Solar System Simulation

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