Planet Vacation with Unit Conversion practice
This activity is designed to allow students to get a feel for the size of the solar system, while practicing some math skills. The math skills are converting units of measure both in metric and standard. It requires no materials other than the handouts. It is the teacher’s decision whether to allow the students to use a calculator or to work in groups. The solutions are provided. Activity: Have the students read over the handouts (unit conversion.doc and planet vacation.doc) Working individually, complete the Unit Conversion activity first. They will need the year → hour conversion factor to do part of the Planet Vacation activity.
Notes: There is no inquiry here, this is just much needed practice with math. Pay special attention to Part B numbers 5 and 6 on the Unit Conversion worksheet. The conversion from m2 to cm2 is a factor of 10,000, and the conversion from mm3 to m3 is a factor of 1,000,000,000. The distance of the various planets from the sun is an average distance, so the time it takes to travel there assumes a circular orbit. Most of the students hated this activity, but it is good to show them that they need math to be able to do science. Also, they are given the opportunity to see how easy metric conversion is compared to standard units.