Fifth grade students have been working diligently on their Amplify Science unit about patterns of the Earth and sky. The goal of this unit was for students to be able to answer the essential question, “Why do we see different stars at different times?” In order to answer this question, students took on the role of an astronomer and they were tasked with helping a museum understand an ancient artifact related to the sun and stars. These fifth grade astronomers learned about the Earth in relation to stars in space and the Earth’s spin and orbit. Learning these concepts helped to answer why we see different stars at different times. The end of unit had students working in groups to create different constellations. Constellation designs included facts about the constellation as well as the time of year you would see these particular stars.
