Methods 2: Week 7

 Week 7 

1.What did you do in lab today?

This week in the lab, we were tasked with creating a scale model of our solar system that included the Sun and the 4 planets closest to the Sun. The model needed to be scaled in terms of the accurate size of the planets and the sun and the distance between them. The main challenge that our group encountered was determining what size to make the sun. At first, we tried determining the size of the planet before working on the sun. This was hard because we wanted to make the planets a decent size visibly; however, this would require our sun to be way bigger than we could realistically accomplish. After failing to determine the sizes this way, we decided to start with the sun. Ultimately, we decided to use the globe of the Earth as our representation of the sun. Then, using the diameter of the globe, we scaled the rest of the planets to an appropriate size. This required the planets to be tiny, which was hard to make. Then, using the internet, we scaled down the distance between the planets and the sun to correspond with the sizes that we created. The distance between the sun and Mars in our model ended up being about 45 meters. To place the planets, we used a measuring tape starting at the sun and placed the planets accordingly as we reached their distance. 

        2.What was the big question?

The big question for the lab this week was: how can we create a model of our solar system (the sun and the first four planets) that is scaled accurately in terms of size and distance? 

       3.What did you learn in Thursday’s discussion?

We started the lecture by reviewing the formative assessment that we took in the lab and addressing the misconceptions that we had as a class. Then our main focus was learning about the moon. We started by discussing theories related to how the moon was formed and why it orbits the Earth. One idea we discussed was the capture theory, which is essentially the idea that the moon was formed somewhere else and then was drawn to the Earth by its gravitational pull. Another idea was the fissue theory, which said that the moon was formed by materials that were ejected into space due to the fast rotation of the Earth. Even though this theory is discounted, there is evidence that a natural nuclear explosion could have ejected materials from the Earth to form the moon. Other theories are that the moon formed along with the Earth or that the moon formed out of debris from the formation of our solar system. At the end of the lecture, we discussed the density of the moon's surface. We learned that the surface of the moon has different densities, which is why we see more dark spots on one side of the moon. The lighter parts of the moon are denser. 

2. Read the online textbook: Links to an external site.

       1.What did you learn?

    This chapter helped me learn more about the make-up of our solar system. First, the chapter discussed the planets that make up our solar system: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Then it split the planets into two categories: the inner (rocky) planets and the outer (gaseous) planets. After reading the chapter, I remembered learning about these distinctions, but it was a nice reminder. The inner (rocky) planets include Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. The outer (gaseous) planets include Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Additionally, the chapter introduced me to a mnemonic device that is helpful to remember the order of the planets, “My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nutella." Finally, the chapter explains that Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet because it failed to “clear the neighborhood” by ejecting or attracting the smaller objects in its orbit. Many other dwarf planets can be found around Pluto. 

       2.What was most helpful?

I really liked the mnomonic device that was introduced. It serves as a helpful memory aid to help me remember the order of the planets. I’m not particularly the best at memorizing things like this, so strategies like this are very beneficial in allowing me to do so. Additionally, I liked the visuals in the videos that were provided. They did a good job of supplementing the material to help me remember concepts better. Particularly, I liked the video that showed the scale model of the solar system, similar to what we did in the lab. We only did the first four planets, so this video did a good job at allowing me to visualize the length of our entire solar system because I’m very familiar with campus. I also like the tidbit at the end where it used a map to show how far the nearest star is from our solar system in relation to the scale model of the solar system on our campus. The nearest star was on a continent on the other side of our globe. 

       3.What do you need more information on?

Overall, the chapter provided a good overview of our solar system. Something that I might want more information on is the unique features of each planet, which we have not yet discussed. Additionally, it would be beneficial to explore more activities that we could incorporate into the class to help us enhance our students understanding of these concepts. 

3.What questions, concerns, and/or comments do you have?

At the moment, I do not have any questions, comments, or concerns regarding the chapter. I think that it was pretty straight-forward.