Exploration and Observation: Galaxy Art!

Jacob Wonderbar and his friends broke the universe and were afraid that they'd destroyed their own galaxy. You probably know that a galaxy is a big, big group of stars, and that the galaxy we live in is called the Milky Way. But let's learn some more about galaxies and make our own galaxy art!

There are three kinds of galaxies: elliptical, irregular, and spiral. Elliptical galaxies have most of their stars in a sort of lemon-shaped (elliptical) area. You could make a model of an elliptical galaxy by making a ball of Play-Doh, then rolling it just a little flat in one direction. Irregular galaxies are just a bunch of stars grouped together in no particular shape. You could make a model of an irregular galaxy by dropping a handful of dry rice grains in the center of a plate, then dropping another handful across the whole plate. (And then you'd want to imagine the whole thing in three dimensions instead of flat.)

The third kind of galaxy is the kind we live in--a spiral galaxy. The Milky Way has hundreds of billions of stars scattered around in three main parts: the nucleus, the spiral arms, and the disk. Learn lots more about what kinds of stars are in each of these parts here.

To make your own galaxy art, get a piece of paper, two pencils, and a partner. Have one partner hold a pencil in the center of the paper and spin the page slowly and steadily while the other partner draws lines from the pencil in the center out toward their body. As the paper spins, the lines you draw will make nice curves like the spiral arms of our galaxy!

Next, attach your paper to a piece of black construction paper or card stock. Take a push pin and carefully poke holes through both pieces of paper along your spiral arms. Poke extra holes in the center to make the nuclues. Try to make different sizes of stars with your pin or the point of a sharp pencil. Label the nucleus, the disk, and the spiral arms of your galaxy, then hang it in a window (or hold it up to a glowing computer screen) and check out your beautiful galaxy!

For more on galaxies, check out NASA's galaxy page or at kidsastronomy.com.

Exploration and Observation: North-South and Local Noon (Sundials, Part 2)

In Kepler's Dream, Ella adjusts to life in a new place and is challenged to find her true north. For today's science activity, you'll find your true north and learn something about the place you live!

It's time for part 2 of our sundials activity from astronomer and physicist Laura Cotts! For this activity, you'll just need a piece of cardboard (I used the top of a pizza box) with a golf tee attached to the center, flat side down. In sundial terms, the golf tee is called a gnomon.

Find a sunny spot for your experiment and anchor it firmly. Draw the shadow of your gnomon every 15 minutes from 10:30 to 1:30. Record the time for each shadow. Find your very shortest shadow. It should point to the North because when the sun is at the highest point in its path, the sun is in the South.

The time of your shortest shadow is called “local noon”, when the sun is highest in the sky at your location. But this time may or may not match 12 noon on your clock! This is because the world is divided into “time zones” to make it easier for people to communicate. For instance, everyone in the Mountain Time Zone has clocks that say 12 noon at the same time, but the sun will cross its highest spot sooner for people in the eastern part of the time zone and later for people in the western part. (You can tell from the photo above that I'm in the western part of my time zone.)

Ever since there have been people, they have used the sun to help them find their way and to help them mark the passage of time. See what else you can learn!

What time was local noon for you? Was it before or after 12:00? Based on your local noon, do you think you live on the east or west side of your time zone? Check your answer here for a US time zone map or here for a world time zone map!

Kepler's Dream by Juliet Bell

From Goodreads: When eleven-year-old Ella's mother has to be hospitalized to undergo a dangerous cancer treatment, Ella spends the summer at "Broken Family Camp" with her eccentric grandmother, whom she's never met. The situation is hardly ideal for either of them. Ella is scared her mother may die, but her grandmother seems to care more about her library full of books than she does about her very own granddaughter.

But when a rare and beloved book, Kepler's Dream of the Moon, is stolen from her grandmother's amazing library, Ella and her new friend Rosie make up their minds to find it. Finding the beautiful book her grandmother loves so much could even be the key to healing Ella's broken family.

My Two Cents: This is a lovely book filled with memorable characters, dynamic relationships, and enough mystery to keep even this adult reader guessing. Bell's story is as layered and complex as the characters within. There are a lot of threads to follow, and they are all woven together beautifully.

Grade Level: 4-6

Additional Resources:

• Check out Juliet Bell's fun website!
• Read a summary of Hamlet. Do you think there's a reason the author chose Hamlet as the book Ella's dad returns to the librerery?
• Read about Somnium and draw your own illustrations of the Earth, the moon, and the demons.
• Draw a map of your house or your room like Ella does! Printable graph paper might help, and this book might too.
• Play Boggle like Ella and her grandmother.
• Learn more about peacocks and constellations.

