TPACK Template

Subject Science

Grade Level 6th grade

Type of Online Class Asynchronous

Learning Objective 6.8 The student will investigate and understand the organization
of the solar system and the interactions among the various
bodies that comprise it. Key concepts include
a) the sun, moon, Earth, other planets and their moons, dwarf
planets, meteors, asteroids, and comets;
b) relative size of and distance between planets;
Content

f) the unique properties of Earth as a planet;

Online Activity This learning activity will consist of a simulation that contains
many contents of different planets/asteroids and more. The
students will need a laptop (and headphones if needed) to
complete the assignment. The students will long onto their
online systems and will look for the teacher’s announcements.
The activity will start with a short video recorded by the teacher.
The students will have to find the video within the course to get
started. The video will consist of the teacher talking and
showing their face as if the students are in a face-to-face class.
The teacher will screen-record the activity on their laptop (so
that the students can follow along) and will go through the
activity “with the class”. They will go over the directions of the
assignment and will also state what is expected of the activity.
The teacher will provide past-student examples to ensure better
and overall understanding. The video and examples will help the
students feel more confident about the assignment. The video
will also consist of ideas and hints that will help get the students
started. The teacher will allow the students to get in contact if
they have further questions about the assignment. After the
students have watched the video provided, they will be ready to
start the assignment. The assignment is to complete the
simulation, follow the tasks, identify the planets/moons/ objects
given, take notes, and create a short one-page essay that
explains the student’s findings and experience using the
simulation.
The students will log on to their computers and will use google
Pedagogy

chrome (or internet explorer) to go to a website called

Solarstory.net. It will take the students to a website that is all
about the solar system and how it works. The activity is to
interact with the 3D simulation while exploring the solar system.
The simulation provides some background music that may be
enjoyable while completing the activity. The simulation is so
realistic, the students will feel as if they are actually in space.
The 3D simulation is not timed, nor do you have to create an
account for it. It simply takes the students through space and
lets you explore each of the planets, dwarf planets, moons, and
more. Once the students click on the 3D simulation, they will be
taken to another page with the simulation. They will click the
green START, and the simulation will show a slow-motion
picture moving through space. The students will click anywhere
on the motion picture and it will take them to the main screen
of the simulation to start exploring. There will be a How to Use
section at the bottom of the simulation just in case the student
needs help. The teacher will give each student a few tasks to do
as they explore through the simulation. The simulation allows
the students to click on any planet, moon, star, asteroid, dwarf
planet, milky way, comet, sun, and satellites. The simulation is
set to read the real time and date so that the students can view
a more accurate tilt and rotations of the planets/ moons. A task
that the teacher might share with the students will include the
following:
 Locate the sun, moon, Earth, dwarf planets, meteors,
asteroids, and comets and 2 other planets of your
choice. If the 2 planets of your choice have a moon,
identify them as well. The students will have a chance to
explore what it is given and the planets of their choice.
Have the students take as many notes a needed.
 While the students are exploring space, they will learn
and understand the unique properties of the Earth as a
planet. If the students click on the encyclopedia tab for
the Earth, it will talk about the surface, axial tilt, and the
magnetosphere field. The students are to take notes
about anything that they may feel is unique about the
Earth. If the students were to click on the structure tab
of the Earth, it will explore the crust, mantle, outer
core, and the inner core.

Once you click on a planet/ object in space, a tab that says, for
example, SUN EXPLORE will appear on the right side of the
page. Once the students click on the tab, they can explore the
sun by either clicking on the encyclopedia tab or the structure
tab. There is a picture on the right of the sun that the students
can turn and move around with their mouse. If the students click
on the encyclopedia tab, they will read about the sun’s gravity,
rotation period, diameter, etc. The encyclopedia includes a few
paragraphs about the composition, distance (from the Earth),
and its position in the galaxy. If the students were to click on the
structure tab, it will show the students the structure of the sun
(the photosphere, convective zone, radiative zone, and the
core). The structure will vary depending on the planet/ object
chosen. To the right of the information will be a diagram
showing the different layers of the sun (labeled). The teacher
will encourage the students to take notes on the information
given. This will help with another task:
 Find the relative size of and distance between planets.
The students will do this by taking the sizes of the
planets they explore and will compare their sizes/
distances. They will do this by clicking on the explore
tab next to the planets/moons.
If the students want to go to another planet/moon, they will
click the diamond with the 3 circles inside (on the left of the
page). This will take them to a screen that shows the sun, dwarf
planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth (moon), Mars (moons),
Jupitar(moons), Saturn(moons), Uranus(moons) and
Neptune(moons). If the students click on any of these planets,
they will be able to explore them individually. To go back to
where you were, the students will click the diamond that has an
arrow in it (underneath the diamond with the 3 circles).
There are other tabs (on the left of the website) that the
students will use to complete the assignment that consists of
learning about the comets, asteroids, dwarf planets, etc. For
example, if the students were to click on the asteroid tab, it will
take them to a page that talks about Asteroids Classification,
Asteroid Belt, Kuiper Belt, Near-Earth asteroids, and the
Largest asteroids. The students will take their time to go throw
the contents and will take notes. There is also a video gallery
that the students are more than welcome to watch. The tabs
content may vary depending on what objects the students click.
Once the researching/exploring has been done, the students will
use their knowledge to put together a small online essay on
what they have learned using the simulation (using the tasks as
their guide). For a fun extra credit, the students will have an
opportunity to explore an object/moon/or a planet that was not
talked about in the lesson. They will include this within their
work. The teacher will give the students a week to complete this
assignment. As the assignment is being completed, the teacher
will send out individual emails to see how the students are
progressing or if they are progressing at all. Once the essay is
completed and turned into the online system, the activity will
end with the teacher opening an online class discussion. This will
encourage the students to talk about their findings with one
another. The students will talk about how they liked the
simulation/ assignment or what troubles they had with it.
 Technology “3D-simulation of our solar system”
Technolo

https://solarstory.net/asteroids/largest-asteroids
-Laptop/Desktop will be required (working speakers)
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