Week 7 - Misconceptions and the Solar System

Week 7 - Misconceptions and the Solar System

News/Introduction

This week in lab, we discussed the idea of strandmaps that we looked at from the previous week. Specifically, we looked at the strandmaps for space from the NDSL for Grades K-6. We tied this discussion in with the movie Private Universe that we watched and reflected on as well. How are the two connected? What does this have to do with our current misunderstanding of science education? Also, how do we build our solar system to reflect the scale and size of it?

New Discoveries

THE ISSUE WITH EDUCATION

From viewing the strandmaps and movie, we noted that both have connections to our current misunderstandings of science. Currently in the science classroom, we are teaching the concepts to move on to the next grade's standards, but there is a glaring problem. Schools focus so little on science; instead, choosing to focus on math and reading. As a result, teachers teach the topics and standards without really checking for understanding. Additionally, they will teach complex/abstract topics, which leads to this further misunderstanding. In the movie Private Universe, we saw Harvard educated students along with a professor spouting off the misconceptions. This shows how damaging this methodology of teaching is, as it is incorrect. Our main takeaway for this is that it is now our job to break down these misconceptions. 

BUILDING THE SOLAR SYSTEM

For our lab experiment, we needed to construct the solar system. However, we could only use the materials that we had access to. Additionally, we needed to included the moon (Earth's moon). Another constraint we had to adhere to was building this solar system to scale. Finally, we needed to keep our solar system contained to the building we were in. When we started, we tried looking up the size of the planets and their distance from the sun, but we did not want to deal with those calculations, so we got further assistance from our instructor. He gave us a very useful website to help with figuring out distances and object diameters (https://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/solar_system/). We used this site to help us build our scale model. We came up with the following scale:


From here, were we were able to construct our miniature solar system model. 
The Sun
Venus
Earth & Moon
Mars

Mercury
           

Connections

MISCONCEPTIONS

So what how does this all come together? We talked about how in last week's formative assessment, our answers varied wildly. A lot of people were wrong, due to our learning experiences in elementary school. What can we do about this?. Because of the varying answers, one thing that we can do is look at why students think the way they do, and we can reassess our teaching methods to help students learn the factual information. 

Also, another misconception cleared up was the controversial decision to remove Pluto as a planet. I had the misconception that Pluto was simply too small to be a planet (and I grew up when Pluto was a planet). Pluto does meet the requirements of orbiting the Sun and having a gravitational formation. However, there are too many objects in Pluto's gravitational field ("clear the neighborhood") to be considered a "planet." 

LINES ON THE EARTH

We reviewed (and learned) the phases of the moon, along with the lines on the Earth (Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn and the Equator). If we remember from our discussion from the seasons, we know that the seasons are formed from the Earth's tilt. The sun will hit the lines of the Earth at different times. Tying along with the misconceptions, about the sun being closer and farther is debunked. The Earth does vary in distance from the sun, but the distance is around 100,000 miles. In space, this is pretty dismissible. We also learned about where the Sun hits on these lines to create the solstices (shortest or longest days of the year) and equinoxes (where all places receive the same amount of sunlight during the day).




The Future

Next week, we will continue to explore our misconceptions about space and the universe. We will split into groups and teach, and debunk any preconceptions about the following topics: 

  • The Origin of the Universe
  • Lifecycles of Stars
  • Origin of the Earth and Moon
  • Galaxies
  • Past, Present, and Future of Space Travel (featuring Mars)
  • Black Holes (featuring Katie Bouman).

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