Lesson 2

Content
Australian
Curriculum

Science: Heavenly Bodies

Class: 6/7
Time: 50mins-1hours
History of Astronomy

Number of Children: 28

Science Understanding
Earth and space sciences

Predictable phenomena on Earth, including seasons and eclipses, are

caused by the relative positions of the sun, Earth and the moon
(ACSSU115)

Science as a Human Endeavour

Nature and development of science

Scientific knowledge changes as new evidence becomes available, and

some scientific discoveries have significantly changed peoples
understandings of the world (ACSHE119)

Science Inquiry Skills

Processing and analysing data and information

Construct and use a range of representations, including graphs, keys and

models, to represent and analyse patterns or relationships, including using
digital technologies as appropriate (ACSIS129)
Summarise data from students own investigations and secondary
sources, and use scientific understanding to identify relationships and
draw conclusions (ACSIS130)

Communicating
Communicate ideas, findings and solutions to problems, using scientific
language and representations using digital technologies as appropriate
(ACSIS133)
Learning
Outcomes

By the end of this lesson students will be able to:

Resources

Understand that science knowledge changes with new evidence.

Understand the differences between labeled and annotated diagrams.

PowerPoint on Prezi
Fact sheet work sheet
Plain paper
Laptops & IPads
Traffic light cards
Links to websites:
Prezi: http://prezi.com/xwjtwqn1vvby/exploring-changing-scientificunderstandings/
Timeline:
http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/timeline_2/

Introduction
10 minutes

Review labelled and annotated drawings:

Display diagrams of the Earth, moon and sun system on

the white board.

Ask students to comment on these (use the paddle pop sticks
to select students) focus questions:
What does this picture tell you?
What do you like about this picture?
What do you dislike about this picture?
Does it give you enough information?

Draw a labeled diagram of the Earth, moon and sun

system on a piece of plain white paper folded in half long
ways. 5 minutes.

Main Body

PowerPoint on Prezi:

35 minutes

Discuss on the history of astronomy:

Geocentric Model
Copernicus Heliocentric Model
Brahes geo-heliocentric model

Activity:
Hand out fact sheets and allocate students to work in pairs
using the paddle pop sticks. Direct students to research one of
the 3 models on the laptops. Students have 20 minutes to
complete this activity.
Direct students to take a seat. As a whole group, students are
type on the interactive time line the information they gathered
from the internet.
During this time the other students are to cut (on the opposite
side to the diagram) 3 slits into their folded piece of paper and
write the three models down. While students are filling out the
information on the computer the other students are to
summarize the three models under each flap.
Conclusion

Review the time line with the students and highlight the major

5 minutes

impacts of the historical knowledge from the three models. (If

Catering to

there is time see youtube clip on prezi).

Poor attention span Activities are short on time and require small group

Individual

and large group work. Therefore encouragement from peers assist in

Learners

prolonging the attention span. Using prezi is an interesting resource and

gages students attention visually.

Low numeracy skills This lesson doesnt require numeracy skills
Low reading skills Allocating none reading jobs in partner work avoids
students to feel intimated by students. Using small groups during reading

activities reduces the stress of reading allowed.

Poor social skills Partner work reduces the anxiety of socializing. Also
using the online time line requires student to type their findings but also

discuss them if they feel confident.

Gifted & talented

Social & emotional using a range of behavioural strategies (see traffic

light system) ensures that students are being encouraged to voice their
opinion in regards to understanding, not understanding and question.
Providing this system allows students to feel supported. Also using partner

Behaviour

work supports social and emotional students.

ASD (doesnt attend school on Wednesdays)
ADHD
Behavioural See traffic light system
Poor anger management
Traffic light System

Management

Each student is given three different coloured piece of paper.

Red = I dont understand
Yellow = I have a question
Green = I understand
Students are asked throughout the lesson to place their cards on the table, which
represents how they are feelings about the lesson. This gives an indication as to
whether the teacher has explained clearly what is expected and if everyone
understands. The students who have placed red and yellow cards can be
addressed through individual interaction or (depending on the % of the class who
dont understand) the problems can be addressed as a class. The students are
allowed to place the cards out on the table throughout any point of the lesson
consequently students are in charge of their learning. It also gives the teacher a
clear indication as to which students do and do not understand therefore address
the situation there and then. This behaviour management strategy discourages
negative behaviour as when children dont understand a topic they tend to switch

Assessment

off and do something else, consequently negative behaviour occurs.

Formative Assessment

Allocating students to form their own diagrams without the assistance of

images displays students knowledge of the sun, moon and earth

positions.
Through using the group timeline it displays evidence of knowledge on the
three models of the solar system.

Reflection 2
After reflecting on todays lessons I feel that the lesson was more successful than the previous
lesson. Due to being allocated time without the interruptions of children leaving the classroom the
lessons ran smoother. Being allotted this time within the day made it easier for me to gage how the
students interacted with me and to see their behaviour and boundaries in response to me. As a

result I was able to implement behaviour strategies on the spot but it also gave me the opportunity
to think about how I can develop certain behaviour approaches for particular children for next
week. I am finding that Im not using the traffic light system to its full potential. I feel that students
voice their concerns very freely therefore they have the confidence to speak up when they need
to. Consequently I am going to scrap this behaviour management strategy and instead select
certain opportunities throughout the lesson to give a thumbs up (understanding) thumbs in the
middle (unsure) thumbs down (dont understand). Hopefully this strategy will give me the
knowledge as to who understands and who doesnt. However the paddle pop stick strategy
worked really well, it enabled me to select a variety of children therefore not selecting particular
students. The students really enjoyed this strategy due to the students all getting a fair turn and
being able to select a paddle pop stick. I am definitely going to continue with this strategy next
week.
I felt that the science lesson was very successful as the prezi presentation gave a solid structure
to the lesson and allowed students to be visually engaged. Next week I will do the same. The
activities were appropriate to the students and they challenges were good. I felt that feedback
could have worked better so next week I am going to focus on student demonstrating their
research and work more thoroughly.