The document provides information about a science course on the universe for 1st year secondary students. It includes 3 sessions in February to cover the solar system, the sun, and the planets. The main objectives are to understand concepts of nature, communicate scientific explanations, think critically about science, and apply knowledge to human needs. Specific objectives include learning the names and facts about objects in the solar system. Evaluation will consider participation, a portfolio of activities, homework, and a final exam. The content sequence outlines the planned activities and assessments for each of the 3 sessions.

1. THE UNIVERSE.
SCHOOL COLEGIO CALASANCIO
COURSE 1th ESO (SECONDARY EDUCATION)
SUBJECT SCIENCES
SESSIONS 3 SESSIONS-FEBRUARY
OBJECTIVES.
MAIN OBJECTIVES
-To understand and use the basic strategies and concepts of the nature to
interpret natural phenomena.
-To understand and express scientifical messages using oral and written
language and to communicate explanations in the field of Science.
-To adopt critical attitudes base on the knowledge to analyze, individually or in
group, Scientific and technological matters.
-To understand the importance of using scientifical knowledge to meet the
human needs and participate in the necessary takes decisions on local and
global problems to which we face.
SPECIFIC OBJETIVES (SCIENCES)
-To know the existente of the Solar System and its composition.
-To learn the name of the objects which exist in the Solar System.
-To acquire knowledge about the planets of the Solar System.
-To process information about the Universe.
-To appreaciate the interest of the sciences in the daily life.
-To participate in debates about the Universe and the Planets.
SPECIFIC OBJETIVES (LANGUAGE)
-To understand general and specific information from oral and written texts.
-To communicate with the others to interact orally and express information
related to the Universe.
-To write easy texts with different purposes about the topics of The Universe,
The Sun and The Planets.
-To use the basic phonetic, lexical, structural and functional components of the
foreign language in real contexts.

2. CONTENTS.
CONCEPTS
-The Solar System.
-The Sun.
-The Planets.
-Concepts: Solar System, Sun, moon, elliptical, motion, planet, comet, asteroid,
orbit, mass, astronomer, dwarf planet, Milky Way galaxy, star, nuclear fusion, to
produce, energy, heat, light, Earth, surface, storm, sunspot, explosion, solar
flare, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, crater, volcano, Jupiter, Saturn, ice, dust,
Uranus, particle, Neptune.
PROCEDURES
-Reading science texts about the Universe.
-Oral, listening and written comprehension of texts.
-Location of the planets and comparison of them.
-Identification of planets and other objects in the Universe.
ATTITUDES
-Interest and curiosity of knowing the Universe and other spatial objects.
-Interest and motivation for the language.
-To appreciate the use of the language.
-To be aware of the life in the Earth, impossible in other planets.
BASIC COMPETENCES.
BC1. LINGUISTIC COMMUNICATION
Linguistic communication competence is referred to the use of language as an
instrument both for oral and written learning communication and to regulate and
express behaviors and emotions. Communication in foreign languages also
focuses on skills such as mediation and intercultural understanding.
BC3. KNOWLEDGE AND INTERACTION WITH THE PHYSICAL WORLD
It is the ability to interact with the physical world, both in the natural aspects and
in those generated by human action, to facilitate the understanding of events,
predicting consequences and activity addressed to the improvement and

3. preservation of the conditions of life of its own, the other men and women and
the rest of living beings.
BC4. TREATMENT OF THE INFORMATION AND DIGITAL COMPETENCE
Skills to be able to search, find, receive, process and communicate the
information and transform it into knowledge. Includes different aspects ranging
from access and selection of the information to the use and transmission of it in
various media, including the use of the the information and communication
technologies as a essential to learn and communicate.
BC5. SOCIAL AND CIVIC COMPETENCE
This competence allows to live in society, understand the social reality of the
world in which we live and exercise the democratic citizenship. Incorporates
forms of individual behavior that train people to live in a pluralistic society,
interact with others, cooperate and deal with conflicts.
BC7. LEARNING TO LEARN
Learning to learn means to start learning and be able to continue independently.
BC8. AUTONOMY AND PERSONAL ENTERPRISE
This competence is referred to the possibility of opting with own judgement and
take forward the initiatives required to develop the chosen option and be
responsible for it.
METHODOLOGY.
The methodology is going to be active and participative, focusing on the
constructivism theory, it is said, we are going to consider the previous
knowledge and construct over them new knowledge. The student is going to be
in the centre of the process and the teacher will be a mentor, a guide who will
guide him or her, helping them all the time they need some help. The
conceptual contents will be combined with the procedures and attitudes.
We are also going to focus on the individual work, paying attention on
each student and assessing them individually with a portfolio.
Students will be asked to participate, to debate, to discuss and to share
information among them in order to enrich the teaching-learning process.

4. EVALUATION CRITERIA.
At the end of the Didactic Unit the student will be able to:
-To know the existente of the Solar System and its composition.
-To learn the name of the objects which exist in the Solar System.
-To have knowledge about the planets of the Solar System.
-To process information about the Universe.
-To appreaciate the interest of the sciences in the daily life.
-To participate in debates about the Universe and the Planets.
-To understand general and specific information from oral and written texts.
-To communicate with the others to interact orally and express information
related to the Universe.
-To write easy texts with different purposes about the topics of The Universe,
The Sun and The Planets.
-To use the basic phonetic, lexical, structural and functional components of the
foreign language in real contexts.
RESOURCES.
-A projector.
-A powerpoint (prepared by the teacher).
-Some pieces of papers for the Portfolio.
EVALUATION / ASSESSMENT.
The evaluation of the present teaching unit has to answer the questions
of what, how and when eavluate, as well as offering information about aspects
that may be or must be improved during the evaluation process. To do it,
proposals for improvement can be done after the assessment. Thus, the
evaluation requires rigour and transparency, has to be a process that promotes
the participation of the involved subjects (Moreno Beltran, in Lledó 2007).
So, all the activities and tasks will be assessed during the period of time
which lasts the Didactic Unit, responding this process to a formative and
continuous assessment in which will be a follow-up to individualized student

5. with an emphasis on those deficient elements that can be corrected or changed,
in order to produce the learning from the subject (Scriven, 1967).
The acquisition of competences and the achievement of the objectives
set initially will be the guidelines that will guide us in the evaluative process. In
relation to the moments in which the assessment will be done, we highlight the
following:
-Initial or previous evaluation, in which the initial level of the students will be
identified to establish a starting point for the evaluation process that will guide
us, both the student and teacher.
-Continuous evaluation, which will identify accomplishments and acquisitions
that students will be performing throughout the process, in order to identify the
individual progress and see the evolution of the same.
-Final evaluation, which will identify accomplishments and skills that the
student has acquired throughout the process. It is an assessment that will help
us to differentiate between students who have reached the required minimum of
sufficient competence in this Didactic Unit and those who have failed to reach
that threshold of knowledge, procedures and attitudes.
Four basic evaluations instruments and strategies are going to be
evaluated and considered when we establish the final mark:
20% Attendance, motivation and participation. The 20% of the final mark will
depended on the participation and the implication of the students in my lessons.
30% Portfolio. A portfolio is a file where students will be asked to include the
activities they were going to do in class and the homework. It is going to
suppose the 30% of the final calification.
10% Homework. The activities done at home will be part of the homewrk. It is
going to suppose the 10% of the final calification.
40% Final exam. The last strategy we are going to use to establish a final mark
of the project is a written examination. The exam will combine four kinds of
questions and tasks: a dictation, a make-sentences task, a true/false activity
and a multiple choice questionnaire.
The final mark will be the ponderation of the previous strategies and
instruments.

