Once all of the planets have mapped out, each group member should choose one or two planets to draw and color. Use your textbook or materials provided by your teacher as a reference. TABLE 2: Scaled Distances of Planets Distance from the Standard-Scale Distance of Planet Sun in (chosen by PLANET in the chosen Astronomical (cm) Units (AU) AU x scale unit Mercury 0.4 0.7 Earth 1.0 Mars 1.5 Jupiter 5.2 Saturn 9.5 Uranus 19.5 Neptune 30.2 Pluto (Dwarf 40 Planet) Results and Conclusions: Why do you think scale models are important? Why were you instructed to multiply the distances in AU by 40 to determine how long your scale model needed to be? Compare and contrast the distances of the inner and outer planets from the Sun Extension: Draw the planets by scale according to size (diameter) on the distance scale model. Research celestial bodies in the universe (other known stars and galaxies). Using AU and units such as a light year, include these in you distance scale model. Part 3 - Martian Sun Times Reporters Teacher’s Procedure: Divide the class into seven different groups. Each person within the group will be assigned a specific job, e.g. secretary, researcher(s), editor, organizer. Assign to each group one of the investigations to research. Use the factual information obtained to prepare an article. This may consist of anyone of a variety of formats, e.g., a newspaper article, a travel brochure, a human (or Martian interest) story, a fashion report, weather predictions. –interest
Once all of the planets have mapped out, each group member should choose one or two planets to draw and color. Use your textbook or materials provided by your teacher as a reference. TABLE 2: Scaled Distances of Planets PLANET Distance from the Sun in Astronomical Units (AU) Standard-Scale (chosen by AU x scale unit Distance of Planet in the chosen (cm) Mercury 0.4 0.7 Earth 1.0 Mars 1.5 Jupiter 5.2 Saturn 9.5 Uranus 19.5 Neptune 30.2 Pluto (Dwarf Planet) 40 Results and Conclusions: Why do you think scale models are important? Why were you instructed to multiply the distances in AU by 40 to determine how long your scale model needed to be? Compare and contrast the distances of the inner and outer planets from the Sun Extension: Draw the planets by scale according to size (diameter) on the distance scale model. Research celestial bodies in the universe (other known stars and galaxies). Using AU and units such as a light year, include these in you distance scale model. Part 3 - Martian Sun Times Reporters Teacher’s Procedure: Divide the class into seven different groups. Each person within the group will be assigned a specific job, e.g. secretary, researcher(s), editor, organizer. Assign to each group one of the investigations to research. Use the factual information obtained to prepare an article. This may consist of anyone of a variety of formats, e.g., a newspaper article, a travel brochure, a human –interest (or Martian interest) story, a fashion report, weather predictions.
Draft%20grade_8_Essential%20Labs%202014-2015%20Revised.docx