Teach Astronomy to a Sixth Grader!

Goal

Students will show understanding of unit 8.3's concepts by creating a project that demonstrates one of the phenomena caused by the relationship between earth, moon and sun. The project will to be designed as a product that will be used to teach this phenomenon to 6th grader.

Roles (team members, and instructors):

Students will collaborate in groups planning, designing and creating the final product that will be presented to sixth graders. The eighth grade students themselves will explain their chosen astronomical phenomenon.

Audience:
6th grade students

Situation:
An Earth-Moon-Sun system phenomenon is explained through a lesson on that phenomenon presented to 6th graders.

Product / Process:

Students can choose which phenomenon they wish to investigate from: a. seasons, b. rotation and revolution, c. eclipses, d. phases of the moon.  The project can be created in a computer or by hand. It can be a digital presentation or podcast (powerpoint, keynote) or a hand-made mobile.  

Mobiles can take up to a week to be created, preferably in class, and will require materials such as styrofoam, cloth, or paper spheres, and also hangers, paint, paint brushes, fish lines, hot glue. A balance between school and parent/student provided materials has to be sought.  

Digital products can be made with a variety of applications such as powerpoint, keynote, imovie, garageband, and many other ones. 

The culmination of this project is the presentation to sixth grade students. There are many formats for this interaction to take place, but it's imperative that the sixth grade teachers are contacted in advance so a date that works for them can be reserved for this activity. A couple of ways this can be organized are: 1. Eighth grade teacher organizes a small exposition of  the projects in their classroom (or in the cafeteria, or auditorium), and sixth graders (either some students or a whole class) come visit each period and listen to presentations of some of the projects at their stations. 2. Eighth grade students bring their projects down to a sixth grade class in each period and do presentations to small groups of sixth graders.

Standards of Performance

Projects should be assessed according to: written content (25%), attractiveness/visual content (25%), use of class time (25%), and presentation (25%). Here's a possible rubric describing expectations.

Students should be assessed in their quality and effort to present to sixth graders their project. A tentative score for this presentation has been inserted in the rubric to be part of the final project grade.