From: "Mike Reynolds" <mike_reynolds_at_cec001-fa@cc.cranbrook.edu>
Subject: Building the solar system
Date: Tue, 28 Oct 97 11:01:01 -0500
I just had one of those great teaching moments. My students have been building a scale model of the solar system reduced to a scale of one billionth actual size. I had them pick either a planet or the sun and make a scale model, obtain an actual photo of the planet, draw an artist conception of what a view from the surface or cloud tops might look like and type up a data sheet on their planet. They have been so busy with this assignment that none of them figured out how far apart the planets are at this scale. On Mother's visiting day we went out in the hallway and put the sun up on one wall. The sun is about two meters in diameter. We started measuring the 58 meters to locate Mercury (A pea) and it began to sink in how big the solar system really is. When they began calculating that Pluto is about four miles away they were stunned. It was so much fun seeing them all with the amazed looks on their faces. It was a perfect impression for mom's day. Mike