Week 7

Big Question: How can we communicate to students an accurate scale of the solar system?

To explore this question in lab, we were tasked with building a model of the sun and the 4 inner planets, including the moon. The model had to be made to scale. We were allowed to use materials in the room and our group chose to use Play-Doh to make our planets. After given a website link that provided the math for properly scaling the model. Our initial model had the planets far too close to the sun. We realized that we needed to make our sun much larger in order for the planets to be large enough to even see when properly made to scale. We also realized that we needed to use a lot more space. A proper model would not be able to stay in the room. We used a tape measure to measure the scaled distance out of the door. Our sun and planet models can be seen below. We used the tape measure for our sun which was about 330mm. 

This activity was a great activity to break down a misconception that our solar system is compact, and can be diagramed close together. I remember making a solar system model in Elementary school, without directions to make it to scale. This led to a compact, inaccurate representation of our solar system and a misconception formed in my head. An activity like this, when provided the formulas to do the math for students, would be far more effective in helping them understand how big our solar system actually is. I think the concept would really be hammered home when they realize they will have to leave the classroom. 

This activity is also engaging, requires collaboration and is hands on. Getting students up and moving to build their model will be far more meaningful than building a standard model not to scale, because they can actually see how far they had to go from their sun. 


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