More to Read:

• Another story that weaves together an old book, curious girls, and a dash of mystery: Palace Beautiful by Sarah Deford Williams
• Another strong young girl who's worried about her mom and trying to make things work in a new environment: Ida B by Katherine Hannigan
• More memorable grandparents who help their granddaughter: Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
• Another book with dashes of mystery and connections to history: Shakespeare's Secret by Elise Broach
• A fun picture book where a girl draws maps of her room, her house, her town, and even the world:  Me on the Map by Joan Sweeney

Exploration and Observation: Balloon Rocket Launch

In Cosmic, Liam gets to go on "The Biggest Thrill Ride in the History of the World"--a trip to the moon! Let's make some indoor rockets and see if we can launch them all the way to the ceiling.

Materials needed: fishing line or string, drinking straws, balloons, shuttle picture, masking tape

1. Prepare the launch site. String fishing line from the ceiling--more than one line, if you want to launch more than one rocket at the same time.

2. Prepare your rocket. Color and decorate your shuttle, then cut it out and attach a straw to the back with masking tape. Blow up a balloon, but don't tie off the end! The air in the balloon is the force that will launch your rocket.

3. Prepare for liftoff. Attach your balloon to the straw with masking tape (keep pinching the end!), then slide the straw over the bottom end of the fishing line. Hold the bottom of the fishing line against the floor so it forms a straight vertical line. (If you allow slack in the line, the rocket won't launch as high.)

4. Launch! When your line is tight, count down and launch your rocket! Then perform experiments to answer the following questions, and see if you can come up with some questions of your own:

Does the rocket launch higher if I put more air in the balloon?
How would I design a rocket that would launch even higher? What changes could I make to this design--what could I add, and what could I take away?
What happens if I launch the rocket without sliding the straw over the fishing line?
Can I attach other things (paper clips, paper people, etc.) and still launch it all the way up the line?
How many times can you use the same balloon before it loses some of its launching power? Why do you think this happens?

Happy launching!

Exploration and Observation: Make a Sundial

Lots of attention has been paid to the Mayan calendar lately, but the Mayans actually had many scientific achievements, including astronomy, agriculture, and this week's activity, sundials. Even Max Murphy could handle this one!

This guest post was written by one of my very favorite people, Laura Cotts. Laura has taught math, physics, and astronomy courses and labs at Southern Utah University and gave me my very first job as a TA. (Aww!) But my favorite thing Laura does is an amazing array of science activities and demonstrations each year at a local children's jubilee. Take it away, Laura, and thank you!

What if we had no clocks and no compasses? We could use the sun to help us tell time and to find directions!

We have heard that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. But does this mean EXACTLY east and west?  And does the sun ALWAYS rise in the same place?

This is a project you can do several times during the year. The most interesting ones to compare are done in December and June, with one more in either September or March.

Here's what you'll need to do to make your sundial:

1. Get a large piece of cardboard or foam board and glue a golf tee, flat side down, near the center.

2. Pick a sunny Saturday or holiday, for you will want to visit your board about once an hour, all day long. Find a place that will be in the sun the whole day and tape your board down so it won't blow away, and so it will always be sitting the same way.

3. Starting early in the morning, go out and look at the shadow of your golf tee. How long is it? In which direction is it pointing? Draw a line along the shadow, to its very end, and beside it write the time. Pay attention to the location of the sun.

4. Visit your board about once every hour and draw a line along the shadow. Has the shadow changed?  If so, how? Where is the sun?

5.  At the end of the day you will have many shadow lines. What pattern do they make? How did they change? When was your shadow line the shortest? The longest? Can you think why?

If your board stayed in the same place, could it help you tell the time on another day? You have made a very simple sundial!

Did your changing shadows sweep along a curve?  Could this be why our round clocks and watches run "clockwise"?

If you set the board out a month or two later, will the shadows match your times again, or will there be a change? The shadows come from the sun--will the sun have changed its path? Try it!

June

It will be the most fun to try this activity again in June.

• Do you think the picture will be the same as December or March?
• How are your June shadows different from the December shadows? 
• How would a March  pattern differ from either? What has caused the changes?
• Does the sun always rise and set in the same places?  What evidence do you have?
• Can the shadow patterns tell us about the different paths that the sun traces across the sky?

