How & Why You Should Teach Your 7 year old Astrophysics
When I tell people that I’m teaching a cohort of elementary kids about Biomimicry, Structural Engineering, Plate Tectonics, & Natural Selection, I get some skeptical looks. “They’re too young. They don’t actually understand that.” Adults seem to think it’s not worth their time to discuss these topics with children. But they would be wrong.
The technique of introducing complex topics in small, easy pieces that slowly build over time is called Spiral Learning. It harnesses the way the brain learns best: slowly & iteratively. Think about a child learning to walk. They start by learning to move their legs. Every day they get better at just this one small thing. Then, they learn to roll, then crawl, then finally to walk. Every day they practice. Every day they get just a small bit better.
When you teach your young child about Astrophysics (like you will do in today’s lesson), you are planting a seed. A seed that will grow slowly over years. Will your child fully grasp this concept today? No. But every time they hear the idea, it will become more clear and more deeply understood. Until one day, it all clicks into place. Spiral Learning asks you to trust your children with advanced knowledge.
Let’s go through how I used this concept to teach a group of 5-11 year olds Astrophysics this week.
The Solar System, Seasons, & the Moon → Things Most Children are Taught
Introducing complex topics doesn’t mean you start there. One must start at the beginning building the foundation from which advanced knowledge will grow. We began by learning (for younger kids) and refreshing (for older kids) about our Solar System, seasons, and the phases of the Moon. Most children will come across these concepts during their Elementary years. My children have explored these topics numerous times and concepts are often refreshed on summer nights while staring at the night sky. (skip to the next section for Astrophysics)
Basics of the solar system: Discuss the 8 planets of our Solar System (I had to remember yet again that Pluto no longer counts). We made a model of the Solar System (video has an example if you’d like one), remembering the names of the planets & that they travel around the Sun. If you want to go deeper: THIS video has a quick recap & a quick & easy model. You can go even deeper on the rocky planets HERE and the gas planets HERE.
How seasons work → Next, we remembered how the seasons work. This one is complicated enough that my children have heard it several times. Older children should be walked through the topic with Socratic discussion. Is the Earth vertical with respect to the Sun or tilted? How does that tilt affect the weather? I usually use our globe, a flashlight, and a dark room to play this out. If you need more assistance THIS and THIS video explain the seasons.
It’s also a fun time to discuss how north of the Arctic Circle it is either sunny all day (summer) or dark all day (winter). I usually complement this with THIS video showing the way the sun travels across the sky in Alaska.
How phases of the moon work → This is best demonstrated again in a dark room with a globe, a moon, and a flashlight. I highly recommend you explain the concepts to your children and then let them play! My kids always play for an hour after this activity no matter how many times we’ve done it. THIS video is also helpful to visualize what’s happening. If you’d like to add some Logic and Art into this lesson check out the activities below.
Inductive Reasoning Activity → Inductive reasoning is the process of using observations to derive basic principles, i.e., figuring out a rule based on things you can observe. Have children create a journal and observe the moon for a month (or longer). Where does it rise in the sky? Is it around during the day? What size/shape is it. From these observation, ask the children to come up with rules for how the moon “behaves”. Have them test these rules by predicting where the moon will be in the sky and what it will look like the following month.
Art of the Moon → Art gives kids time & space to consolidate what they’ve just learned. It teaches creativity, focus, problem solving, and even logic. My kids get at least one art lesson and art history lesson every week. My youngest painted the moon picture above. If you’d like to do phase of the moon art: HERE and HERE are lovely art projects beginners and advanced children respectively.
Astrophysics → Trust your kids with advanced knowledge
We could stop now. After all, this is everything that the Common Core expects of American kids. But I’m always looking for those moments when their eyes light up and they go WOW. My favorite way to get there is to tell them something that blows their mind. Few topics do this as well as the Universe. The following topics are Astrophysics which is a branch of astronomy that deals with the study of the physical properties and behavior of celestial objects and phenomena beyond the Earth's atmosphere.
The Moon doesn’t travel in a circle → Ever wonder why the moon sometimes looks bigger in the night sky? That’s because it’s actually closer to us. Also, the Earth is slowly going around the Sun so the moon is traveling not just around us but also around the Sun in an elliptical pattern. THIS is a good visual representation.
The Moon’s effect on the tides → We think about gravity as keeping us on the Earth but did you know that the Moon’s gravity is so strong it pulls the water on Earth towards it? This is what high and low tide are. THIS video explains this concept.
The Sun is orbiting too! → Everyone thinks about the Moon going around the Earth and the planets around the Sun but what about the Sun going around the Milky Way Galaxy? Watch THIS video with your kids that puts our teeny, tiny solar system in perspective.
The goal of introducing these advanced concepts to children is 1) to entice them with our amazing world and 2) to prepare their minds for future deeper exploration.
Never limit your children to the kids’ version of the world
With Love ~Dr. Claire Honeycutt, PhD
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