Lesson Plan of Stars and Planets
General Science Grade V
Students’ Learning Outcomes
· Differentiate between a star and a planet.· Explain that the Sun is a star.
Information for Teachers
· A star consists of very hot glowing gases.
· A star emits its own light. Therefore, our Sun is a star.
· There are a number of stars in the sky and are seen at night time.
· The Sun is the nearest star to the Earth.
· All the stars are not of the same size, mass and brightness.
· Some stars are closer and others are far away from the Earth.
· Astronomical objects which don’t have their own light are called planets.
· A planet is nearly a spherical ball of rock and/or gas that orbits a star.
· Planets look bright because they reflect light of the sun. Our Earth is a planet.
Material / Resources
A bulb, tennis balls etc. textbook
Worm up Activity
· Switch the bulb ON and ask the students:
—Is the bulb luminous object?
(Expected response: Yes)
· Call three students and ask them to hold a white ball each and stand around the bulb in such a position that the light falls on the balls.
· Ask the students: Are the balls luminous object?
(Expected response: No, the balls are not luminous. They reflecting the light of the bulb)
· Now tell the students that the heavenly bodies which emit their own light are the stars and the heavenly bodies which reflect the light of stars and don’t have their own light are the planets.
· Now ask the students: What do you see during day and during clear night in the sky?
(Expected response: We see a very bright and hot Sun during day and a very cool and bright Moon during the night time. Countless twinkling stars are seen in the sky on a clear night)
· Ask the students: What do you think; the Erath, The Moon and stars are the only objects in space?
(Expected response: No)
· Inform them that the Sun and stars emit light of their own while the Moon and the Earth don’t.
· Ask them: Is our Earth a star?(Expected response: No) then why?
· After their responses, inform them that our Earth doesn’t emit its own light. Hence, it is not a star. It is a planet.
Development
Activity 1
· Ask the students: Do all the stars in the sky look equally bright? (Expected response :No )
· Inform them that the nearer star look bright and far away stars look dim.
· Ask them: What do you know about the very faint dots in the sky? (Expected response : These are stars which are very far away).
· Ask the following questions to strengthen their concept.
– Have you noticed the street lights?
(Expected response: Yes)
—How the nearest light looks?
(Expected response: Its looks very bright)
— How the farthest light look?
(Expected response: It appears very dim).
· After the discussion explain that stars close to Earth look more bright as compared to others.
Activity 2
· Light up two similar torches in a dark room.
· Ask the students: Are they both equally bright?
· Now place one near the students and one far away and ask: Do these still appear equally bright?
(Expected response: The nearest looks bright and the farthest one looks dim).
· Now ask: What about the stars? Do you think they might be brighter than they appear? How bright do you think they are?
· Ask them: Which one emits its own light, Moon or Sun?
· (Expected response: The Sun).
· Make them understand that Sun emits its own light. Hence, it is called a star and the Moon reflects the light of the Sun.
Sum up / Conclusion
· A star is made of very hot glowing gases. It emits its own light.
· The Sun is a star. It is nearer than the other stars.
· Our Earth is a planet. It doesn’t emit its own light.
· Nearer stars look more bright while the stars very far away look like dots.
· Stars have fixed positions in their patterns. The planets change their positions.
Assessment
· Assess the understanding of the students by asking the following questions.
–What makes stars to glow?
(Expected response: Very hot gases of the stars make them o glow).
—How many stars are there in the sky?
(Expected response: There are so many stars in the sky. We can’t count all of them).
—-What is the shape of the Sun, earth and Moon?
(Expected response: Almost spherical).
Follow up
· Ask the students to recall the rhyme, “Twinkle Twinkle Little star”
· Inquire them: Why do stars twinkle?
· After the students’ response: inform them the air around our Earth is moving in different directions in many ways. The light passing through the different layers of air is bent many times. This cause the twinkling of the stars.
· Give the students a home assignment to observe the night sky and observe the patterns of the stars.