Sundials

The sundial you have made would only tell fairly accurate time for a few weeks. As the seasons change the sun's path changes.

Sundials use the shadow of a stick, called a gnomon. To make a more accurate sundial, the gnomon should be at an angle that matches your latitude.

Directions for a simple sundial can be found here. This sundial will tell time most accurately for a mid latitude in March and September.

For more activities with the sun and the seasons, visit here or here. For very complete information on sundials try the British Sundial Society.

Thank you, Laura! I told you she was wonderful. We'd love to have your questions or comments below!

Here Comes Science

 

 



Happy Thanksgiving! Since we've got a holiday this week, I thought I'd mix it up a little by reviewing a great science album for kids, Here Comes Science by They Might Be Giants. If you're like me, you remember They Might Be Giants from the days when they were recording songs like Istanbul for adults. Now they have several albums for kids that are fun, educational, and often very funny.

This CD is also available as a DVD that contains videos for each song. The videos have been posted on YouTube, but I hope that you'll support these artists if you love the songs as much as I do by purchasing some form of the music.

Some of the songs on this album actually seemed vaguely political and/or seemed to be more interested in proving a point or persuading people that, for instance, "Science is Real." (Although I agree with their viewpoints, I don't know that anybody who discredits scientific principles is going to be persuaded by kid rock songs, no matter how catchy they may be.) And things get confusing when they have a song about how the sun is a ball of gas, followed immediately by a song about how the sun is NOT a ball of gas. Which I understand from a scientific point of view thanks to this NASA link, but why confuse kids?

My favorite songs were the ones who dispensed with the politics and persuasion (and gas ball confusion) and went straight for the science in the most understandable way possible. So, without further ado, I give you my top 9 songs from Here Comes Science:

1. Meet the Elements

2. Bloodmobile

3. Roy G. Biv

4. I Am a Paleontologist

5. What Is a Shooting Star?

6. Photosynthesis

7. Speed and Velocity

8. Solid Liquid Gas

9. Cells

Are there scientific inaccuracies in each of these videos? Probably. (One that jumped out at me was that the stars are in front of the clouds in What Is a Shooting Star.) But parents and teachers can use any errors as just one more teaching tool. "What is wrong with this picture?"

My bottom line: Anything that makes science more accessible, understandable, and fun to kids gets my stamp of approval.

Exploration and Observation: Solar System Model

In this week's book, Oliver Olson makes a solar system model for his school project. So let's make one too! Here's how to make a scale model of the solar system using stuff you probably have left over from Halloween.

     Materials needed:

     2 small pumpkins
     2 mini pumpkins
     3 suckers (Tootsie Pops, etc. You can cut the sticks off.)
     1 Whopper candy
     1 Skittle candy
     2 Nerds candies

The planets and objects in our solar system are very, very different sizes. Which is the biggest? Which is the smallest? Which four items do you think represent the gas giants? Which four are the terrestrial planets? Which items do you think represent our moon and Pluto? If we added more Nerds to our solar system, what could they represent?

Write down which planet (plus the moon and Pluto) you think goes with each item and why you chose it on this Solar System Recording Sheet.

Why isn't the sun one of our items? Because we'd need a pumpkin that was as tall as a grown-up! On this scale, the Earth would revolve at a distance of about two football fields from the sun, and the moon would revolve around the Earth at a distance of about 30 inches. Jupiter would be about 1 km away from the giant pumpkin sun, and Pluto would be about 8 km away!

Adapted from NASA's Solar System Scale and Size lesson plan. For NASA's full lesson plan, click here.

Additional resources:

Solar System Scale Model Calculator
Planet Size Comparison

Don't forget to click "Join this site", then leave a comment for your chance to win a copy of this week's book, How Oliver Olson Changed the World!

MMGG Book 2: Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce

From Goodreads:

Liam is too big for his boots. And his football strip. And his school blazer. But being super-sized height-wise has its advantages: he's the only eleven-year-old to ever ride the G-force defying Cosmic rollercoaster--or be offered the chance to drive a Porsche. Long-legged Liam makes a giant leap for boy-kind by competing with a group of adults for the chance to go into space. Is Liam the best boy for the job? Sometimes being big isn't all about being a grown-up.

Why it's MIGHTY:

This one has a mighty sense of adventure (Kids flying a shuttle to the moon! With no grownups on board!), but it also has a really beautiful underlying theme of familial love. Boyce is one of my favorite middle grade authors, and any kid who loves Charlie and the Chocolate Factory will probably love this as well.