Curriculum Requirements
- Features of day and night sky, how they are similar and different and that they can change over time.
- Features of the sky may change with different condition. (eg in different seasons, in a cyclone, clouds moving, rainbows, the rising and setting of the Sun)
- Features of the night sky can be observed (eg changes to the Moon)
- Components of the universe as seen from Earth (eg the Sun, Moon, stars)
- The observable differences in the four seasons (eg temperature, life cycles of plants and animals, rain, appearance of sky, length of day)
- Changes occur on earth as a result of the Sun and the Moon (eg the ground gets hot in summer, we can see better at night outside when there is a full moon, eclipses can block light.
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Film - Earth's Wild Ride - 21 minutes
Subjects Covered
- Solar eclipses
- The ice age
- Earth's water cycle
- Difference between the Earth and the Moon
- Asteroids and the death of the dinosaurs
- Volcano's
- Thunder and lightning
Plus
Planetarium Show (Short) - 20 minutes
- Sun rise, path across the elliptic and sunset
- Demonstrate that the stars are visible when the sun sets and it gets dark but that they are also there even when it is light
- Show the moon and demonstrate that it can be visible both day and night, only brighter at night and even more so when it is a full moon
- Demonstrate that the Earth orbits the Sun and the Moon orbits the Earth
- Show how the phases of the Moon change depending on the position in its orbit
- Perform fly by of the Earth and the Moon
- Show the view of the moon from the earth and Earth from the Moon.
- Demonstrate a solar eclipse from a viewpoint on the Earth. Show that some stars can be seen when the eclipse occurs
- Show that the stars have patterns called constellations and that these patterns make pictures that all have a story to tell
Question Time - 5 minutes
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Night Sky Tour
- Students will be given a 1 hour tour of the night sky with particular emphases on the Moon, the brightest planets, the Milky Way and the brightest nebulae and star clusters.
- Each object will first of all be pointed out with the naked eye. Once identified, students will then have the opportunity to view the objects first through binoculars and then through the large telescopes.
- The same constellations which were shown in the planetarium will then be identified in the night sky and we will recall the associated stories.
- Students will then try identifying objects in the night sky using electronic, hand held personal sky guides.
- The night sky tour is completed with 5 minutes of question time.
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