Recently I came across this fantastic photo essay from TIME entitled, “Amazing Photos of the Sun.” This unique photo essay has some truly magnificent photos of the sun from different perspectives and highlighting different characteristics. All the photos are from NASA and are real images.
This photo essay would be a great addition to any science lesson about the Sun. However, I was thinking of using this photo essay when addressing the specific 5th grade Science TEK ยง112.16. (8)(D) – identify and compare the physical characteristics of the Sun, Earth, and Moon. As a Mini-unit, I might address the characteristics of the Sun, Earth, and Moon separately and at the end compare them.
As part of a lesson on the Sun, this photo essay could be used to expand students understanding. I might first have my students make a t-chart, with one side labeled “Known” and the other side labeled “New”. I would then ask students to list all the characteristic they know of the Sun under the correct title. The photo essay could then be shown. I think the first time I would not read the captions, but rather have students look through it and absorb the info the photos are sharing and make predictions about what they will learn. Then I would have the students add to their chart under the “New” section any info they would add from the photos or would change from their “Known” column. Finally, we would review the essay once again, reading the captions and getting more specific information to add to our charts. With this instructional strategy, students would be accessing prior knowledge and building connections to the new knowledge they are gaining.
This photo essay could also be used as a writing prompt during a unit on the Sun. You could show each image for 2 minutes and students could write down everything that comes to mind when they see the image. These snippets of writing could then be used to inspire larger pieces of writing such as an article on the Sun, a fictional story about a journey to the Sun, or a letter to someone far in the future about our current Sun.
Those pictures are amazing and I definitely think sharing this photo essay with a class would be perfect for a unit about the sun, moon, and earth. I like that you chose the Known/New strategy because all children should have some kind of prior schema about the sun and also may have a lot of misconceptions. I also think that this photo essay teaches a LOT of information that would be knew to even advanced students (The most I knew about the sun before reading your text, for example, is that it’s a big star). I may use this one day in a science lesson, thanks!