Children love space, so teaching the planets for children is a rewarding subject for any teacher or parent. We will take a look at the eight planets that make up our solar system, find strategies to aid young pupils and hopefully even a bit more as we learn astronomy online.
The Sun is the star that sits at the center of our solar system. The eight planets move in elliptical orbits around the sun. Amazingly, every planet moves in a counter-clockwise direction. That means that it moves opposite the way that the hands on a clock move.
It makes only sense to learn astronomy online beginning at the planet closest to the Sun and extending outward from there. Structure is very important for young learners so I advise covering the following aspects of each planet to begin with and then widening the scope of the learning. I can’t stress enough how crucial it is when attempting to learn astronomy online and teach the planets for children to have a program and setup a structure. Here are the aspects that not only appeal to young learners, but are easy to teach; size, composition and temperature. Adding one other interesting fact for each planet is a great way to aid your child in remembering the information. It gives them an anchor which is crucial in any learning, but especially important when attempting to learn astronomy online.
The Planets For Children Critical Teaching Points: Mercury — A small, stony planet with temperatures ranging from -183C (0C is the freezing point here on Earth) to 427C (100C is the boiling point on earth). It is very, very cold and very, very hot on Mercury. If you have a set of binoculars you can normally see Mercury just as the sun sets or rises. It is always close to the sun.
The Planets for Children Critical Teaching Points: Venus — Though marginally larger than Mars, Venus is still a small, stonyplanet. Venus is immersed in clouds of poison sulfuric acid which keep in the Sun’s heat. The surface of venus is 400C.
The Planets for Children Critical Teaching Points: Earth — The Earth is close in size to Venus and is also considered a small, stony planet. Temperatures on Earth are familiar to us all and allow Earth to be the only planet that we know of that supports life.
The Planets For Children Critical Teaching Points: Mars — A small, stony planet with temperatures ranging from -173C to 18C. Mars is referred to as the red planet because of the colour of its soil. When in the night sky, Mars can be seen by the naked eye, but its luminance is subject to its distance from Earth.
The Planets For Children Critical Teaching Points: Jupiter — A giant, gas planet composed of 90% hydrogen. Jupiter is 318 times bigger than Earth! Jupiter is completely gaseous with no solid surface. Temperatures on the very outside of Jupiter’s clouds are absolute zero, while temperatures at Jupiter’s core are believed to be 7500 Kelvin. That is very, very hot! If you look at Jupiter with binoculars you can even see its moons!
The Planets For Children Critical Teaching Points: Saturn — A giant, gas planet made up of 75% hydrogen. It is noted for its beautiful rings. The temperatures within Saturn’s rings is -175C while scientists claim that the temperature at the core is 11700C. With a small telescope you can see Saturn in the night sky.
The Planets For Children Key Points: Uranus — A giant gas planet with rocks and ice. It spins “sideways” unlike the rest of the planets. The temperature ranges from -355C to 12600C.
The Planets for Children Critical Teaching Points: Neptune — A giant gas planet made up of rocks and ice. Neptunes blue color is caused by the methane gas in the atmosphere. We have never measured the temperatures on Neptune, but scientists claim that they are even more extreme than those of Uranus. Neptune can be seen with binoculars, but a telescope is required if you want to see anything more than a dot.
Remember, if you make it fun it will be easier not only for you to teach for your students to learn astronomy online. Once you have covered the basics above you can move on to more advanced topics and even the use of 3D simulation software.
Suggested Products: Stargazing for Beginners and 3D Spacesim.
