SIZE OF THE PLANETS, PLUTO AND THE SUN AND THE DISTANCES BETWEEN THEM: STUDENTS' UNDERSTANDING AND LOW-COST EDUCATIONAL WORKSHOP TO ELABORATE THIS TOPIC

Abstract

This paper investigated the understanding of elementary school students, in multi-seriate class with 22 students from 5th to 9th grade, about the dimensions of the bodies of the solar system and the distances between them. A pre-test (questionnaire) was applied to find what they knew about the Solar System. After that, these contents were explained and an educational workshop was held, in which students in groups built representations of the planets, Pluto and the Sun, in scale consulting tables, using accessible materials. Finally, the students answered the questionnaire again and the result was very positive, because there was a significant advance in understanding the covered content. We believe that the answers to the questionnaire would be similar in other schools, therefore, this workshop can be an interesting and effective way to address issues that, in most cases, are not adequately addressed in classrooms and textbooks.