Modeling Earth Science

The lesson plan implemented that required the use of a model was a scaled version of a solar system on the basketball courts. The students were required to walk the orbit of each planet for one minute and log how much of a revolution they were able to complete during that time.
The students obtained the goals and objectives during this lesson. Using the model solar system scaled down and having the students be active participants was a concrete tool to getting the meaning across to the students. Prior to doing this activity, students were struggling with the distance factor in space. They were looking at pictures in video clips, in the textbooks and other resources, but they were not able to make the connection to how far apart the planets were from each other. After we completed our revolutions, the students seemed to grasp the concept much easier. Another concept the students were struggling with was the different sizes of the planets. A great slide show that erased all misconceptions is found at http://www.rense.com/general72/size.htm. This is the best model comparison that I have found anywhere on the Internet.
I know the objective was met because the students were successful in answering the question sheet that they were required to answer on their own. We were also able to have meaningful, in depth discussions that moved up Bloom’s taxonomy after completing this activity. Prior to the completion of the modeling activity, students were not able to speak to the level that they did afterwards. This demonstrated that goals were not only met, but concrete understanding had taken place.
The only area that I would change in the future is the calculating of the solar system scale. In the future, I would see if the math teacher could incorporate this portion into their lessons. I believe that this would strengthen the math aspect and make it less time consuming and frustrating for students. Students seemed to find that part of the lesson to be the most confusing. Even though I had already measured off and created the scale on the basketball courts, I wanted the students to see how the scale was calculated.
Having the model as part of the lesson was crucial in teaching the standard. If the model had not been included as a component, I do not believe that students would have been able to grasp the concept as concretely as they did. I have found that when we bring models into the classroom students learn and enjoy it at a different level. When we studied biomes, students created biomes that included plants and animals indigenous to that biome. Our next models will be on the phases of the moon and eclipses