Jupiter Lesson Plan: Earth’s Place in the Universe
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This lesson accompanies the BrainPOP topic Jupiter, and supports the standard of analyzing and interpreting data to determine scale properties of objects in the solar system. Students demonstrate understanding through a variety of creative projects.
Step 1: ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
Display an image of the solar system, like this one:
Ask students:
- Where is Earth located within the solar system?
- What do you notice about the size of Earth compared to other planets? Explain.
Step 2: BUILD BACKGROUND
- Read the description on the Jupiter topic page.
- Play the Movie, pausing to check for understanding.
- Have students read one of the following Related Reading articles: “Graphs, States, and Numbers” or “Discoveries and Inventions”. Partner them with someone who read a different article to share what they learned with each other.
Step 3: APPLY
Students synthesize their ideas and express them through one or more of the following creative projects. They can work individually or collaborate.
- Make-a-Movie: Imagine you are traveling through Jupiter’s atmosphere inside a protective force field. Create a mini-documentary describing the conditions within each of the atmosphere layers until you reach the planet’s core.
- Make-a-Map: Make a concept map comparing and contrasting Earth to Jupiter, including details about their size, gravity, and atmosphere.
- Creative Coding: Code a meme expressing the strength and size of Jupiter compared to other planets.
Step 4: REFLECT & ASSESS
Reflect: After sharing creative projects with each other, students reflect on what they’ve learned about Jupiter. Prompt them by asking questions such as:
- How does Jupiter’s mass affect its gravity?
- How does Jupiter’s gravity affect its atmosphere? What happens as you go deeper into the atmosphere layers?
- Why does Jupiter have the strongest magnetic field compared to any planet in the solar system?
Assess: Wrap up the lesson with the Jupiter Quiz.
Step 5: Extend Learning
Play a learning game to apply knowledge of Jupiter:
- Sortify: Celestial Bodies: Show your knowledge of celestial bodies by sorting objects according to selected categories.
- Time Zone X: Jupiter: Put historical events in chronological order in this interactive timeline game.
Continue to build understanding around Earth and Space science with BrainPOP’s Space topics, games, and teacher resources.