Middle School Inquiry Lab on Scale Properties of Space Objects
In this lab students will hypothesize about the distances of the planets from the Sun.
Each inquiry lab will contain an essential question that will drive the lesson and make students think. For this lesson, the essential question is:
- How do scale models aid scientists in the study of the solar system?
BACKGROUND INFORMATION AND MATERIALS LIST:
Students will begin the lab by reading the essential question and background information. This can be done individually, as lab groups, or as a whole class. If you consider lab groups, you also might include some type of whole class formative checks before digging into the lab.
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Materials List:
- calculator
- butcher paper (2' per group)
- colored pencils/markers
PROCEDURE:
For this lab, students will make a paper model, analyze data, and calculate the distance of the planets from the Sun. Then they will calculate the diameters of each planet to help them understand why scientists need to create scaled drawings of the solar system.
First, students start off by predicting the “correct” placement of the planets in the solar system on the 2-foot-long butcher paper. Students will have to use one colored pencil to draw their prediction of planets. Following a set of folding directions, students will crease their paper to show the actual placement within the 2-foot scaled model.
Students will use a different colored pencil to mark the correct planet with its location. Once completed, students can see how far their predictions were from the “actual” locations within the scaled paper.
Next, students will use math to see why scientists use scaled models to understand our solar system. Students will have to use their calculators to find distance in miles compared to AU, number of objects (based on diameter) that can fit in one AU, and number of objects (based on diameter) that can fit across the Sun.
CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING:
At this point in the lab, students will be checked for understanding by answering questions about their findings. Here are a few that come with the lab:
- What is something that you noticed about the distance between the planets that you drew in step two versus your guess in step one?
- If the Sun is actually so much bigger than the Moon, then why do you think they look like they are about the same size when viewed from Earth?
CONCLUSION
Students will go back to the essential question and write a CER (Claim, Evidence, Reasoning) to conclude the lab. Once completed, students will reflect back on their learning by answering the following questions:
- Why do you think astronomers came up with the AU system of measurement?
- How do scale models help scientists with the challenges they may face when sending objects into space?
MODIFIED AND INDEPENDENT INQUIRY VERSIONS
All of the Kesler Science inquiry labs come with three different modification levels. Each lab is differentiated using the icons below.
STANDARDS ALIGNMENT
NGSS: MS ESS1-3 – Analyze and interpret data to determine scale properties of objects in the solar system.
