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Gravity and Orbits
$4.95 - Member Price  
$5.95 - Nonmember Price

Details

Type of Product:SciGuide
Average Rating:
 based on 11 reviews
Publication Date:4/1/2011
Grade Level:Middle School


Description

SciGuides are a collection of thematically aligned lesson plans, simulations, and web-based resources for teachers to use with their students centered on standards-aligned science concepts.

The Gravity and Orbits SciGuide explores concepts related to Earth’s universal gravitation and how gravity affects the universe around us. The focus is on Standards and Benchmarks related to universal gravitation including variables that influence the amount of gravitational force and how gravity governs the motion of the solar system.


Ideas For Use

A Science Guide is a valuable classroom resource for science teachers interested in integrating the web into their teaching. Each guide consists of approximately 100 web-accessible resources (URLs) that have been aligned to the National Science Education Standards (NSES) and vetted across eight educational rubrics, such as Inquiry, Interactivity, Communication/ Collaboration, How Scientists Learn, etc. These URL resources have been assembled in a thematic drill-down structure with linked lesson plans, vignettes, samples of student work and MP3 files that demonstrate how the Guide’s URLs can be utilized in a classroom. Ultimately, a Science Guide is a resource that saves educators time by providing exemplary web resources that have been pre-evaluated and aligned to the National Science Education Standards.

Additional Info

Science Discipline: (mouse over for full classification)
Earth's rotation
Moon
Sun
Gravity
Moons
Planets
Acceleration
Gravity
Mass
Newton’s laws of motion
Weight
Intended User Role:Learner, Middle-Level Educator, New Teacher, Professional Development Provider, Teacher
Educational Issues:Achievement, Assessment of students, Careers, Curriculum, Inquiry learning, Instructional materials, Integrating technology, Professional development, Teacher content knowledge, Teacher preparation, Teaching strategies

Technical

Resource Format:application/msword, application/pdf, audio/mp3, text/html, video/quicktime


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National Standards Correlation

This resource has 10 correlations with the National Standards.  
[VIEW CORRELATIONS]

This resource has 10 correlations with the National Standards.  
[HIDE CORRELATIONS]

  • Physical Science
    • Motion and Forces
      • Whenever one object exerts force on another, a force equal in magnitude and opposite in direction is exerted on the first object. (9-12)
      • Gravitation is a universal force that each mass exerts on any other mass. (9-12)
      • The strength of the gravitational attractive force between two masses is proportional to the masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. (9-12)
      • The strength of the force is proportional to the charges and, as with gravitation, inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. (9-12)
      • Between any two charged particles, electric force is vastly greater than the gravitational force. (9-12)
      • The motion of an object can be described by its position, direction of motion, and speed. (5-8)
      • Motion can be measured and represented on a graph.
      • An object that is not being subjected to a force will continue to move at a constant speed and in a straight line. (inertia) (5-8)
  • Earth Science
    • Objects in the sky
      • The sun, moon, stars, clouds, birds, and airplanes all have properties, locations, and movements that can be observed and described.
    • Earth in the solar system
      • Gravity is the force that keeps planets in orbit around the sun and governs the rest of the motion in the solar system. (5-8)


Customer Reviews
Physics revisited...Gravity understood!
  Reviewed by: Joy Agard on November 3, 2012
  The Gravity and Orbits SciGuide was a great way for me to review the college level Physics class that I took nearly 12 years ago. Although I teach grade 5, this SciGuide provided me with content knowledge at all grade levels. This is valuable because it helped me understand the scope and sequence of gravity and orbits standards which in effect gives me a better idea of what students are supposed to know by grade 5, what I can review, and where I need to guide them in their knowledge of the solar system. I like that I now know how to scaffold UP, and really challenge the really bright students in my class.

Gravity and Orbits SciGuide
  Reviewed by: Juliet on October 28, 2012
  This SciGuide is organized into three themes: Gravitational Force, Orbits, and Universal Gravitation. Unfortunately, I do not think this SciGuide will be very useful for planning lessons for upper elementary. The concepts that the lessons and activities focus on are way more advanced than the HCPS III benchmarks for grade 5. That being said, I think that the lessons and ideas that are in this SciGuide would be perfect for a middle or high school teacher to adapt for his or her classroom. The themes are organized and have many interactive simulations, Internet links, and extension activities that can be incorporated into lessons/units.