6. CONTENT SEQUENCE.
SESSION 1.
Activity 1. Introduction. A brief explanation of the contents of the Didactic
Unit: “The Solar System”, “The Sun” and “The Planets”.
Activity 2. Explaining the portfolio and the vocabulary builder. A brief
explanation of the working methodology and come aspects about the
evaluation. Each word the students do not knot must be writen in the
Vocabulary Builder, which will be completed with some tasks.
Activity 3. Brainstorming. An initial task to evaluate the students’ previous
knowledge about the topic. The main topic is writen on the blackboard and the
students are asked to tell words related to this topic.
Activity 4. Reading: The Solar System. The students will be asked to read a
text proposed by the teacher about the Solar System and try to understand as
much as they can. They will have to translate into spanish.
Activity 5. Comprehension activities. Some questions about the topic which
have to be completed by the students to check if they have understood the
content previously explained.
Homework. For homework, students are told to look for some words and make
sentences. They are going to be checked in the next session. With these words
the vocabulary builder was going to be build.
SESSION 2.
Activity 1. Energyzer. To wake the students up an “energyzer” is proposed.
The task consisted on walking around the classroom, because they were
planets orbiting the Solar System, and when I told a number of planets they had
to form groups compouned by this number of people/planets.
Activity 2. Reviewing contents. A revision and review of the main contents
and concepts taught in the previous session with a particular methodology:
telling false sentences and waiting for the students’ corrections.
Activity 3. Reading: The Sun. The students had to read a text proposed by the
teacher about the Sun and try to understand as much as they can. They will
have to translate into spanish.

7. Activity 4. Comprehension activities. Some questions about the topic which
have to be completed by the students to check if they have understood the
content previously explained.
Activity 5. Debate. A debate about this topic:
“The Solar System is a very huge and enormous thing. It is full of planets,
comets, meteorites, asteroids... Do you think we could live in another planet?
Why? Why not?”
The students are asked to tell ideas and opinions about it, while they are
participating and reviewing lexical and grammatical structures.
Activity 6. Correcting homework. The homework must be corrected, so the
students will be asked to share their answers and sentences.
Homework. For homework, students are asked to review the contents.
SESSION 3.
Activity 1. Reviewing contents. A revision and review of the main contents
and concepts taught in the previous sessions with our false-sentences
methodology: telling false sentences and waiting for the students’ corrections.
Activity 2. Reading: The Planets. The students had to read a text proposed by
the teacher about the Planets and try to understand as much as they can. They
will have to translate into spanish.
Activity 3. Reviewing recent contents. A revision and review of the recent
contents and concepts asking the studens questions.
Activity 4. Final exam. During the last 30 minutes the students will be ask to
take a final exam. The exam combined four kinds of questions: first part:
dictation (4 points). I told them some sentences related to the Solar System and
the contents we had studied; second part: True or false (1 point). Five
statements and the students have to tell if they are true or false; third part:
writing sentences (2,5 points). The students have to write five sentences with
some words in a box; and forth part: multiple choice questions (2,5 points). Five
multiple choice questionnaire with three possible choices and just one is
correct.
Activity 5. Self-evaluation and feedback. The students will be asked to
provide the teacher with a feedback and a self-evaluation, telling wht they have
learnt and if they liked the Didactic Unit. It will be useful for future changes and
improvements.

8. BIBLIOGRAPHY.
Lledó Becerra, A.I. (2007) La Orientación educativa desde la práctica.
Fundación ECOEM, Sevilla.
Real Decreto 1631/2006, de 29 de diciembre, por el que se establecen las
enseñanzas mínimas correspondientes a la Educación Secundaria
Obligatoria.
Scriven, M. (1967) The methodology of evaluation: Perspectives of curriculum
evaluation.
WEBGRAPHY.
Welcome to StarChild. A learning center for young astronomers.
http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/StarChild.html

9. APPENDIX.
ENGLISH TEST. “THE UNIVERSE”
NAME
COURSE NUMBER SCORE
1. DICTATION (4 points).
………………………………………………………………………………………….…
………………………………………………………………………………………….…
………………………………………………………………………………………….…
………………………………………………………………………………………….…
………………………………………………………………………………………….…
2. TRUE OR FALSE? (1 point).
__ The Earth is in the center of the Solar System.
__ Nine planets orbit the Sun.
__ Pluto is not a planet, but it is a “dwarf planet”.
__ The Sun is the smallest object in the Solar System.
__ The Sun produces solar flares.
3. WRITE FIVE SENTENCES WITH THE WORDS IN THE BOX: (2,5 points)
ASTEROID PLANET ORBIT
ENERGY PLUTO
………………………………………………………………………………………….…
………………………………………………………………………………………….…
………………………………………………………………………………………….…
………………………………………………………………………………………….…
………………………………………………………………………………………….…
4. ANSWER THE FOLOWING QUESTIONS: (2,5 POINTS)
How old is the Solar System? A) 1 billion years old.
B) 2 billion years old.
C) 4 billion years old.
Which of these objects is not a A) Saturn
planet? B) Pluto
C) Venus
What is the biggest planet in the A) Venus
Solar System? B) Jupiter
C) Saturn
What is the closest planet to A) Venus
Earth? B) Jupiter
C) Saturn
What is the closest planet to the A) Uranus
Sun? B) Mercury
C) Mars

