Printable guide · ages 9–10

Piko’s Space Evidence: Motion, Scale and Models

Each lesson uses Piko’s drawings and simple models to test one space idea. Children predict, check and explain. No telescope and no real sky observation are needed, and no child is asked about their own location or sky.

Materials: The screen is enough. Optional: paper and a pencil for sketching a turn or a shadow. Nothing needs to be recorded, typed or shared.

Open the lessons

What to notice

Notice whether the child uses evidence from the drawing to support a claim, and whether they can say what a model leaves out.

Which piece of evidence would change your mind about this model, and why?

Lesson 1

Turning and travelling

Goal: Explain how a spin makes days and an orbit makes years, and read a turn from a drawing.

Spin makes day and night. Orbit makes the year and the Moon’s month. Keep the two ideas apart.

Starting point: Begin with the spinning-top picture. Ask what changes on Earth when it turns.
A helpful phrase: If the child says the Sun moves across the sky, point out that Earth turns and the Sun only seems to move.
A common mix-up: Many children think a year is one turn of Earth. Keep one turn (a day) apart from one trip around the Sun (a year).
Notice the transfer: Drawings only. Never ask children to look at the Sun. Real sky observation needs an adult and proper eye safety.

Show: Earth turns counterclockwise, seen from above the North Pole. Put the places the golden dot reaches in the order it reaches them.

Lesson 2

Scale and distance

Goal: Explain why space distances are measured with the time light takes to travel them.

Distances in space are so large that we describe them with the time light takes. Keep size and distance apart.

Starting point: Start with the size drawing. Ask which object looks big and which one is actually bigger.
A helpful phrase: If a child thinks a far object is always small, compare its size and its distance as two separate questions.
A common mix-up: Children may read light travel time as a waiting time for us. It is the time the light itself needs to cross the distance.
Notice the transfer: Never suggest looking at the Sun, not even for a moment. Do not ask children about their own sky or location.

Show: Match each light time to its source. Light from which object takes this long?

Lesson 3

Pull and orbit

Goal: Explain an orbit as a pull toward a bigger object plus sideways motion.

Gravity pulls, and sideways speed turns the fall into a loop. Together they make an orbit.

Starting point: Begin with the thrown-ball idea. Ask what would happen if the ball were thrown harder.
A helpful phrase: If a child says astronauts float because there is no gravity, explain that they fall freely together with the craft.
A common mix-up: Children may think the Moon has no gravity, or that it floats. Gravity is always there; the sideways speed is the piece they often miss.
Notice the transfer: No experiments at home with dropped or thrown objects, or with heights. Use the drawings and reasoning only.

Show: Build an orbit. Choose what goes in each part.

Lesson 4

Moon phases

Goal: Explain phases as changing views of the lit half of the Moon.

Phases come from our changing view of the lit half of the Moon, not from Earth’s shadow. Keep the two ideas apart.

Starting point: Start with the full Moon. Ask which side is bright and where the Sun is.
A helpful phrase: If the child says the Moon gets bigger and smaller, point to the same Moon in each picture. Only the lit part changes.
A common mix-up: Earth’s shadow causes eclipses, not monthly phases. Keep the two ideas apart.
Notice the transfer: Never suggest looking at the Sun to check the Moon’s phase. Use the drawings.

Show: The Sun is on the left. Touch the two pictures that match.

Lesson 5

Eclipses and lining up

Goal: Explain solar and lunar eclipses by the order of the Sun, the Moon and Earth.

Eclipses happen when three objects line up. The middle object decides which eclipse it is.

Starting point: Ask which object is in the middle of a solar eclipse, and then of a lunar eclipse.
A helpful phrase: If the child mixes them up, say the Moon is in the middle for a solar eclipse and Earth is in the middle for a lunar one.
A common mix-up: Children may think eclipses happen every month. Explain that the Moon’s path is tilted, so most months it misses the line.
Notice the transfer: Never invite children to watch an eclipse directly. Real eclipse viewing needs approved eye protection and adult guidance.

Show: Sort each line-up: solar eclipse or lunar eclipse?

Lesson 6

Star or planet?

Goal: Explain whether an object is a star or a planet, using its light and its movement.

Stars make their own light, while planets shine by reflected sunlight. Use several observations, not one night.

Starting point: Start with the question: does it make its own light? Then look at twinkling and movement.
A helpful phrase: If the child says every bright dot is a star, ask what a planet’s light is made of.
A common mix-up: Twinkling comes from air moving the light. It does not prove a star on its own. Look for steady light and a slow drift over several nights.
Notice the transfer: This set is screen-only. Any real sky viewing should be done with an adult, and never toward the Sun.

Show: Piko sees a steady dot that drifts slowly against the stars over a week. What does this suggest?

Lesson 7

A spacecraft mission

Goal: Explain why a spacecraft aims ahead of a planet, and why messages from far away are slow.

Mission planning uses facts about time, distance and fuel. Keep every claim tied to evidence.

Starting point: Start with the question: where will Mars be when we arrive? Let the child predict first.
A helpful phrase: If a child says a message arrives instantly, return to the light-speed fact on the second page.
A common mix-up: Children may think sound carries in space. Explain that space is almost empty, so sound has nothing to travel through.
Notice the transfer: No model rockets, pressure or fire at home. This set is drawings and reasoning only.

Show: Sort each mission problem: fuel, or timing?

Lesson 8

Choosing a model from evidence

Goal: Explain why a model is kept or rejected by checking what it predicts.

A model is useful when it makes predictions that could fail. Keep it while the evidence fits.

Starting point: Start with the model in the drawing. Ask what it predicts about Venus.
A helpful phrase: If the child says the model is always right, ask which observation could show that it is wrong.
A common mix-up: Children may think a model is a picture of reality. Explain that it is an idea we test against evidence.
Notice the transfer: Do not ask children to look for Venus or the Sun in the sky. Use the drawings and the evidence given.

Show: Fill in the Venus test: what the model predicts, what we see and what we decide.

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