Grade
8
Science Indicator
/Strategies and Resources
Earth and Space Sciences- Describe how objects in the solar system are in regular and predictable motions that explain such phenomena as days, years, seasons, eclipses, tides and moon cycles.
*Have each student rotate a small ball in place (day), and then work with others to revolve one small ball around another (year).
*Use 2 unlabeled diagrams (One showing the earth rotating with an arrow indicating the direction. The other showing the earth revolving around the sun with an arrow indicating direction.). Have students write as much as they can, labeling and explaining the motion on each diagram. Discuss rotation and revolution of the earth and the results of these motions.
*Have students work in teams to analyzewhy we have seasons in Ohio. Give each team a detailed diagram of how the earth’s tilt and revolution cause seasons. After studying the diagram, each team will create a clay model on cardboard that shows and explains the causes of seasons and other season information (first days, hours of daylight and darkness, etc.).
*Take the class outside and set up a model of seasons using all members of the class. Designate one person as the sun. All other students will form an ellipse around the sun showing all the different positions of the earth throughout the year. Have each “earth” student tilt toward an object in the schoolyard outside the ellipse. This tilt must be maintained as the “earth” students orbit the “sun” student. Discuss how this causes the “earth” students to sometimes be tilted toward the earth, tilted away from the earth, and sometimes neither tilted toward or away from the earth. Stress tilt, revolution, seasons, and year.
*Use the overhead projector to demonstrate the phases of the moon. Make a clear full moon transparency and a moon for each phase (the dark area of the moon’s surface which cannot be seen). Place these dark areas over the clear full moon in correct sequence. Have students practice making and saying the names of the lunar phases, and explaining why we see them.
*Use flashlights, styrofoam “earth” balls (with a skewer through each representing the earth’s axis0, and styrofoam “moon” balls. Demonstrate how to use these items to show seasons, lunar phases, and solar/lunar eclipses. Have students practice demonstrating and explaining these cycles.
*A lunar phase model can be ordered from amazon.com. This remote controlled moon model can be displayed on the classroom wall. It shows the lunar phases stage by stage by lighting up in varying areas.
*Create a small sandwich board for each student. Make one third of the sandwich boards with the label “sun”. Do the same for “moon” and “earth”. Have students get together in the classroom and demonstrate the orders of a lunar eclipse (sun-earth-moon) and a solar eclipse (sun-moon-earth). Have students determine the space object that causes the shadow and the space object the shadow falls upon.
*Demonstrate how the earth and the moon are “tied” together by connecting an earth globe and a moon globe with a string (gravity). Show diagrams of how the moon’s gravity causes the earth to experience tides. Have students us clay models of the moon and the earth to show how the moon’s gravity pulls on the earth’s oceans and land.
Tides
Tides & Lunar Cycles
KINESTHETIC ASTRONOMY
The Moon
Earth's Rotation and Revolution
Tight Rope to theStars
Eclipse: Using a Classroom Model to Explore the Moon's Shadow
The Reasons for the Seasons
- Explain that gravitational force is the dominant force determining motions in the solar system and in particular keeps the planets in orbit around the sun.
*Demonstrate gravity by using a styrofoam ball with a string attached to it. Spin this ball above your head and discuss how the string represents gravity, you represent the sun, and the ball represents the earth. You can also discuss the relationship between gravity, mass, and distance. Students can then work in teams and practice this demonstration.
*Have students glue two sheets of paper together. Discuss how gravity is the glue that holds the universe together. Have students write as much as they can about gravity (including questions) on these glued papers.
*Have students hold a sheet with a heavy ball ..
Gravity: It's GREEEAAATTT!
Gravity Games
- Compare the orbits and composition of comets and asteroids with that of Earth.
*Distribute unlabeled diagrams of the orbits of comets, asteroids, and the earth in our solar system. Work together to determine which of the three diagrams shows the earth’s motion, which shows the motion of a comet, and which shows the possible motions of asteroids. Have students label and describe the motion on each diagram.
*Have students make models of comets using dry ice, clay, tape and
paper streamers for the tail.
*Have students work together to create moveable clay models on
cardboard that show the motions of the earth, comets, and
asteroids in our solar system. Have the teams demonstrate and explain
their models.
*Have students use their hands to show the motions of comets, asteroids, and the earth. Make one hand into a fist “sun”. Use the other hand to make a fist “earth” and demonstrate its orbit around the sun. Then change that fist into a fist “asteroid, and demonstrate its orbit (asteroid belt) on the same plane as the earth’s orbit. Then change that fist into a fist “comet”, and demonstrate its highly elliptical orbit that is perpendicular (not on the same plane) to the orbits of the earth and asteroids.
THE SOLAR SYSTEM: Comets and Asteroids
Asteroids, Comets, and Meteors Theme Page
- Describe the effect that asteroids or meteoroids have when moving through space and sometimes entering planetary atmospheres (e.g., meteor-"shooting star" and meteorite).
*Have students work in teams to create “dances” that show how meteoroids (that were once asteroids) effect the earth. The teacher may have to go first to give students an idea of what is expected. Have fun!
*Create clay models on cardboard that show a meteoroid becoming a meteor becoming a meteorite as it approaches the earth.
Meteor or Meteorite
- Explain that the universe consists of billions of galaxies that are classified by shape.
*Use cotton, glue, glitter glue, and paper to create models of the three basic galaxy classification groups.
