Hands on THE MOON An education resource for 7 to 11 year olds This pack belongs to: Hands on the moon Hello and welcome to Hands on the moon, a resource that has been designed for use with pupils aged 7 to 11. If you would like to know how you can use this resource in your classroom then take a look at our hints and tips below. What is this resource made up of? Does this directly link to the National What can I use as a follow on from Six separate sections have been created with each section Curriculum? this activity? then further split into two parts; a ‘Discover’ section and an Yes, within each section. The focus of the resource is on If you are looking for even more resources including ‘Activity’ section. The ‘Discover’ sections consist of science within a real world astronomy context so therefore classroom activities, videos, podcasts and vodcasts background knowledge and the ‘Activity’ sections contain links to aspects of the science curriculum. However, the then check out the National Space Academy website. activities for students to try out in the classroom. resource also covers cross-curriculum topics such as English, You can also nd information here about how to Maths and Computing. come and visit – an excellent follow up to this The six sections are: resource. 1. The Lunar surface How is it best to use the pack? 2. How the Moon was formed That is completely up to you. If you want to brush up on Is there a way to show STFC the work that is 3. The Moon and Earth your knowledge then you can use the ‘Discover’ sections produced as part of this resource? just for you and use the ‘Activity’ sections to set tasks for 4. How we went to the Moon Yes please do, we would love to see it. You can do the students. Alternatively you can give your students a this by using the social media tag #STFC_HOM or 5. Will we live on the Moon? whole section to work through independently, so that emailing us on 6. How to look at the Moon. they may develop their scientic skills. [email protected] I am not an expert in astronomy, is this Where can I get information to further my pack for me? knowledge of space? Absolutely! We are not expecting you to be an expert at The National Space Academy works directly with teachers all. This pack just provides the framework for you and your to support subject knowledge enhancement, condence students to nd out more about the science curriculum in a building, and curriculum development - from one-day real world setting using astronomy as a context and to courses for individual teachers to full consultancy for new learn about astronomy and space science together. schools looking to develop an exciting STEM offer. They have experience in supporting GCSE, A Level, Scottish Will I need lots of equipment for this resource? Standards and Highers and International Baccalaureate No. We know how difcult it is to source equipment for a curricula within the UK and other national curricula class full of students so everything that we have suggested overseas. Developing subject knowledge and uses things you should already have in your classrooms or understanding with memorable hands on activities is a can access digitally for free. mainstay of their student programmes. Hands on Discover the the moon 1lunar surface The Moon is the Earth’s largest natural satellite and is the brightest object in the night sky Plato after the Sun. It is the only crater place in the Solar System, Sea of other than Earth, that Rain humans have visited. Mons Huygens Kepler Sea of crater Copernicus Serenity crater Sea of Ocean of Vapo ur Storm Sea of Sea of Tranquility Crisis Sea of Sea of Moisture Clouds Sea of Fertility The hidden side of the Moon The Moon takes 27.3 days to revolve once – the same amount of time it takes for the Moon to orbit the Earth. This is why we only ever see one side of the Moon. Spacecraft have seen its Although it is difficult Tycho hidden side and it looks very different from the crater to see when you look up Moon we are used to seeing! at the Moon, the lunar surface is actually full of interesting features. It is The lighter coloured areas are the lunar highlands, called covered with craters created by terrae (which means ‘land’ in latin) and the dark areas are millions of years of impacts with relatively flat plains, called maria (which means ‘sea’), meteorites, asteroids and comets. that are actually ancient flows of lava. Hands on Discover the the moon 1.2lunar surface The Moon is famous for its craters and for Most craters are formed by asteroid/meteor impacts. Craters being made out of cheese. OK, so the Moon is Some are tiny (little more than tiny dents in the lunar not actually made of cheese, but its surface regolith) and were formed by small meteroids. is covered in craters – in fact there are more Larger craters were made by impacts with objects big 3 trillion (3 million million) of them! enough to disturb the lunar bedrock. How craters are formed Melt A large space rock The crust ‘bounces’ back 1 impacts the surface and 2 up – forming a peak in the explodes. A large middle of the crater. amount of lunar 1 Shockwave material is melted and 3 The peak and rim collapse. thrown outwards. The Lunar material crust beneath and 4 As it settles back down, thrown out by an around the impact site the melted lunar rock Bounce back impact (ejecta) settles on the is squashed levels out, cools and surface as a ‘ray downwards. cracks – forming faults. system’. 2 ernicus cra ycho crate Cop ter t r Look at the Tycho and Copernicus craters and notice The Copernicus how similar crater is 93km wide they are. Can and is visible with the you identify 3 naked eye from any of the Earth. It was formed features? Ejecta Melt layer Collapsed about 900 million layer rim Central peak years ago by an asteroid up to 10 kilometres across. 4 Faults The Tycho crater is After billions of years of being pummeled by 86km wide and has a meteorites and asteroids, the lunar surface is ray system that spreads covered in a fine-grained layer dust called regolith, out as far as 1,500km. which can be up to 20 metres thick. Hands on Discover the the moon 1.3lunar surface SEAS and mountains When you look at the Moon, the first thing you notice is the Early in the Moon’s history, there were surface is covered in dark patches and light patches. The many giant asteroids in the Solar lighter coloured areas are the lunar highlands, called terrae System and some of them hit the young (Latin for ‘land’) and the dark areas are relatively flat Moon. These giant impacts formed plains, called maria (which means ‘sea’). craters much bigger than the ones we see today. The impacts created so much heat that they melted the Moon’s surface and caused it to flow. When it cooled it created the large flat plains that we call ‘maria’ or ‘seas. Around the edges of the ’seas’, the surface as pushed up to create the Sea of Rains huge mountain ranges that lines the maria today. Dark areas are called maria (Latin for seas) If you look at this image of the ‘Sea of Mons Huygens is the tallest Bright areas are Rains’ (Mare Imbrium) you can see that mountain on the Moon – it is mountainous highlands it looks like an enourmous crater! 5.5km high! Hands on activity Make your the moon 1 .4 own craters Activity 1 a make an impact crater predictions Before you make any craters, try to predict what The Moon’s craters were formed when space rocks, will happen to the crater when: Crater such as astreroids and meteroites, smashed into the You drop the ball from a low height. Lunar surface. You can make your own craters with You drop the ball from higher up. Ejecta some flour, cocoa power and a ball bearing. You drop it from an angle. patterns The flour will represent Lunar soil (regolith) and the If you have two different size ball bearings (one heavy cocoa represents the surface layer of regolith that and one light), but you drop them from the same height, will their craters be the same or different? has been darkened by exposure to the Sun. Carefully sift some flour into a Sift some cocoa into the tray so Drop a marble, or ball bearing from a Now try dropping your ball 1 large plastic tray – about three 2 that it creates a thin layer that 3 height(at least 30cm) and then see how your from different heights and centimetres deep should be fine. covers the flour. crater compares to the picture above. see how that affects the depth of the crater and the spread of ejecta. Ball Sieve bearing 1 Flour 2 Cocoa 3 4 Tray You could also try (gently) 4 throwing the ball into the tray from an angle and seeing what happens. Not all meteorites hit the Moon straight on – see if you can find a picture of a Lunar crater than matches your results. Hands on Discover how the the moon 2moon was formed Many of the planets in our Solar System have their own moons – the gas that orbited the planet and, over time, clumped together to form giant Jupiter has 69! Some of these moons started off as asteroids or one large rocky, or sometimes icy, moon.