Things you'll need to decide on as you plan: Earth-Moon-Sun

Bringing together two sets of constraints

Focusing on the learners:

Distinguishing–eliciting–connecting. How to:

• organise what pupils have observed into a coherent whole
• build three-dimension models where illumination is important
• draw out what children believe about the Earth-Moon-Sun system and how this is related to everyday phenomena

Teacher Tip: These are all related to findings about children's ideas from research. The teaching activities will provide some suggestions. So will colleagues, near and far.

Focusing on the physics:

Representing–noticing–recording. How to:

• build a sequence that uses increasingly complex models
• keep each step of the simplification in building the models connected with the whole
• distinguish between spinning on an axis and orbiting another object
• keep what is noticed and recorded somewhat separate from what is modelled

Teacher Tip: Connecting what is experienced with what is written and drawn is essential to making sense of the connections between the theoretical world of physics and the lived-in world of the children. Don't forget to exemplify this action.