5-ESS1-1

SCUSD NGSS Curriculum Guide ESS1.A - The Universe and Its Stars


 * 5-ESS1-1: Support an argument that differences in the apparent brightness of the sun compared to other stars is due to their relative distances from the Earth. ** [//Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to relative distances, not sizes, of stars. Assessment does not include other factors that affect apparent brightness (such as stellar masses, age, stage).//]

====**Science Background for the Teacher**: The sun is a star that appears larger and brighter than other stars because it is closer. Stars range greatly in their size and distance from Earth. Apparent magnitude is how bright star looks from Earth and Absolute magnitude is how much light star is actually giving off. Understand the life cycle of stars. ====

**Key Vocabulary**:
Universe, Galaxy, Solar System, apparent



====**Possible Assessments (formative and/or summative): **==== Write about why the sun looks larger than the other stars.

**Key Student Activity**:
Students could demonstrate with a beach ball apparent size compared to distance and drawing a picture in different locations. Using resources to compare our sun with another star. (4-5)

**Key Teacher Demo/Activity**:
Light close and then far away and how bright it appears.

**Common Student Misconceptions**:
Sun is larger than the other stars in the sky.

Things to Avoid/Correct:
[Descriptions of imprecise language or other mistakes related to this topic that might have to be corrected at a higher grade band.]

====**Other Resources (text, video, simulations, activities, models, etc..): **==== Sun, moon, stars foss kit. www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/space/tour-solar-system.html (cool heliocentric and geocentric animated graphic)