Description
SciPacks are 10 hour online learning experiences teachers can use to enhance their understanding of a particular scientific concept. Teachers access topics “on demand” from the Internet. Topics are based on science literacy goals in the national standards and tied to state standards. Pedagogical Implications also address student misconceptions. Expert content help is available via email as well as a final assessment to demonstrate understanding of the SciPack content.
The Solar System SciPack explores the solar system and the various bodies within it. The focus in on the Standards and Benchmarks related to how we have learned about the solar system and what we know about the planets, moons, and other bodies in the solar system. Special focus is also given to how the solar system and its bodies formed.
Ideas For Use
SciPacks are ten hour discrete learning experiences teachers can use to enhance their understanding of a particular scientific concept. Each SciPack contains a collection of three to five free Science Objects, which provide an understanding of the science content that supports curricula requirements by providing a structured set of learning experiences through simulations and practice assessments. Science Objects challenge teachers to explore and explain real world phenomena. Science Objects are founded on the principle that learners must be challenged with a problem, observation, data, etc., in order to develop scientific understanding. Science Objects present problems, phenomena, demonstrations, and simulations utilizing inquiry-based learning.
In addition to comprehensive inquiry-based learning materials tied to Science Education Standards and Benchmarks, the SciPack includes the following additional components:
- Pedagogical Implications section addressing common misconceptions, teaching resources and strand maps linking grade band appropriate content to standards.
- Access to one-on-one support via e-mail to content “Wizards”.
- Final Assessment which can be used to certify mastery of the concepts.
Learning Outcomes:
Solar System: The Earth in Space
- Explain that we discovered and learn about the other planets through the use of various kinds of telescopes, space probes, and other technologies.
- Relate observations of the motion of objects in the sky to a Sun-centric model of the solar system, including observations of the “wandering” stars (planets) from Earth’s frame of reference.
- Recognize that Earth is one of the planets in the solar system, that it orbits the Sun just as the other planets do.
Solar System: A Look at the Planets
- Describe, compare, and contrast the following basic features of the planets in our solar system: size, composition, atmosphere, periods of rotation and revolution, surface features, and ring systems.
- Describe the similarities and differences between the terrestrial and Jovian planets.
- Describe, compare, and contrast the characteristics of planetary moons in our solar system.
Solar System: Asteroids, Comets, and Meteorites
- Describe the similarities and differences in comets, asteroids, and meteors.
- Describe the size, composition, and motion of meteors, asteroids, and comets.
- Differentiate between meteors, meteorites, and meteoroids, and explain what happens to meteors as they fall through Earth’s atmosphere.
- Explain how we learn about asteroids, comets, and meteorites.
Solar System: Formation of Our Solar System
- Provide the basic story line of how the solar system may have formed from the debris of exploding stars.
- Relate the different characteristics and features of the planets to their different distances from the sun.
- Explain some of the methods scientists have used to learn about the formation and evolution of the solar system.