There’s a huge gap between numbers which are written and numbers which are spoken and many students have difficulties to make this conversion rapidly and correctly. I took the opportunity to work this issue a bit. They heard a set of numbers which were accompanied by different units (the units were not part of the learning and I made use of known units). I was amazed to discover the many mistakes which were made during the activity. Many of the students interpreted the numbers that they heard into different numbers. There were several reasons. Some claimed the recording wasn’t that clear. Some just didn’t know how many zeroes there are in a million. And some were confused between hundreds and thousands. This objective wasn’t achieved to my satisfaction and more practice should be done in order to establish this important knowledge. 8. The last three English objectives were somewhat limp. The intentions were good however the outcomes were quite poor, especially from a volume point of view, as there were few individuals who made great progress and were very active during the activities. In spite of my efforts, the majority of the class didn’t produce a significant English outcome during the three last activities. Feedback data table: 4 5 3 5 5 3 4 4 4 5 4 3 5 4 3 3 4 3 4 5 2 3 3 4 3 3 4 3 3 3 3 5 3 2 4 4 3 4 4 5 3 4 3 5 4 4 3 5 3 5 5 4 5 4 4 4 3 5 5 4 5 5 3 3 3 4 5 4 4 5 4 5 2 3 4 4 3 5 3 5 3 3 3 4 2 1 2 5 5 3 4 4 5 3 3 4 4 5 5 4 3.7 4.1 3.5 3.7 3.5 3.4 4.3 4 4 4.4 Green – for boys, Red-for girls. The table above represents in a way the level of content of the students of the process of learning. Though it is a very small sample (only 10 students) hence it is statistically insignificant, it may shed some light on the way students evaluate learning. The average score of the students was 3.81 out of 5 which is equivalent to 76 out of 100. This is not a brilliant score; however it is relatively good and reflects a positive atmosphere towards the approach of content based learning. The average score for the question for over-all experience is even higher, 4.1 out of 5 which is equivalent to 82 out of 100. There was no significant difference between the average rank of the boys and the average rank of the girls. This point interests me personally and it will be interesting to analyse larger groups of mixed students and check whether there are activities which interest one of the gender much more then the other gender and try to find out the root reasons for that difference. Activities’ average scores graph 4.5 3.9 4.2 3.7 3.8 4 3.5 3 3.1 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 Activity 1 Activity 2 Activity 3 Activity 4 Avtivity 5 The above graph presents the average scores of the different activities. The most favourite activity was the first one (average score 4.2) in which the students learnt the names of the planets and their order relative to the sun. They were exposed to a new strategy of a mnemonic device. This strategy helped them remember the order of the planets quite easily. The students liked this way and proved it by ranking this activity with the highest score. The least favourite activity was the third one (average score 3.1) in which the students were taught the formal definitions of celestial objects. I assume it got the lowest score because of the fact it was the least dynamic activity of all and in a way it was a bit boring for the students. Final reflection It wasn’t easy. It was challenging and demanding. I had to construct all the ideas and activities while I was mourning my dear father. It was just insane. I needed the time for myself but I had to be totally engaged with this task. Maybe it helped me, I don’t know. It was very hard to concentrate as my thoughts were wandering around all the time. Nevertheless, I didn’t give up and invested many efforts. I wanted to make the CBU about medical clowns, I had already invested a lot of time in research this fascinating field, but destiny had different plans for me. In the middle of May, barely three weeks after my father passed away, I lost a friend. His name was Robert Pinero. He had a wonderful personality and he was a talented engineer and a qualified medical clown. He was one of the funniest people I have ever met. He was huge, 2 meters high, with huge palms and a huge head. However, he was as soft as a little baby deep inside. I knew him for a short while and I had the chance to watch him playing the role of his life in פה-תיאטרון חי, an amateur theatre. He played the role of Salvatore, an Italian nobody and everybody in the same body. It was a brilliant comedy and everyone laughed to tears. Then he died, suddenly. I couldn’t go on with the medical clowning idea, it wasn’t appropriate anymore. Salvation was offered by you Deborah after a short while. I didn’t hesitate and accepted your offer with open hands. Switch your subject you told me. O.K, let’s switch. The cosmos is a wonderful interesting place and I have a lot of knowledge. I’ll be able to plan a meaningful unit in a relatively short time. I feel I have learnt a lot during the process. The key issue is to think and plan in advance. It’s not easy to write ILOs which will be fed and supported by the content and on parallel to have meaningful English objectives. This was the difficult part. The more I had time to plan in advance and to think, the more the right schema for the process of teaching the unit was built up properly in my mind. The process of reflection upon the lessons was very beneficial. The fact I could sit down and write to myself what was good and what went wrong and how I might improve myself the next time was good. I believe I will try and teach this unit again, however I will do some changes in order to improve it and I will certainly teach it for at least 2 weeks. The major problem I had was the shortage of time. I feel I had only scratched the tip of an iceberg and there’s so much more to teach. Nevertheless, I feel I have planted good seeds in the mind of my students and contributed to their general knowledge and stimulated their thoughts and imagination. I hope some of them will continue to explore this wonderful field of knowledge and expand their level of English while surfing interesting web sites of NASA and national geographic. Appendix Cosmic riddle- cards for lamination (front side) Cosmic riddle-cards for lamination (back side) THE SOLAR SYSTEM THE SOLAR SYSTEM THE SOLAR SYSTEM THE SOLAR SYSTEM THE SOLAR SYSTEM THE SOLAR SYSTEM This picture demonstrates the difference between Earth and Jupiter in dimensions. Taken from: http://www.easypedia.gr/el/articles/j/u/p/%CE%95%CE%B9%CE%BA%CF%8C%C E%BD%CE%B1~Jupiter_Earth_Comparison.png_1066.html This picture shows the Hubble space telescope. The most significant astronomical tool in the last 20 years. Taken: http://www.whitespace.bz/ws/web/forms/pulse/PulseMainArticle.aspx?id=105 Bibliography 1. My own knowledge. 2. http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/solar-system 3. http://science.nasa.gov/planetary-science/ 4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_System 5. http://hubblesite.org/hubble_discoveries/hubble_deep_field/resources.php 6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_discovery_of_Solar_System_planets _and_their_natural_satellites 7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star 8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_(planet) 9. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars 10. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter 11. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galilean_moons 12. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn 13. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranus 14. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neptune 15. http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/ 16. http://il.youtube.com/watch?v=cV3JeupRJbs&feature=related (wonderful simulation)