Comets and Meteors

When a comet approaches the sun its tail is behind it. When it is moving away from the sun the tail is in front. Go figure. Or read more.

Lesson idea. Other presentations in this series have focused on the Earth's structure and others will consider its place in the solar system. Comets and meteors conveniently link them by considering the formation of planetary objects. Many people believe that a comet's tail is caused by friction as the comet moves through space. But this cannot be as the comet moves through a vacuum. In fact, the tail of the comet only appears when it is near the sun. The solar wind transfers energy to the comet and causes particles to be carried away in a stream of energy... The presentation is accompanied by a commentary from the teacher.

Teaching approach. The lesson model is that of active note-making. Students must not take notes from the board but instead must use their creativity to develop their own notes. They are encouraged to use colour, image, symbols, humour and metaphor to lead them through a richer learning experience. Students need help in achieving this but soon catch onto the idea. They become more independent with taking notes and more attentive to the subject at hand.

Resource details
Title	Comets and Meteors
Topic	[[Topics/Astronomy|Astronomy]]
Teaching approach	[[Teaching Approaches/|]]
Learning Objectives	explain the nature of comets and meteors discuss evidence for meteor strikes and their effect on the Earth discuss the implications of comets and meteors affecting politicians
Subject	[[Resources/Science|Science]]
Age of students / grade	[[Resources/Secondary|Secondary]]
Files and resources to view and download	Teacher's audio explanation of how the lesson was delivered media:Comets and Meteors voiceover.mp3 The presentation has been converted to alternative formats: Smartboard notebook version [[File:]] Powerpoint version:[[File: ]] PDF version [File: ]]