10. POWERPOINT SLIDES. CONTENTS.
THE UNIVERSE
DIDACTIC UNIT FOR 1º ESO
INDEX OF CONTENTS
1. THE SOLAR SYSTEM (Sesion 1)
PORTAFOLIO.
VOCABULARY BUILDER.
COMPREHENSION ACTIVITIES.
SPEAKING TASK / TRANSLATION ACTIVITY.
2. THE SUN (Sesion 2)
COMPREHENSION ACTIVITIES.
SPEAKING TASK / TRANSLATION ACTIVITY.

11. INDEX OF CONTENTS (II)
3. THE PLANETS (Sesion 3)
COMPREHENSION ACTIVITIES.
SPEAKING TASK.
4. FINAL EVALUATION (Sesion 3)
FINAL TEST ( Don’t worry, it is easy ;-) ).
THE SOLAR SYSTEM
What is the solar system? It is our Sun and
everything that travels around it. Our solar system
is elliptical in shape. That means it is shaped like an
egg. The Sun is in the center of the solar system.
Our solar system is always in motion. Eight known
planets and their moons, along
with comets, asteroids, and other space
objects orbit the Sun. The Sun is the biggest object
in our solar system. It contains more than 99% of
the solar system's mass. Astronomers think the
solar system is more than 4 billion years old.
Astronomers are now finding new objects far, far
from the Sun which they call dwarf planets. Pluto,
which was once called a planet, is now called a
dwarf planet.

12. LET’S SEE THE SOLAR SYSTEM
SPEAKING TASK
The Solar System is a very huge and
enormous thing. It is full of planets, comets,
meteorites, asteroids… Do you think you
could live in another planet? Why? Why not?

13. COMPREHENSION ACTIVITIES
1. What is the Solar System?
2. Our Solar System is _________ in shape.
3. Where is the Sun in the Solar System?
4. How many planets are there in the S.S.?
5. What objects are orbiting the Sun?
6. What is the biggest object in the S.S.?
7. What are Astronomers finding now?
8. Which planet is now called “dwarf planet”?
9. Find these words in the dictionary: elliptical,
moon, planet, comet, asteroid, astronomer.
THE SUN
The Sun is our closest star. It is a member of the
Milky Way galaxy. The Sun is a yellow star and it is
a medium size star. It is around 4 billion years old.
The center of the Sun is very hot. A process
called "nuclear fusion" takes place there. Nuclear
fusion produces a lot of energy. Some of this
energy travels around the space as heat and light.
Some of it arrives at Earth!
On the Sun's surface, we can see storms. We call
these storms "sunspots" because they look like
dark spots on the Sun's surface. The Sun also
produces big explosions of energy called solar
flares.

14. LET’S SEE THE SUN
COMPREHENSION ACTIVITIES
1. What is our closest star?
2. The Sun is a _________ star.
3. How old is the Sun?
4. How is the center of the Sun?
5. What is produced by the Nuclear fusion?
6. What can we see on the Sun’s surface?
7. How do we call these storms?
8. What is a solar flare?
9. Find these words in the dictionary: galaxy,
energy, surface, explosion, flare.

15. WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT PLANETS?
THE PLANETS
MERCURY is the smallest planet in our solar system and it is very
close to the Sun.
VENUS is the closest planet to Earth, but it does not have oceans
or human life like Earth.
EARTH is where we live. There is no life in other planets. It has
oceans, animals, plants and humans.
MARS has many craters and volcanoes.

16. THE PLANETS (II)
JUPITER is the largest planet in our solar system.
SATURN is surrounded by over 1000 rings made of ice and dust.
URANUS has eleven rings which contain dark particles. Uranus
has 27 moons.
NEPTUNE is the coldest and the farthest planet in our solar
system.
LET’S SEE THE PLANETS