A Good Grasp of Gravity
  Reviewed by: Sherilynn C on October 22, 2012
  According to the HCPS III Benchmark SC.4.7.1, students must describe that the mass of the Earth exerts a gravitational force on all objects. This concept can be difficult to teach because of the fact that it’s not just asking to define gravity and its effects; it is asking why gravity is even present on Earth. There are many areas where students may have misconceptions of the term. This SciGuide has helped me to better guide my students to discover that gravity is a universal force that only acts between large massive objects like planets, that is affected by changes in distance, and that the Earth doesn’t need to touch an object in order to present the gravitational force onto it. This is ultimately the concepts I would like students to come to understand by the end of our lessons. As a result, my fourth grade students will have a better understanding of both gravity and orbits despite this SciGuide’s content being for grades 5-8. Thanks to this SciGuide, I have a variety of lessons and interactives to show my students to better understand the force of gravity and how it is exerted on various objects. The lesson plan on gravitational force and weight and the simulations of gravitational force and distance from Earth are going to be used the most from the SciGuide. My students will have a good grasp of gravity and consequently why the moon orbits the Earth and the Earth orbits the Sun.

Gravity and Orbits review
  Reviewed by: Ryan on September 18, 2012
  The gravity and orbits SciGuide provided me with great additional materials to help me teach about gravity with my fourth graders. The interactive links worked really well on my SMARTBOARD. I had my students come up and try out the different scenarios on with gravity. They enjoyed the process of learning how gravity works on objects. They were very surprised with some of the results just like I was when I did them. The lesson plans are good and they give you good activities. I have my own projects and experiments that I do to teach gravity so this SciGuide helped to supplement what I already do in my own classroom. I gave me more background information and more to talk about and discuss with my students. Discussions on escape velocity and orbits were added to this year's lessons because of the SciGuide. For someone who is not strong in teaching about gravity this is a great place to get lessons and links to help you and your students enjoy the effects of gravity.

Gravity and Orbits SciGude Review
  Reviewed by: Tomonori Hayamichi on April 25, 2012
  This ScieGuide provides me ideas through actual practiced lesson plans, which I could teach the students on the topic of gravity and orbit. This is particularly useful for the teachers who are not familiarized with the content areas on the topic or those who know the contents, but want to have more variation of lesson on the topic. The actual student work samples attached to the lesson plan help me predict what the student work would be like. One of the strength of the lesson packet is that it comes along with the web-based resources, which the student can reach and utilize without any teacher’s assistance so they can continue to work outside the classroom. Particularly, I like the web-based resources using animations, simulations, and video clips, which attract the visual learners more. I was looking for any relevant lessons on “Tracking the Moon” project to relate the moon phase and orbit with other planet orbits around the Sun and integration of math as well. After the students learn how fast the moon orbits the earth in the project, I implemented one lesson, “Orbit” from this SciGuide, as I want to relate the moon’s orbit with other solar planets orbiting velocity and gravitational influence of the courses of planets. It can be a collaboration lesson with math contents as it involves velocity and exponents in scientific notation. As for the suggestion for improvement in this SciGuide, I expect more collection of various types of lesson plans on the topic and look for the integration of science and other core subject lesson to meet the common core standards in the future.

Lots of importation
  Reviewed by: Helen on March 5, 2012
  The sciguide has three different themes of gravitational force, orbits and universal gravitation. It explains each theme and how gravity, force and orbits are related to the solar system. The Law of Gravitation is understood by understanding the concept of gravity through Newton’s Laws. Some suggestions for improvement are making some of the lessons or activities within the themes more for younger grades. Many times is time consuming to have to simply a lesson and making sure I didn’t leave out any important information.

