A hands-on STEM buddy for the Blast Off! breakout. Build a moving model that shows the Moon orbiting the Earth while the Earth orbits the Sun.
🎯 The problem
How can you model the way objects move in space? Build a model that shows the Moon going around the Earth, and the Earth going around the Sun. A good model helps you explain what you cannot see all at once.
Big question: What does your model show well — and what can't it show? (Real space is much bigger and farther apart!)
🧰 What you need
3 balls of different sizes (big = Sun, medium = Earth, small = Moon) — or paper circles
2 craft sticks, straws, or pencils to hold the Earth and Moon
Tape, and a little clay or a paper plate for the Sun in the middle
🔁 Be an engineer
Ask: How can I show the Moon orbiting Earth and Earth orbiting the Sun?
Imagine: Which ball is the Sun? Where do the Earth and Moon go?
Plan: Decide how the Earth will move around the Sun, and how the Moon will move around the Earth.
Build: Put the big "Sun" ball in the middle. Attach the "Earth" so it can circle the Sun, and the "Moon" so it can circle the Earth.
Test: Move your model. Does the Earth go around the Sun? Does the Moon go around the Earth at the same time?
Make it better: Fix anything that moves the wrong way, then show a friend.
📊 Check your model
Does your model show...
Yes / Not yet
The Earth orbits the Sun?
The Moon orbits the Earth?
🗣️ Tell about it
What does your model show well?
What can't your model show? (Try the words orbit, model, and far.)
🔭 Meet a STEM job — Astronomer & Aerospace Engineer. Astronomers study how objects move in space, and aerospace engineers build spacecraft to explore them. They use models — just like yours — to plan and explain. (Grade 3 innovators to explore: scientists who study space and design rockets.)
TEKS for this challenge
3.9(A) model the orbits of the Sun, Earth & Moon · 3.1(B) plan & do a simple investigation · 3.1(G) develop & use a model · 3.2(A) a model's advantages & limits · 3.2(D) evaluate a design. Aligned to, not reproduced from, the official TEKS — confirm before adoption.