Explore Solar System and Beyond: Solar System Scroll and the Scale of Discovery
Monday 01/31/2022
6:00 pm ET
FREE 1-hour Webinar
Educators in Grades K-12
 

The NASA Educator Professional Development Collaborative at
Texas State University is providing a 1-hour webinar.

Participants will learn about hands-on standards aligned activities using scale to create a scroll of the universe exploring the inner planets, outer planets an the asteroids with various sized fruit while learning about the Dawn and New Horizons. Learn how to create a solar system pocket scroll based on the ratios of our solar system. Explore applications of fractions, conversions and scale with hands-on, standards-aligned NASA STEM activities. Engage our universe as you apply scale to distance, time, size, and models. Apply fractions related to our solar system within the home, classroom, and beyond.

Participants will use unique NASA content to apply ratios and conversions while creating a scale model of the planets.  An excellent opportunity for cross-curriculum integration as participants will visually identify the inner and outer planets all while using scaling factors to make representations for distances and diameters.  Participants will use ratios to convert the size of planets to a usable scale.  Participants will make a pocket solar system scroll that uses fractions and scale to place the planets within our universe.  With the sun being at 0 and the Kuiper Belt (Pluto) being at 1, all other planets and the asteroid belt can be placed using fractions, allowing teachers to extend the activity to create the solar system within their classroom, on a football field or any other set distance.

 Leave with a classroom ready PowerPoint that works great for an in-person, at home or virtual presentation.  It includes embedded videos, links and aligns to the Next Generation Science Standards.

 

 
 
 

Dr. Barbie Buckner is a 20+ year STEM classroom teacher with a Doctorate’s Degree in Mathematics Education from the University of Louisville. Her research interest included the impact of technology on student achievement and teacher behavior. Buckner recently served as a 2013-14 Einstein Fellow at the National Science Foundation Education and Human Resources Directorate where she collaborated with colleagues on learning, learning environments, boarding participating and workforce development. Barbie sees education as her calling and has spent her life sharing her love for learning with everyone around her. Knowing that today’s student will compete in a global economy, Barbie says that “It is imperative that today’s students are prepared with consistent rigorous and relevant standards that produce more STEM majors, particularly women, to keep this great nation at the forefront in technology, innovation, and advancement.”