gravity orbit sciguide
  Reviewed by: Vincent Lowery on November 30, 2011
  Some of the things that I liked about this sciguide are the sites that deal with forces and Newton’s Laws. I got clarification on Newton’s 2nd Law F=ma through a cool and engaging NFL video about kicking. I got a lot of information about Newton’s 3rd Law through another NFL video, this one about kinematics, position, velocity, and acceleration. These real life (and something I’m interested in) examples got me to really understand those principles. The sciguide drove home to me the importance of Newton’s Laws as they relate to understanding gravity. Another site I liked was Park World Plot, a cool interactive site from England that makes learning about forces and friction fun. I learned about the effects of velocity and angle when it comes to orbits through a site called planet impact. I liked trying all the different settings to find out what would happen. I did not know that the comet could be broken apart by the gravity of the planet. Right away, I am planning a lesson on weight, w=mg, and how it changes on other planets. I liked some of the interactives and simulations and want to try to incorporate them into my lesson planning. One thing that I really like about sciguides in general is the access to such a large amount of internet resources. The NFL videos are great and would make perfect additions to a discussion of Newton’s Laws, and the kids would probably never watch a football game the same way again. As we transition to common core standards I look forward to using the sciguide to try to find resources and ideas to help me meet those standards. And, as we continue to move off of the Earth, to the space station for instance, I can see a variety of topical lessons dealing with escape velocity, weightlessness, and orbit. The sciguide can help me to enhance my lessons and further my students’ understanding and curiosity.

Great Resources on Gravity!
  Reviewed by: Nichole M on November 15, 2011
  This SciPack is divided into 3 main sections: Gravitational Force, Orbits, and Universal Gravitation. There were many good resources: lesson plans, activities, and computer simulations that teachers could use when teaching about the force of gravity and how it affects moving and stationary objects. It deals with topics such as free fall, microgravity, Newton's Laws, Centrifugal Force, Inertia, etc. Overall it has many good ideas and alot of computer based resources. This particular SciGuide really only had resources on the scilinks.org website, which I hadn't seen in other SciGuides. Overall it is very helpful to help both beginning and experienced teachers enhance their curriculum, whether it be physical science or space science.

Lots of Gravity resources
  Reviewed by: Sharon on October 9, 2011
  Although listed for grades 5-8, this SciGuide is appropriate for a high school level conceptual physics course (for regular level or lower level math students). This is an excellent collection of resources on gravity, less so for orbits and satellites. Some resources in this SciGuide (Freefall, gravity) are duplicated in the Force and Motion SciGuide. The Media section has great simulations of freefall and tidal bulges on a stationary earth. Teachers could show media simulations while explaining the math and concepts in class. The elevator lesson (Science Object – orbits) takes students through the concepts of gravity, force, and acceleration. If your school is in a big city with faster multi-story elevators, it would be fun to take the class on a fieldtrip to experience the changes in force and acceleration. In general, there needs to be a way for teachers to search for key words in SciGuides, a la Google style. Right now it requires you to click three or four levels in, to actually find something specific. If one forgets to bookmark the site, it takes a while to find it again.

Navigating Gravity and Orbits
  Reviewed by: Megan Dehning on September 27, 2011
  This sci-guide is packed with information, which admittedly, is a bit overwhelming and daunting in itself. The guide is broken into 3 main themes: gravitational force, orbits, and universal gravitation. The media interactive animations are effective at helping one to understand the effect gravity has on falling objects, particularly in helping to differentiate between speed and acceleration. Many of the lesson plans and activities on the links offer engaging and interactive methods for students to better understand the effects of gravity and clear-up common misconceptions. Some of the links did not lead to the exact topic they were supposed to address, however they did lead to sites within the subject of astronomy. One critique of this guide is that the main lesson plans offered for each of the three themes were computer-based. This can be difficult for teachers and students who do not have sufficient and regular access to computers. More hands-on lessons and investigations would be appreciated by this teacher, in particular.

Foundations for Solar System Origins and Organiza
  Reviewed by: Patricia Rourke (Arlington, VA) on July 11, 2011
  This SciGuide contains groups of lessons that are pivotal to students understanding universal gravitation and how it affects the organization and formation of the solar system. The three units, Gravitational Forces, Orbits, and Universal Gravitation are excellent starting points for teachers to enhance their understanding and then to apply and to personalize the lessons for their students learning environments.

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