TWO PERSPECTIVES

In the article, “Seeing the Solar System Through Two Perspectives,” by Thomas R. Tretter, William R. Thornburgh, and Mark Duckwall, they looked at two different ways to look at the solar sy... See More

In the article, “Seeing the Solar System Through Two Perspectives,” by Thomas R. Tretter, William R. Thornburgh, and Mark Duckwall, they looked at two different ways to look at the solar system. The first way was to look from a Space-Based perspective. This meant students looked at how the sun and earth interact with one another. Then students used software to track when the sun rose and set, and they graphed the data. The other perpesctive was to look from an Earth-Based Perspective. This meant students physically recorded the altitudes of the sun, and charted them. They also got to use software to track the altitudes of the sun. The whole point of the article was to show that students who are given the opportunity to view the solar system through a variety of perspectives allows them to develop solid understandings of the complex relationships between the Earth, Moon, Sun, and visible stars. I really loved this article because it allowed me to see just how easy it is to create a hands-on experience for the students instead of handing them a worksheet. It allows them to think deeper into the complex relationships, and I loved it. I would love to use this in my future classroom one day.