Peer Review

NASA Learning Objects: Shoot a Cannonball into Orbit! (GRAVITY LESSON)

Material Detail page

Bookmark

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:: CDE Standards for Grade 2 (Physical Sciences 2E) deal with gravity. So does this fun and cool website! Try it out with the kids and then explain the text as needed. As an intro to the site, Isaac Newton was a great scientist and mathematician who lived more than 300 years ago. He understood and wrote about many of the laws of motion that we see at work every day. To explain how one body can orbit another, he asked his readers to imagine a cannon on top of a very, VERY tall mountain. (Our cannon is on a very tall, imaginary lifter that goes up and down, but it is the same idea.)
The cannon is loaded with gunpowder and fired. The cannonball follows a curve, falling faster and faster as a result of Earth's gravity, and hits the Earth at some distance away.
Type of Material:: Simulation
Recommended Uses:: in-class, self-paced, and homework
Technical Requirements:: WEB BROWSER
Identify Major Learning Goals:: To learn/practice skills about gravity, the sun, solar system, and technology.
Target Student Population:: Lower elementary aged students in 2nd-3rd grade studying science; teacher education classes.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:: None

Rating:
Strengths:: The material is presented very clearly and in wording that children would understand. Newton's laws of motion are central to the discipline of science and, thus, are both educationally significant and a pre-requisite for concepts that students will learn later. The focus is on STEM topics. Materials include: video, interactive games and crafts. transcripts of videos are available.
Concerns:: As an introductory lesson, it is very clear. However, there is not much detail beyond the stated objective. The links included in the lesson take the user to other science lessons, but not ones directly related to this one.

Rating:
Strengths:: This activity would be ideal at the beginning of a unit on Newton's laws of motion or on a unit dealing with orbits. Through this simulation, students can easily see the relationship between the force on the cannonball and the resulting orbit. Educators can use this program as a simple way to make a very abstract concept concrete for younger children. Learning goals are clearly spelled out on the site, and teachers can use the material to give their students basic information about the concept. It's a good introduction. Materials can be used to supplement lessons or as assignments.
Concerns:: It would have been good to have additional activities to practice the concept or to go further in depth. The simulation was the only assignment for this material that could have been written.

Rating:
Strengths:: The site's layout and organization are outstanding. Colors draw the eye in, as do the graphics. Titles are in bold, larger point fonts and in color and help keep the reader focused on the different sections of the site. All the links and tabs work; students and educators should be able to use this site without any difficulty. There is a tab for family and instructors to guide toward activities and use.
Concerns:: None.

Other Issues and Comments:: Good materials for individual or classroom supplement to instruction about space and technology topics. The site is updated frequently; it is developed by NASA.
Creative Commons: