Lesson on space for Year 4/5/6 (ages 9-11)

Objective: Pupils will learn about the history of the space race.

Skill to teach: asking questions and exploring ideas

You will need:

1. Sample rocket made using instructions from

http://yurigagarin50.org/images/stories/PDFs/launch_manual_1.pdf

2. Enough materials for class to make rockets in pairs or groups.

3. Information about the earth, moon and sun system on Guardian teacher
network

http://teachers.guardian.co.uk/resources.aspx?q=planets

and

http://teachers.guardian.co.uk/resources.aspx?q=sun%20and%20moon

Introduction
Demonstrate use of Gagarin rocket and explain that pupils will be making
them later in the lesson.

1. Ask the class what they know about space.

2. Ask what they know about its size, size (infinite) where it is (all
round us), and what is in it. (Stars, planets, galaxies, black holes).
3. Slide 4 - check pupils know what comprises our Solar system. NB
Pluto has recently been downgraded and is no longer considered to
be a planet.
4. Ask what they know about space travel and what is needed to travel
safely in space.
5. Is everything in space naturally occurring? (No, there is a lot of
space debris)
6. Explore the idea of space travel, which do they know who has been
there and if they would like to go.

7. Ask groups to list questions they would like to have answers to

about space travel.

Questions to a scientist / an astronaut / about life in a space station.

(Use these to focus some of the information in the rest of the lesson)
Main lesson
1. Use slides 5- 17 on PowerPoint to cover the history of the space race.

A brief history of space travel.

Life of Yuri Gagarin
What it is like in the space station.

2. Slide 18 Explain that the ISS is used to conduct experiments which

would not be possible on Earth because of the gravity. Tell them that in the
past school children have designed experiments to be done there eg could
a spider spin a web in space? (Answer: no, it was found that spiders taken
aboard the Skylab for this type of experiment produced finer webs than on
Earth, also these webs had variations not seen before and were
incomplete.)

Ask pupils to design an experiment for the next space mission.

Work in groups to use what they know about forces (mainly gravity) to
design questions to do with

plants,
animals,
people ,
the way objects move / can be moved
the way liquids move / can be moved

Ask lower ability groups to suggest ideas for plant and animal experiments
and more able pupils to suggest ideas for experiments using liquids, falling
objects and forces.

3. Slide 19: Ask them about what they think life on board a space station
would be like. Give them as many facts about this as you have time for,
especially those on this slide about daily life. More facts are available on
Wikipedia.

4. Slides 20-21

To mark the anniversary of the Gagarin flight the Russians will launch a
rocket to the ISS called Gagarin. The YuriGagarin50 initiative is
encouraging people across the UK to participate in mass rocket launchings
of air and water powered crafts to mark the 50th anniversary of the day
Gagarin became the first man in space, on April 12, 2011.

Help pupils to make a Gagarin rocket of their own either individually or in

pairs or groups.

They could send pictures and records of what they do to

office@yurigagarin50.org
5. Plenary
Ask pupils what they have learned about space flight and what was
the most interesting thing they learned.
Ask who would now like to travel in space.
Ask each group to explain their ideas for space experiments to the
rest of the class. Each group to explain their idea to rest of class and
answers questions about it.

By Graham Peacock, a senior lecturer in primary education at Sheffield

Hallam University specialising is science. Graham has written over a
hundred books on the teaching of science.