RUMFORD — Mountain Valley High School students have created not one but two scale models of the solar system. The students in astronomy have suspended scale models of the planets from the ceiling in the high school’s library and painted them on ceiling tiles in Room 206.
In the library, the eyes are drawn to two large spheres suspended from the ceiling. The one with the rings is obviously Saturn and the huge one is clearly Jupiter. Neptune and Uranus become noticeable as the library ceiling is scanned. But where are the rest?
It takes a good eye and some movement to find Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars clustered in one corner near a small sliver of the sun. Then it takes knowledge of the solar system to find Pluto, the dwarf planet, in the opposite corner of the room.
Astronomy student Chad Jones explained the process, “Every student was assigned to build one or more planets. Mrs. Rousseau had two scales – one for spacing and a different scale for the diameter of the planets. I had Jupiter, the largest.”
Rousseau said, “One of Maine’s Parameters of Essential Instruction (PEI) says that students must understand the scale of the universe. We began with a hands-on project to understand how large the solar system is and how small Earth is compared to other planets.”
Jones said the lesson hit home. “I learned that some planets are significantly bigger than others by comparison. We didn’t make the sun because it was too big. Every planet is small by comparison with the sun. I also learned that the planets vary in their space apart.”
Shawn Bennett created Mercury and Venus. “It was simple because they were so small compared to the other planets, but the materials made it difficult. I used Styrofoam balls.”
Bennett explained, “I learned the different size of planets and how far away they are from a third-person point of view.”
Astronomy is a one-semester science elective taught in the fall and again in the spring. Pam Rousseau is the teacher. Students include Shawn Bennett, Aaron Benson, Emily Gallant, Devon Hamel, Chad Jones, Jacob Poulin, Peyton Provencher, Maizie Smart and Tabitha Widger.
-
- Maizie Smart (back to camera) ties fishing line on Pluto as Tabitha Widger holds it steady. Pluto was hung in the furthest corner. Saturn and its rings are visible in the background.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.