https://padlet.com/danaja_glavicic/34cpwkpc49jh Labin, Croatia en-us 2016-09-05 22:27:42 UTC 2016-09-05 23:14:24 UTC hello@padlet.com danaja_glavicic https://padlet.com/danaja_glavicic/34cpwkpc49jh/wish/121639048 Hi everyone! I'm using Padlet for the first time so appologies in advance for possible errors.
I teach physics to 13 and 14 year old children in what is still an elementary school level here in Croatia. I did try to use space and astronomy in some of my classes, whenever I could make the time for it in our busy schedule which does not allow a lot of twists and turns. For example, when I teach some basic stuff about forces, accelerated motion, free falling objects and the g constant, I always make sure some of my students do a little home project by calculating their own weight on each of the planets in the Solar System and then present it to the whole class. It certanly helps them understand some of these concepts better, while also achieving to awake their sense of amazement and their curiosity. ("Wow, imagine how high I could jump on Mercury!", "Would I even be able to move on Jupiter?" - those are some of their reaction I really look forward to.)
Also, we usually watch an episode of the documentary "Cosmos", the new edition of it which I have access to online, usually the first one titled "Space and Time Odyssey" which puts a lot of things in perspective to them - it goes from Earth to the edges of known universe space-wise and tries to show just how short a time our existence on Earth is when compared to time passed from the Big Bang time-wise. It usually gets them very focused and very curious and we discuss it later, to mutual enjoyment. I think it's a great place to start when your goal is to get them interested in science in general, but also a great way to start teaching them to be wise and tolerant, once they start realizing just how rare a place like Earth with its intelligent life is. 
I'm looking forward to learning new ways of implementing these topics in my classes.]]> 2016-09-05 22:28:50 UTC https://padlet.com/danaja_glavicic/34cpwkpc49jh/wish/121639048