I teach Science and an elective Aerospace course at a rural middle school in western Washington. My school serves children from grades 6-8.
Thank you for reading my proposal. I am excited about the opportunity to provide astronomy hands-on activities. Many areas of science such as chemistry and physics are easy to incorporate hands-on activities. Astronomy is more difficult as most everything we study is not within reach. Yet, it is so important to provide these hands-on activities for astronomy as well. Modeling is an excellent way to provide an immersive astronomy experience. In addition, our school district has faced major budget cuts and hands-on materials for science are very difficult to obtain.
My students will construct models of the members of our solar system. Students will use cream filled cookies to model the sun. The outer layer and cream layer represent the photosphere, chromosphere, and core. Jelly beans represent solar spots which are "cool" areas of the sun and contain greater magnetic activity. Licorice strands (solar flares) will connect the sunspots.
The asteroid belt will be modeled by using a paper plate to design an orbital path for the asteroid belt. Cut jelly beans and cluster popcorn pieces in various sizes and shapes will represent the various shapes and sizes of asteroids.
The inner planets will be modeled with various colors of clay. Students will cut the model in half and examine the layers. The outer planets will be modeled by using clay for a small rocky core and cotton balls for the outer atmosphere of gas. They will use their fingers to "land" on the surface and will find that their finger descend all the way to the core.
Students will construct models of comets using styrofoam balls (head) and ribbons. The hair dryer represents the solar wind. The ribbons will "flow" away from the hair dryer as the tail of a comet faces away from solar wind.
Your support will enable my students to use modeling in order to learn about and analyze the members of our solar system. Thank you for considering this proposal.
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