Teaching Tips: Tour the Solar System

Here are suggested ways to engage students with this interactive and with activities related to this topic.

• Doing a classroom activity: Work as a class to make a scale model of the solar system that includes all of the features mentioned in the interactive. Break the class into small groups and assign each group a solar system feature. Assuming the Sun is the size of an 8 inch ball in the scale model, have each group calculate the distance to their feature and find an appropriate object to represent the feature. In addition, have each group research their feature and give a short presentation for the rest of the class as you assemble your model.
• Doing research projects—groups: Have students construct a series of ellipses of different eccentricities, including a circle, and have them solve for the eccentricity of each ellipse. Then have students research the eccentricity of the orbits of the planets, dwarf planets, and some famous comets in our solar system. Have them match each solar system object to the drawing with the most similar eccentricity.