*Did you know that galaxies date each other? Have each student write a personals ad for one galaxy type including its shape, composition, and any other information found while doing research. The ad needs to include what kind of galaxy is wanted. Post these ads.
*Compare and contrast the shapes of the three galaxy types. Make a chart listing this information.
*Make a list of items that can be found here on earth that resemble each of the galaxy types.
Classifying Galaxies
- Explain interstellar distances are measured in light years (e.g., the nearest star beyond the sun is 4.3 light years away).
*Why are light years only used to measure distances to objects outside our solar system? This is a good discussion or writing topic.
*Compare and contrast astronomical units (AU) with light years (ly). Make a Venn diagram that shows compares and contrasts this information.
*Many of the stars we see in the night sky are no longer there. Why do we still see them? This is a good discussion or writing topic.
*Meet the neighbors! Exploration questions: What is the nearest star to the earth? What is the nearest star to our sun? What is the nearest galaxy to our Milky Way? How far away is each of these space objects? What are the distances of these objects in light years?
The Great Hubble
- Examine the life cycle of a star and predict the next likely stage of a star.
*Create a pantomime or dance for the stages in the life cycle of our sun and the stages in the life cycle of a star with a lot more mass than our sun. The teacher can lead the class, or students can work in teams to create their own.
*Show a picture or overhead transparency of a stage in the life cycle of a star. Based upon their observations, have students predict what will happen next to that star. Help them to understand that stars expand and contract as they age.
*Using watercolor paints and white paper, have students paint and label the stages in the life cycle of our sun and the stages in the life cycle of a star with a lot more mass than the sun.
Life Cycle of Stars
Life Cycle of Stars
Life Cycle of Stars
- Name and describe tools used to study the universe (e.g., telescopes, probes, satellites and spacecraft).
*Show pictures of telescopes, space probes, spacecraft (space shuttle, etc.), and satellites. Using paper dolls or people cutouts, have students place them where they belong in relation to each space exploration tool. (For example, space probes do not carry people, but spacecraft do.)
*Create an acrostic for each of these terms: telescope, probe, satellite, and spacecraft. Using available resources, have students write specific ideas for each one.
*Have students volunteer to bring in telescopes they have at home, and
tell the class about them.
*Speakers are available from the NASA Lewis Research center who can
tell your students about space exploration.
- Describe the interior structure of Earth and Earth's crust as divided into tectonic plates riding on top of the slow moving currents of magma in the mantle.
*Using colored posterboard, glue, colored markers, and Velcro pieces, have students make “peel-away” layer models of the earth’s layers.
*Using foam pieces, have students stack them so that they represent a plate (the crust and upper mantle). Place pencils under these models and show how convection currents spin and move the plates.
*Create a classroom model of plate motion using roll paper and students. Place a long piece of roll paper (the plate) over the heads of 6 students with a student holding each end. Have the students under the paper move their arms in a circular motion all in the same direction (convection currents) barely touching the bottom of the paper. Have the students on the end move the plate in the correct direction. Discuss the definition and cause of convection currents in the earth’s crust.
*Set up a convection current model in the classroom. Use a small aquarium or class jar with a removable screen on top. Poor hot water into the glass container (or you can place a lit candle underneath as a heat source). Drop in a few drops of food coloring. Place a bag of ice on top of the glass container. Watch the motion of the food coloring.
*Explore a map or model of the earth’s plates. Have students locate the plate on which we live as well as our neighboring plates. Students could draw and label these plates on a balloon, orange, or apple.
*Make a model of the earth’s fluid asthenosphere using borax, white glue, and water. This will give students the idea that rock (a solid) can flow. Have students slide their hands over this model to see how the plates move.
Heat Up the Floating Plates
Modeling Convection Currents
Plate Tectonics - Why Does the Earth's Surface Move?
- Explain that most major geological events (e.g., earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, hot spots and mountain building) result from plate motion.
*Create a hot spot model of the Hawaiian Islands. Draw the oldest Hawaiian Island on the lower left corner of a white sheet of paper. Run off a copy of this diagram for every student. Have each student place his or her pencil point under this island and poke a hole up through the paper. The pencil represents a rising plume of magma. The sheet of paper represents the Pacific Plate. Pull the pencil out and slowly move the plate a few inches toward the lower left corner holding the pencil in place. Poke another hole up through the paper to represent a second island. Continue this process until the students understand the process. Study a map of the Hawaiian Islands and discuss how they were formed in the same manner over millions of years.
*Use towels or foam pads to demonstrate the forces involved in mountain building and earthquakes. Relate these forces to plate motion.
*Watch a movie scene that shows an earthquake (The movie Earthquake is a good one.) After viewing, discuss what could have caused all the motion and damage. Relate the motion and damage to plate motion and energy waves..
*Have students slowly slide one hand over the other pushing down while doing so. Examine how there are times when slipping occurs and times when the hands get stuck. Relate this to how plate motion can cause earthquakes.
*Examine a volcano and earthquake map of the earth. Is there a noticeable pattern for where they occur? Where and why do most earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur? If you have time, you can have students plot and mark earthquakes and volcanic eruptions on a blank map, and let them see the pattern appear (the Ring of Fire, etc.).
Mountains of Work
Teaching Plate Tectonics
Mid-ocean Ridge Spreading
Plate Tectonics - Don't Crack Me Up!
- Use models to analyze the size and shape of Earth, its surface and its interior (e.g., globes, topographic maps, satellite images).