Thu, Feb 24, 2022 12:47 PM
Solar System
This interactive e-book is a wonderful, comprehensive overview of the solar system. The book goes over the history of the solar system such as the different theories that philosphers proposed and why some were later proven to be inaccurate. These theories included everything from the Earth's position in the Universe to the distance between the planets.
Next, the book dove into the different planets and why they are classified into two different groups: terretrial or jovial (also known as gas giants). There are many different characteristics that explain why each planets fits into one of these two classifications. There are also anamolies to these theories, but the book did a wonderful job of explaining why those anomalies exist and what may have caused them.
Afterwards, the book walked us through other space phenomena such as meteoroids, meteorites, and comets. History was discussed such as how earlier generations saw comets as bad omens or signals of new beginnings. Eventually, people realized that comets were on orbits as well and that is why we can see some of them at regular intervals. There was also a description of how meteoroid, metorite, and meteor are all the same object, but the titles are used to describe differnt positions and stages of this phenomena.
Finally, the e-book covered the origen of the Solar System. This is done by observing the different theories and focusing on each individual aspect - how did the sun form? how did the planet form? how did the stars form? how did our solar system form? how did our galaxy form? To wrap pup, the e-book put it all together to guesstimate the age of our solar system and our galaxy.
As a preservice teacher, I especialy enjoyed the pedagogical implications at the end of the book that showed how you would begin teaching something so complex as early as Kindeergarten by introducing the simple concept of how a magnifying glass makes things look bigger. This prepares students to later understand telescopes and how they have facilitated learning about other planets and space phenomena.
I have always enjoyed learning about space because the concept that we are just a tiny part of the much bigger picture resonates with me. I enjoyed this text because it was very detailed and gave a wonderful review of what we know while leaving room for the things we have yet to learn about space.