Week 7: Our Solar System

1. What did you do in lab today? 

• Big introduction question: Right now, today I looked up in the sky, pondering life and all it's mysteries. I was startled to see that we were currently in a "full moon" phase. Why was I so startled? 

Today in lab, we began speaking about the first four planets in our solar system. To understand the size and the distance between our planets, my group and I conducted a model to scale made our of play-doh. We used the NASA website to find how big each planet was going to be and how far apart they are from one another. We used a meter stick and ultimately ended up taking up the entire foyer of the Lindquist center, which was insanely shocking to me. 

3. What did you learn in Thursday's lecture? 

In Thursday's lecture discussion, we talked further about the planets that make up our solar system. We also talked about how the moon orbits around Earth. We learned that it takes around 28 days to do this. We also were able to see this in a real-life explanation through a model between Bella and Ted. This was insanely helpful for me, because before seeing this I thought the moon had rotated, instead it just orbits. 

Pressbook Chapter 12: The Solar System 

• This week in lab and after reading this chapter, I had a completely new perspective on the size of all of our planets. For some reason, I had always thought Earth was one of the bigger planets, instead it is actually one of the four smallest planets. 
• I think the most helpful part of this chapter was the picture underneath the "Size and Distance of Planets" section. After viewing this, I was able to make sense of how big all of the planets were when compared to one another. 
• At this time, there is nothing that comes to mind that I need more information on. 

3.What questions, concerns, and/or comments do you have?

This week in Science Methods was beneficial for me, because I felt myself understanding the majority of things that were discussed. This made me feel confident in my learning and my future teaching abilities.