KS3 - The Solar System

This lesson is the second lesson in the “Space” topic and covers the structure of our solar system and the composition of the planets within it. The lesson contains various links to online videos, modelling software and simulations that really help students understand the vastness of space and allow them to explore the universe in which we live.
It also addresses the misconception around the distances between selestial objects, gives students the opportunity to describe strenghts and weaknesses in scientific models, and an activity to get students to identify patterns and trends in data about the planets.
This lesson is designed to be easy to teach, student led and is ideal for non-specialist teachers.

This Lesson Contains:

• Lesson powerpoint, including activity delivery instructions for teachers, full answers, 3 main student activity tasks to choose from, plenary task, AFL whiteboard task and discussion activities
• Student Activity Worksheet and Answer Sheet (PDF) (Main task Option C)

Lesson Objectives:

• Describe the structure of our Solar System
• Compare position and composition of the planets of the Solar System
• Identify trends and patterns in data and draw conclusions