Year 5 · Autumn 1.2 · Step 3

Earth & Space

Modelling

Scientists shrink the Solar System into a model — handy for seeing orbits, but never quite to scale.

Arrival Starter I do We do Independent Exit ticket
🌱 Seedling · Working towards 🌿 Sapling · Expected 🌳 Oak · Greater depth

⏱ Whole lesson ≈ 44 min · pick a tier in the bar, or leave on "All"

Arrival 4 min

Whiteboard recap of last lesson: the planets.

Recap: rocky or gas?

🌱 Seedling
Working towards

Sort into rocky / gas giant:

Mercury · Jupiter · Earth · Saturn
🌿 Sapling
Expected
  1. Name the four gas giants.
  2. What do all planets orbit?
  3. Which is bigger — the Sun or Earth?
🌳 Oak
Greater depth

Explain one way the first four planets differ from the last four.

Bridge into todayThe Solar System is enormous — too big to see all at once. So scientists build models to help us picture it.
Starter 5 min

Ask: how could you show the whole Solar System in this classroom?

Shrink the Solar System

You cannot fit real planets in a room — so how would you represent them?

🌱 Seedling
Working towards

Circle ways to make a model:

balls on string · a drawing · a real planet · an app
🌿 Sapling
Expected

Suggest two different models of the Solar System and one thing each would show.

🌳 Oak
Greater depth

No model is perfect. Suggest one thing a classroom model would get wrong.

I do · 1 6 min

Teacher models. Watch how size and distance really compare.

What is a model — and why use one?

▶ Can't see it? Watch "All About Our Solar System — size comparison" on YouTube

Swap the clip: change the ID after /embed/ (now RqMWyiopRbs).

Say thisA model is a representation of an idea. Models help us picture things that are hard to see — but they have advantages and disadvantages. Most cannot show the real scale.
👍
Advantagesee the idea
👎
Disadvantagenot to scale
📏
Scalesizes & gaps
We do · 1 6 min

Look at a model together. What does it show well? What does it get wrong?

Good bits and bad bits

Weigh it up
Shows well → the order of the planets and how they orbit.   Gets wrong → the real sizes and distances.
"This model helps me see the order — but the planets are far closer together than in real life."
I do · 2 4 min

Play the animation. Name what it shows and what it hides.

A model in motion

A model helps us picture how planets orbit — but it can't show real sizes or distances to scale.

Bust the mythIn this model the planets look the same size and evenly spaced — but in real life they are very different sizes and huge distances apart.

Watch for: pupils believing the model's sizes and gaps are real.

We do · 2 5 min

List advantages and disadvantages together.

Advantage or disadvantage?

Sort itDecide whether each is a plus or a minus for a Solar System model:
"You can see the orbits" → ?    "The sizes are wrong" → ?    "You can hold and turn it" → ?
A good scientist knows what their model can and cannot show.
Independent 10 min

On your own. Sort each statement, then design.

Model sorter

👍 Advantage

👎 Disadvantage

📏 Can't show to scale

Tap a statement to sort it…

🌱 Seedling
Working towards

Sort the statements. Then name one good thing about using a model.

🌿 Sapling
Expected

Sort them, then describe a model you would build and one thing it would show well.

🌳 Oak
Greater depth

Sort them, then explain why no classroom model can be fully "to scale".

Exit ticket 4 min

Answer at your tier, then hand it in.

Show what you know

🌱 Seedling
Working towards
  • A model is a ____ of an idea.
  • Models help us ____ things that are hard to see.
🌿 Sapling
Expected
  1. Why do scientists use models?
  2. Give one advantage of a Solar System model.
  3. Give one disadvantage.
🌳 Oak
Greater depth

"A model is the same as the real thing." Explain why this is not true, using the word scale.

🧭 Coming nextModels show the planets moving. Next we learn why they move — and what keeps them in orbit.
TA Focus · Modelling
Traps to watch

Pupils treat a model as reality: believing planets really are that size or that close together. Keep returning to scale — sizes and distances are not real in most models.

Tier steer
Always

A model is a representation — useful, but limited.
Cold Call · Question bank
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