Things you'll need to decide on as you plan: The Solar System and Beyond

Bringing together two sets of constraints

Focusing on the learners:

Distinguishing–eliciting–connecting. How to:

• distinguish between stars, planets and other astronomical objects
• make the scales of distances and times meaningful
• avoid getting buried in the history
• enliven the physics using the history

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:

• make older theories intelligible and credible
• link how we know to what we know
• present a credible, yet lightweight, philosophy of physics

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.