How to Explore Planets in Science in the Classroom

Earth isn't the only planet out there.

Learning about the eight planets in our solar system is an important branch in science. Astrology, the study of positions and aspects of celestial bodies, is largely based on planets. By learning about the planets, we also learn more about our own, Earth. Teachers who are preparing a science lesson about the different planets can utilize a variety of ideas and activities to teach kids that the worlds beyond our own can be quite engaging.

Things You'll Need

• Astrology chart
• Solar system model

Instructions

Exploration

1. Introduce astrology to your students. Teach them about how people have wondered about the planets and their influences on our lives. Bring in an astrology chart showing the 12 zodiac signs such as Capricorn and Taurus and their connections to each planet. Help your children find their signs and which planets correlate to them. This will get the class thinking about the planets.

2. Help your students create solar system models. One idea would be to make planets from paper mache. Make the mache by combining flour and water in a mixing bowl with a ratio of one part flour and one part water. Mix them until there are no lumps. Take some long newspaper strips and put them into the mix. Place the strips onto full balloons representing the planets. Make sure the balloons are entirely covered in strips. Leave them to dry and harden overnight. Have the students color them and help place pins around each planet to represent its moons.

   Another model idea would be to have your students draw and color the planets, using books with color photos of each planet. Let them cut out the planets and glue them to paper. They will then add labels to each planet, with the names and position from the sun. Send students home with the models and notes asking their parents if they can post them on the fridge to help them memorize the planets.

3. Compose a slide show of the planets using a commercial presentation program, such as Microsoft PowerPoint. Make sure the pictures are large and colorful. Include information such as each planet's diameter, day and year lengths, composition and mass. Place these qualities on a separate page directly after the planet's picture or show them along with the planet.

4. Come up with a small acronym to help your students remember each planet's name. For example, you could come up with something like "My (Mercury), Very (Venus), Excited (Earth), Mother (Mars), Just (Jupiter), Served (Saturn), Us (Uranus), Nachos (Neptune)." Make sure the acronym is easy to remember or let students come up with their own and have them share with the class.

References

• Scholastic: Making Models of The Solar System