LEGO Education - October 2024
 

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Earth and Space Science

Space Science

Author Post
Araceli Estrada Araceli Estrada 410 Points

What would be the best idea to teach preeschoolers do understand the many concepts of space?

Walter Augustine Walter Augustine 1118 Points

You could always introduce the idea of outer space with a movie or something.

Michael Aprill Michael Aprill 885 Points

I teach Astronomy to high school students, but I have found that kids seem to have a great interest in music.  There are many music videos about space. Some of which are sun by the planets themselves.  

Earline Vanegas Earline 170 Points

I love the idea of playing a movie about space or even a music video about space because small kids like preschoolers really enjoy anything they can watch that is fun. One show that I have seen is Storybots, this is on netflix and youtube and they have a great space episode with a planet song.

I also think focusing on just one topic at a time, since preschoolers do not have the attention span to really sit and listen for a while maybe you can start with the moon for a day and then the next day you can move to the sun. Breaking down the idea of space and teaching them what you want to teach them but in a simple way so they understand. I also think anything you can use so they can touch or play with is always a great idea for preschoolers, for example they can use white playdough to make the moon and then with yellow playdough to make the sun. 

Rob Simone Rob Simone 195 Points

A tool on my phone I have used to engage the topic of space with my sons as well as my students is the SkyView app.  On the app, from inside the classroom (or anywhere for that matter) it displays through the camera the current location of stars, constellations, planets, ISS, the moon etc.  It is featured with background music and a search bar to locate any particular object in space.  When the camera is pointing to the the object, a table with information about the object is displayed.  For example, when pointed at Polaris it displays information about Polaris, the name of the constellation and exact direction from the current location.  When a constellation is highlighted, the image of that constellation is outlined.  For example, when Ursa Major is highlited, the big bear is outlined.  This app has provided a fun way for students to view objects in space, ask questions and understand that as the earth moves, the objects in space move about as well.  Even if the question is simply 'where is mercury right now?' or 'where and what phase is the moon?' this provides a consistent way to creatively talk about space.  

Also, as far as watching something about space, there is a fun episode of the Magic School Bus, titled 'Lost in Space' (Link Provided) that my students enjoyed. In the episode they travel to Mercury, Venus, Mars and the Asteroid belt.  This is a fun episode to engage in talking about space.    

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