The fifth graders have been visiting the science lab to learn about our solar system. The lessons kicked off with a bang, quite literally. Students were introduced to the theory that the solar system began with a big bang, and because understanding abstract concepts is made easier with hands-on models, Ms. O stood on the center desk and popped a balloon filled with confetti. Students counted up confetti pieces that spread in various grid areas around the room after her “big bang,” seeing that those closest would have been pulled towards each other by the gravitational forces all objects have.
In the next lesson, students created scaled planets and a sun. They then carried them across the street to the church parking lot, to help understand the relative distance between the sun and its closest planet. After placing the sun at the far end of the parking lot, students counted off 38 meters, using meter sticks, from the sun to hold up Mercury, which was one confetti dot in size compared to the 140cm diameter sun! That the sun is a small star is quite mind boggling when its relative size is created in this hands-on way.
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