Topic: What are stars and constellations?

Target group

4th‑grade students of elementary school

Core curriculum

4th grade of elementary school

General requirements

III. Shaping attitudes – education.

1. Careful observation of natural phenomena, accurate and meticulous carrying out of experiments, using the instructions while taking measurements and experiments, taking notes and developing results.

Specific requirements

I. Ways of learning about nature. Student:

1. describes ways of learning about nature, gives the differences between experiment, experience and observation.

General aim of education

Students describe the way the constellations appear on the celestial sphere.

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Criteria for success
The student will learn:

• that the Sun is one of many stars;

• that the stars are grouping into galaxies;

• what is a constellation.

Methods/techniques

• expository

  • talk.

• activating

  • discussion.

• programmed

  • with computer;

  • with e‑textbook.

• practical

  • exercices concerned.

Forms of work

• individual activity;

• activity in pairs;

• activity in groups;

• collective activity.

Teaching aids

• e‑textbook;

• notebook and crayons/felt‑tip pens;

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers;

• sheets of thick transparent film in A4 format (20‑30 sheets per class);

• CD markers in several colors;

• rotating sky map - at least one per class;

• camera (can be a mobile phone).

Lesson plan overview

Before classes

• Students get acquainted with the content of the abstract. They prepare to work on the lesson in such a way to be able to summarize the material read in their own words and solve the tasks themselves.

Introduction

• The teacher explains the aim of the lesson and together with students determines the success criteria to be achieved.

• The teacher gives the topic of the lesson. Students write it in notebooks.

Realization

• The teacher resembles the definitions of the terms „star” and „constellation” and introduces the concepts of observation and experience..

• The host initiates a brief discussion on the subject of night sky observation. Volunteers report and describe the objects that they have seen so far in the night sky.

• The teacher divides the class into four- or five‑person teams. The task of the students is to execute Task 1. The teacher instructs the pupils to write down the research question and the hypothesis in the abstract form. Each team on three or four sheets of transparent film draws circles of various sizes, symbolizing the stars. Then one of the team members observes the image that arises when his colleagues, holding foils by the upper edge or upper corners, are positioned in such a way that the foils are located one after the other at small distances (30‑40 cm), on a light background wall. One of the students takes photographs of the created object. Then the students describe the conducted experience and draw conclusions. They should contain an explanation of how constellations form, which we observe as a group of stars on a flat celestial sphere.

• Students, working in pairs, explain the importance of the ability to locate the constellation Ursa Major („Task 1”) in the sky and perform interactive exercises. The teacher checks the results of work on a regular basis and helps students who have difficulty solving tasks. This may be particularly necessary in the case of an interactive exercise on the rotating sky map.

• The teacher demonstrates to the students a rotating map of the sky and explains how to use it. If he has several copies of the map, he gives them to students and allows them to familiarize themselves with the principle of its operation. The instructor encourages students to observe constellations consisting of bright stars visible from Poland throughout the year (eg, the Big Dipper, Cassiopeia). Students can redraw a few constellations from the sky map or find them on the Internet.

Summary

• The teacher briefly presents the most important issues discussed in class. He answers the additional questions of the proteges and explains all their doubts. Students complete notes.

Homework

• Develop a lap book containing issues learned during the lesson and bring your work to the next class.

• Listen to the abstract recording at home. Pay attention to pronunciation, accent and intonation. Learn to pronounce the words learned during the lesson.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

What are stars and constellations?

The Universe was created almost 14 billion years ago as a result of the Big Bang. Throughout this time it was constantly expanding and changing to achieve the current size and appearance. We must also admit that we still know very little about the Universe, and our knowledge is uncertain.

Stars glowing at night over our heads seem small. This is due to the distance that separates us from them. In fact, each star is a huge ball of gases with extremely high temperatures. They are giants, many times bigger than Earth.

Our Sun is also one of many stars. As it is the closest to Earth, it is the brightest object in our sky. Many stars are smaller than the Sun, but many are much larger (even thousands of times!) and brighter than our Sun. However, they are so far away that we can only see them in the form of tiny dots. Even the closest other star, Alpha Centauri, is up to a million times farther away than our Sun! Astronomers discovered that planets are circling around some stars. Unfortunately, we are unable to either travel to them or to find out if there is life on them.

Seen from Earth, the stars appear to be arranged in constellations. The term is a reference to group of stars visible in the sky located in a given area, which seem to form certain shapes, e.g. a human figure, an animal, a character from mythology or another object. Currently the celestial sphere is divided into 88 constellations. Stars that belong to one constellation are often at great distances from each other and are in fact not connected with each other. However, such a division for hundreds of years makes it easier for people to search for different celestial bodies in the sky.

• The sun is one of many stars, or balls of gases with very high temperatures.

• Stars cluster in large clusters known as galaxies.

• Stars seen from Earth can be grouped into constellations.