The children first make observations and then build on these, moving on to think about why these things happen. This is about...

Classroom Activity 5-11

We'd suggest that a sequence of questions focusing on the shape of the Earth is the most fruitful approach. The children will...

Classroom Activity 5-11

Accounting for day and night is quite complex, and we suggest that the very best way for children to develop a helpful...

Classroom Activity 5-11

More exploration of our nearest neighbour...

Classroom Activity 5-11

A reference to everyday life: We get day and night so that we can sleep at night and do things in the day.

Teaching Guidance 5-11 11-14

When describing the motion of the Earth, be very careful to distinguish between:

Teaching Guidance 5-11 11-14

This episode brings together ideas about movement with ideas about illumination–so drawing on the work on seeing things. The...

Physics Narrative 5-11

One place where it's hard to imagine movement is that our entire planet is moving. On the simplest description the Earth...

Physics Narrative 5-11

The cycle of day and night is caused by the rotation of the Earth as it spins on it axis once every 24 hours. Because of this...

Physics Narrative 5-11

The Moon is a sphere and it orbits the Earth. It is quite safe to look at the Moon, even through a telescope, because the...

Physics Narrative 5-11

Perhaps the first question to think about is how they get into orbit in the first place. Try a thought experiment that was...

Physics Narrative 5-11

Our everyday speech and many myths and conventional drawings mislead us into thinking that we live on a stationary Earth, and...

Teaching Guidance 5-11