Planet Impact
Teacher Page: Overview
Index:
Description / Overview of the Lesson
How to prepare for an "Online exploration"
Subject
Concepts
Prerequisites
Process Skills Acquired
Target Audience / Grade Levels
Preparation Time
Execution Time
Field Test
Last Update
Description / Overview
of the Lesson:
"Planet Impact!" is a series of learning modules inspired
by the crash of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 on Jupiter. The comet's demise was at
the hands of gravity. Students will investigate how the gravitational force
of a large body, such as Jupiter, affects the path of a smaller body, such as
a comet. Students will launch a comet to learn how gravity changes its path.
They will learn how changing the speed, the angle of approach, or the masses
of large and small bodies affects the force of gravity on a comet. A large force
of gravity will greatly alter a comet's path. In the assessment activity, "Target
Practice: Hit or Miss?," students will apply their knowledge to make a
comet crash into Jupiter or fly past the planet without colliding with it.
Students can work through "Planet Impact!" independently or in
groups. Teachers can make the lesson inquiry-based by having students pose
questions prior to beginning the lesson. Details are included in the lesson
plan's procedure/directions section. The lesson is designed to be user-friendly
for all levels of computer accessibility. The lesson plan also includes options
for a classroom without computers, as well as tips for using the "Science
Scoop," "Comet News," and "Gravity Gallery" sections
found in each activity.
How to Prepare for an “Online Exploration”
Decide if the activity meets your needs.
- Check out the activity ahead of time by working through it as your students
will. As you go through the activity, pay attention to the following:
- How to navigate from one place to another.
- The ability level. Can students work this activity successfully?
- Natural breaks within the activity. Is there enough flexibility that
students can complete all or selected parts within the time restraints
of the daily schedule?
- Check out the “Teaching Tips” for the following information.
- Overview: Serves as a broad, comprehensive summary of the
activity, including a description, the concepts covered, prerequisites,
and the target audience.
- Science Background: Provides information about the science
behind the activity. It clarifies important concepts used in the activity
and contains a message from the scientist who worked with the team
to develop it.
- Lesson Plan: Addresses specific recommendations for using
the activities, including learning outcomes, new vocabulary, misconceptions,
engagement activities (under the heading procedure/directions), and
follow-up activities. Includes suggestions for using the activity in
one-computer classrooms and those without computers.
- National Standards: Provides alignment between the activity
and the National Science Education Standards, the National Council
of Teachers of Mathematics Curriculum and Evaluation Standards, and
the Project 2061 Benchmarks for Scientific Literacy Standards. Many
state and local standards were developed from these so it should be
easy to check for correlations.
- Grab Bag: Provides resources for educators who wish to
customize the activity. Includes images from the activity, which can
be used to develop your own interactive lesson. Also identifies resources
used in the activity and others related to the topic, which can be
used by students and educators to do further research.
Before using the activities...
- Check out your computers.
- Review the Computer Needs section of the activity.
- Reserve a time to use the computer lab.
- Bookmark the activity on the Web browser (Netscape Navigator or Microsoft
Explorer) of each student computer.
- Determine a strategy for organizing your students. Options include the
following:
- Use a whole-class approach with one computer.
- Use a team approach in a computer lab, with different students having
specific responsibilities during the activity (such as “mouse user,” “note
taker,” and “oral reader”).
- Use a one-computer-per-student approach.
- Think about how this online activity matches up with teaching materials
that are already available to you. These might include:
- Curriculum guides
- Textbooks
- Videos
- Posters
- Labs
Preparing students
- Share the objectives and the key vocabulary words used in the activity.
- Use a large monitor, LCD, or transparencies to give a preview of the
activity and to demonstrate how to navigate within it.
- Give your students a computer/Web pre-assessment to determine their
computer experience and/or competence.
- Organize your students in such a way that more experienced users are
matched up with less experienced ones.
- Try one of the Suggested Engagement Activities, which can be found under
Procedure/Directions in the Lesson Plan section of the activity’s
Teaching Tips.
While students are doing an activity…
- Help individual students navigate through the activity.
- Provide options for those who finish the activity early:
- Have them review the activity again to define key vocabulary words.
- Have them visit related Web links to conduct additional research.
- Have them completing some type of assessment activity. A number
of these can be found under Follow-up Activities/Extensions in the
Lesson Plan section of the activity’s Teaching Tips.
Using the activities without an Internet connection
- Order a CD of the activities.
- For activity-specific suggestions, consult the Classrooms Without Computers
section (in the Lesson Plan section of the activity’s Teaching Tips).
- Print the information provided in the Science Background, which might
be useful for content reading.
- Download the activity in advance from the Amazing Space Web site. Instructions
are in the Computer Needs section accessed from the activity’s title
page.
- Go to the activity’s Grab Bag section and select text, student
activities, or other Internet links that direct you to related topics.
Subject:
- Astronomy – Comet News
- Space Science – Comet News
- Physical Science – All modules
- Physics – All modules
Concepts:
- The criteria under which an object will be trapped by the gravitational
force of a planet
- As the mass increases, the gravitational force it exerts also increases.
- Gravitational forces can be unbalanced forces.
- The crash of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 on Jupiter
Prerequisites:
Before attempting to complete this lesson, the student should:
- Understand that the solar system consists of planets, moons, asteroids,
meteoroids, comets, and the Sun.
- Understand that objects have mass.
- Know the relative masses of solar system objects.
- Understand that all objects are attracted to other objects by the force
of gravity.
- Understand that an unbalanced force causes changes in an object's speed
and/or direction.
Process Skills Acquired:
- Observing
- Comparing
- Inferring relationships
Target Audience/Grade Levels:
Preparation Time:
- Time necessary to download computer software to support the lesson.
- Time necessary to become familiar with the lesson.
Execution Time by Module:
The following times are approximate. The execution time for each module could
vary, depending on your school's Internet location (e.g., classroom, library,
computer lab), the number of computers available with Internet access, and
the number of students in the class.
- Introduction to "Planet Impact!" – 2 minutes
- "What's Your Angle?" – 10 to 15 minutes
- "Step On It!" – 10 to 15 minutes
- "Pick a Comet – Any Comet" – 10 to 15 minutes
- "It's a Matter of Mass" – 10 to 15 minutes
- "Target Practice: Hit or Miss?" – 10 to 15 minutes
Field Test:
Completed.
Last Update:
January 8, 2004
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