"A System In The Sky"

1. To clarify students' misconceptions about the sun, earth, and moon system through the use of technology.
2. To provide real-life pictures and virtual representations of the sun, earth, and moon which will lead to further excitement and involvement in the science concepts.
3. To provide a fun-filled learning environment that will enhance the students critical thinking, while helping the students to become more comfortable with technology that is used in classrooms and businesses today.

Lesson 2:
This lesson was used to further the students knowledge about what factors affect size.  We  used a pre-made experiment web on Kidspiration that walked the students through the basic steps of the scientific method.  (We used this web for other activities that we did in the unit).

Lesson 3:
Our third lesson was used to increase students' understanding about how many is 1 million.  This increased their awareness of just how big the sun is compared to the earth and moon.  We used Excel to implement this lesson.

Lesson 4:
One of our reading groups performed the "Planet Parade" for one of the first grade classes in our school.  During their performance the students were using a microphone and one of the students not in the play was recording it with our school camera.  We then downloaded the play onto a DVD so that it could be played back to the students on the monitors in our classrooms.

Lesson 5:
This lesson was used to demonstrate the ability of using a computer web to help them learn successful studying habits.  This also helped them integrate the information learned in the past lessons of the unit as well as in upcoming lessons.  We used Kidspiration's web building to implement this lesson.  (The web will be expanded upon with each new lesson that we do in class).

Lesson 6:
This lesson exposed the students to fun, interesting and informational  websites that furthered their understanding of the unit.  These websites were available for their use during independent work times.  This lesson also offered us the opportunity to discuss safety issues about internet use with the class.  A letter listing kid-friendly websites was sent home with the students.

Lesson 7:
We had a group of students work on creating a space facts game on the computer.  They collected the facts that they needed and worked as a group to decide how  they wanted their game to work.  They used Kidspiration to create their games.  These games were available on our two computers in the classroom for students to use during certain times of the day.  We also had a group create the moon phases on the computer.  A third group of student created a lunar calendar, which was compared to our solar calendar.

Lesson 8:
Students created PowerPoint presentations about our use of technology in Science and what they had learned in this unit.  These presentations were used as one of our assessments.

Lesson 9:
Our culminating activity was the creation of a broadcast using our new technology cart.  Students wrote the script and three students (technical directors) learned how to use the equipment.  Anyone in the school that wanted to view our use of technology as well as see what the students learned about space could watch our presentation on their classroom monitors.

Technology used

• Word
• World Book 3D Atlas
• Kidspiration
  
• Excel
• Digital camera
• Digital camcorder
• Monitor
• Internet
• Appleworks
• Technology cart
  
• Power Point