Posts Tagged ‘science lesson’

Pluto is out, and Zena and Ceres are in. Well, almost. Now all three are out.

Recently, Michael Brown, an astronomer from Caltech, discovered what he thought was a new planet, which he called Zena. He presented his findings and submitted his studies to the 26th General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) who met last week, 20 26 August 2006 in Prague, Czechoslovakia to discuss this new discovery and to review the selection criteria for naming planets. Of the 2,700 delegates who attended the meeting only 720 were still in attendance at the end of the week. Only about 400 delegates were on hand the final day but only a handful of members were eligible to vote on a revised description of what constitutes a planet and Brown’s studies were accepted. They added Zena to the roster of the Suns planets (also knows as UB313, Zena is larger than Pluto). They also accepted a second nomination, Ceres.

Then suddenly, in a direct reversal of their previous decisions the IAU decided that the long-standing member planet, Pluto, no longer met the criteria to be a planet. Pluto was demoted to space dust. The two other small solar system bodies nominated, Zena and Ceres, were then summarily rejected.

The IAU also redefined the three criteria necessary to qualify an object as a planet.

1. A planet must be round in shape. What this means is that is planet must be large enough to have had its mass pulled into a round shape as the result of its own gravitational forces. It was also suggested, but not made part of the definition, that a planet must be at least 1000 kilometers in diameter.

2. Planets must have a defined, regular orbit around the Sun, and not be either stars themselves or satellites of other planets.

3. To be a planet a space object must dominate its own orbit and clear its own area of other smaller space objects.

A “dwarf planet” was defined as a celestial body that is in an orbit around the Sun, has sufficient mass for its own gravitational forces to assume a hydrostatic equilibrium or “nearly round” shape, has not cleared its orbital neighborhood of other space objects, and it is not a satellite.

The IAU also resolved that all other space objects, except satellites orbiting the Sun, shall be referred to collectively as “Small Solar-System Bodies”

The old mnemonic My very energetic mother just served us nine pizzas, by which millions of people learned to recite the planets, no longer applies. However, We do have a new one to help you remember the planets in the new line up.

My very Energetic Mother Just Served Us Noodles.

Here are some other, more original suggestions:

My very exhausted mother just sent us nachos

Make Very Extraordinary Meals of Jell-O, Strawberries, and Unsalted Nuts.

Just in case you may have forgotten, the names of the planets they are, listed in order of their distance from the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and the newly demoted “dwarf planet”, Pluto.

Try making up your own mnemonic and get the kids involved, too. This could very easily be made a part of one of your science lessons. But dont use Pluto, Zena, or Ceres in your new mnemonic. At least not for now, the IAU may change their minds at their next meeting in 2009.

Homeschool Science: Pluto, Zena, Ceres Astronomy

Author: John Finnigan
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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It seems that kids love to do anything and everything, but schoolwork and science is just another extension of schoolwork, or is it? What kids might not realize is that science is all around us in our world. While kids may not realize it science includes outer space, growing flowers or vegetables, animals, and even dinosaurs. So pretty much any thing you do with your kids whether it is going to the park for the day, going to the zoo or going to the animal shelter you can turn it into a science lesson, most of the time without them even realizing what you are doing.

Because kids are naturally curious it is easy to get them to love science because science will give them the answers to the numerous questions they have. One of the keys to getting your children interested is to get them to enjoy reading, while a lot of science can be hands-on you still have to do research and you also have to be able to read the directions. Kids who do not like to read will not have much fun researching information or worse they might not read the directions for the science projects that they want to do.

One of the keys to getting your kids to love science is to start early. Do not wait for school to start before trying to teach your child about science. Start teaching them stuff at a young age. The great thing about science is that you can gear it towards any age. For example when you are taking a walk in the spring you can talk with your child about why flowers are starting to grow this time of year. Or in the winter when your preschooler asks why their snowman melted you can explain to them about what snow is and why it melts.

Another important thing is to take advantage of your childs natural curiosity. Kids love to ask questions, they always want to know how something works, why something does that, how something is made, and anything else that they can think of to ask. Rather than telling them the answers you can ask them what they think the answer is. Getting the right answer is not as important as letting them think the process through. Giving them this opportunity will make them feel good about themselves, which can lead to a love of science.

Part of getting your kids to love science is to become actively involved in what they are doing. This lets you spend quality time with your kids something both of you love to do. Simply set aside a weekend and do hands-on projects with your kids. For example you can bake cookies with children and teach them about how mixing the ingredients together turn the separate ingredients into something else entirely. You can also teach them about temperatures when the cookies are in the oven. Another great science project for kids is planting a garden, include them in all the steps and let them help you tend it. During the different stages of tending the garden talk to your child about what you are doing and why you are doing it. Or if they are old enough ask them about the processes, this can even work with preschoolers.

Getting your child to love science can be fun for the both of you. And who knows you might find that in getting your child involved in projects you love science too. Just remember to keep the projects at an age appropriate level, but also make the projects challenging so your child does not grow bored.

Author: Chuck Lunsford
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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