Jupiter Lesson Plan: Earth’s Place in the Universe

*Click to open and customize your own copy of the Jupiter Lesson Plan. 

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.