Lesson Plan: The Solar System Science
This lesson plan includes the objectives, prerequisites, and exclusions of the lesson teaching students how to recall the names of the planets in the solar system and their order based on how far away they are from the Sun.
Objectives
Students will be able to
- recall that the Sun is a star,
- recall that there are eight planets in the solar system,
- recall that planets are spheres,
- recall that all of the planets in the solar system orbit in the same direction,
- recall that the planets have close-to-circular orbits,
- recall that the orbital plane of the solar system is perpendicular to the Sun’s axis of rotation,
- recall the names of the planets in the solar system and their order from the Sun,
- recall that planets farther away from the Sun have longer orbital periods.
Prerequisites
Students should already be familiar with
- the idea that Earth is a planet,
- the idea that the planets go around the Sun.
Exclusions
Students will not cover
- nonplanetary bodies, such as moons, dwarf planets, asteroids, and comets,
- former planets, such as Pluto,
- the formation of the solar system,
- exoplanets and other star systems,
- the development of the heliocentric model,
- elliptical orbits,
- calculations of the orbital period of a planet,
- understanding how gravity can cause circular motion,
- centripetal force.