When you think of a model of something, what comes to your mind? A model of something is usually a physical structure, it is something that represents an object. Modeling something is a good experience that helps the students remember certain things and ideas for future reference. For example, in the beginning of the chapter the man used his tooth model on display and then when he needed a root canal in his mouth, he remembered his model of a root canal he made. I think that models are so important to use in the classroom and they never get old, they can be used at any particular level of education.
Making models is a 'hands on' activity that students can do to help them remember the material better, and it doesn't just involve using a pen and paper to write with. Building a model is similar to calling it a 'Constructivist' learning experience. Constructivism is 'a family of theories about knowledge and learning. This means that knowledge is not passively received: Rather, knowledge is actively built up by the learner as he or she actively experiences the world.' This is why making models is so important, because it helps students experience the world in other ways.
This is why it is important for the students to make a solar system model with common fruits and vegetables, because this allows them to experience the world in other creative ways besides using the telescope to look for the planets. This is another way that students can imagine the earth and world in much more creative ways besides just looking at it directly. Students here can use their creativity and use so many different objects to create the solar system, then they can even make a compare and contrast chart that shows the difference between the two different models. By even observing, they are getting a good idea of what it looks like and they can just observe and don't even have to do anything for the class. For example, by them just observing the moon they don't have to do anything like blog about it, but they can simply use their imagination and draw what they see and how they see the moon at night. Once they draw it, they can bring their drawings to class and share their experiences with the whole class.
Just asking them to observe the moon is already introducing them to the scientific process, and they don't even realize that they're doing it. Observing is a key idea in the scientific world that gives scientists so many things to reflect on, by simply just observing one thing can open their world to so many different ideas. I think this is very important to start teaching kids at such a young age.
Another thing that can be observed is observing the earth from the moon. What do you think was going through Neil Armstrong's mind when he first landed on the moon? How fascinating would that be to see and go through such an exciting experience. Looking at the earth from being on the moon would be so fascinating. It would look similar to how we see the moon, we would see it in different phases, and 'waxing' and 'waining.' It is important that we let students know this so that they can expand their minds in so many different ways. Outer space is such a fascinating thing to learn about and it is so important that students can be introduced to this at such a young age and how it can help them so much in the classroom in their many years to come!
Here's a great link for kids for some great activities to use in the classroom! :)
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