Gretchen Brinza
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Beyond Gravity...What About that Sun?

4/29/2016

 
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​So fifth graders have made sense of gravity's role in orbiting bodies.  Gravity pulls us back to the center of the Earth when we jump and it also keeps celestial bodies in orbit around the Sun.

And now we are starting to notice things about the Sun.  


Why is the Sun so bright compared to all the other stars in our Solar System?  Is it brighter because it's bigger?  Or is it because it's closer, like the majority of the class claims?

​Since Mrs. Brinza wanted evidence for their claim, fifth graders designed an investigation to gather evidence for this.  Using iPads, rulers, and flashlights, they're seeing how the size and brightness of a flashlight (which represents our Sun) changes as the distance from the iPad increases.  How does the brightness and size of a star change as distance changes?  Check back soon to find out!
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Gravity's Role Beyond Orbit...

4/26/2016

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Fifth graders have made sense of how gravity plays a pivotal role in keeping the planets in orbit around the sun.  In fact, the gravitational pull of the Sun keeps the planets in a circular orbit despite the planets wanting to go in a straight path.

But what else does gravity "do?"  Knowing that if we were to jump up on the Earth anywhere, we'd always land "down."  But is "down" the same for everyone?  How can we explain how gravity plays a role on what happens to us when we jump?  And is there a better way to explain this phenomenon?

Check out our continued work on modeling!
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Why do the planets orbit the Sun?

4/24/2016

 
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One of the most common questions fifth graders generated regarding the Sun's relationship with all the other planets was the reasoning behind why the planets orbit the Sun in the first place.  Using Newton's First Law of Motion (which states that things will stay in motion unless something stops/accelerates them or changes their direction), students were wondering why the planets don't just fly in a straight path, like his law states.  Using a ball/string model, students began seeing the connection between how the planets 
wanted to continue moving in a straight line but we somehow connected to the Sun with a force pulling them inwards.  We'll be working on our models, explaining how these phenomena occur!

Working with our Driving Question Board! 

4/12/2016

 
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After fifth graders made sense of the planets' locations in relationship to the sun, students begin interacting with the Driving Question Board.  The DQB grounds our thinking, and has us coherently build upon one idea to the next. As we try to understand the many patterns that occur on the earth, we're also trying to develop understanding as to why those patterns occur in the first place.
As we notice that all the planets orbit the sun, we're beginning to ask some fascinating questions about this phenomenon now that we see some things...

1.  Every planet seems to go around the sun.  Why is this so?
2.  Every planet takes a circular path.  Again, why is this so?
3.  Every planet has many unique features, distinguishing it from the next.  Does the sun have a role in this?  

​These are some of the questions students have asked...great work 5th grade!  We'll be working hard to answer these questions!

Earth in the Solar System...

4/8/2016

 
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 Fifth graders have started their next unit focused on everyday patterns on the Earth.  They'll be making sense of the causes of these patterns by developing models and constructing explanations...just like real scientists do!

We started our unit trying to determine Earth's place in the Solar System at large.  We're working through data to make sense of things like diameter, temperature, orbital period, and distance from the sun, all of which can help explain things we have yet to make sense of!  We've hit the ground running!

    Earth

    The Earth is a mystifying place, where things happen everyday...and then repeat themselves at some point in another.  We'll be making sense of that!

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