Teaching sequence

Lesson objective

In this lesson students examine celestial objects, their relative size and scale and how they fit into the cosmic scheme of things.

Introduction

Display these images:

Antares and the Rho Ophiuchi dark cloud

With permission of AAO/UKS/David Malin Images. Reproduced courtesy of Scitech

Barred Spiral galaxy, NGC 1365

With permission of AAO/David Malin Images

Saturn

Source: © NASA

The Sun

Source: © NASA

Trifid nebula NGC 6514

With permission of AAO/David Malin Images

Ask students to brainstorm what they know about the images shown. Ask them what celestial objects the images show, and to suggest other celestial objects they may know about.

Core

1. Explain to the students that in this unit they will learn about scientific theories that explain the how the universe and the celestial objects (in the images displayed) came into existence.
2. Ask students to recall and describe what they already know about the celestial objects that exist in our solar system.
3. Have students use the learning object Go to the head of the solar system to test their knowledge of the planets in the solar system.
4. Conduct the Cosmic survey: what are your ideas about the universe? to determine students’ prior understanding about where objects are located in space and when they formed.

Conclusion

Have students use the learning object The wonders of our universe: space traveller to begin to appreciate the scale of the universe and the size of objects in it.