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Elementary Science

Pluto's Moons

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Cris DeWolf Cris DeWolf 11965 Points

The Hubble Space Telescope was used to discover Pluto's 4th and 5th moons in 2011 and 2012. They are currently called R4 and R5. There is a vote being conducted at the SETI Institute's website where you can help select the names for these 2 tiny satellites. It could be a fun activity for your students. http://www.plutorocks.com/

Rebecca Hodge Rebecca Hodge 526 Points

I think this is a great extension activity when studying the solar system. Any conversation or lesson involving the solar system will naturally include a discussion about Pluto. Before a discussion commences on the moons of Pluto, it will be interesting to talk about its "reclassification." There is a great read (link below) on elementary students' reaction to Pluto begin reclassified. A discussion can really open the door to great critical thinking and analysis questions and answers. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11165-011-9274-x

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Shakeria Jennings Shakeria Jennings 1230 Points

This would be a fun activity for elementary school children to do. After a lesson on the solar syytem it would be very interesting to get children involved in coming up with names for the moons

Karyn Moran Karyn Moran 3600 Points

I agree that this is definitely a good way to get students involved in learning about the solar system and to encourage them to be creative in coming up with names for the moons. I also found an article on space.com that has a little bit of information about the moons of Pluto. The article is geared more towards teachers and adults to further their own knowledge to better educate students interested in the subject. http://www.space.com/16535-plutos-moons.html

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