Solar System Simulation

Simulate physical systems activity

Age: 7-11 years

Type: Scratch

Curriculum Links to: Science

The Solar System Simulation has been rated 4 stars

RESOURCE OVERVIEW:

In this activity pupils create a simulation of the Earth orbiting the Sun using Scratch. Pupils firstly decide what the purpose of the simulation is and who is the intended audience. Using this, they then decide what the most important aspects of the simulation are, and in so doing they are abstracting.

PUPIL OBJECTIVES:

  • I can design a simulation.
  • I can write a simulation program.
  • I can debug a simulation program.

TEACHING ASSESSMENT OPPORTUNITIES:

  • Informal, teacher assessment of progress during the lesson and formal, summative assessment of Scratch projects (in pairs). Focus on: What should be included and ignored in the simulation (abstraction)? What is a simulation? What code has been used to create the simulation? Examples of simulation programs and their features in terms of Purpose,Abstraction, Realness/Fidelity, Improvements, Opportunity.

LESSON TIMING: 60 min

This lesson in your curriculum

Computing

  • Design, write and debug programs that accomplish specific goals, including controlling or simulating physical systems

Science

  • Describe the movement of the Earth, and other planets, relative to the Sun in the Solar System
  • Describe the Sun, Earth and Moon as approximately spherical bodies