Specifications

k-Solar System includes the following elements:

The k-Solar System software: available for use through the acquisition of a license. It is possible to download a fully operative demo for a period of 5 minutes.
Microsoft Kinect for PC: the application makes the most of the Kinect to be able to use the students’ movements as a control device. Nevertheless, it is also possible to handle the application with the keyboard and the mouse. K-Solar System does not include the Kinect device, and it is necessary to purchase it in a specialized store.
Activity book (as a didactic proposal): guide of educational activities ordered by levels for its use in the class.

Program description

k-Solar System is an interactive 3D software for learning new contents related to the Solar System: planetary and satellite movements, and the phenomena they provoke, such as eclipses, the seasons, the lunar phases...

The interaction is carried out by means of the Kinect device, which recognizes the students’ movements and reproduces them in the virtual models which are visualized in 3D on the board.

Quantitative approaches have been avoided, being the activities focused on qualitative aspects and taking advantage of the potential of this way of interaction to offer the students a lasting and motivating experience. The k-Solar System application is available for systems operating with Windows.

Scenarios included

Solar System offers a general vision of the whole Solar System with the possibility of surfing through it approaching the different celestial bodies, visualizing their orbits, following the planets and satellites movements in different time scales...
Earth focuses directly on the Earth, the rotation movement, the light and dark areas, the angle of incidence of solar light...
Sun and Earth allows observing with greater detail the movement of our planet along its orbit. A superposed window offers a sight of the Earth as it would be seen from the Sun.
Moon makes it possible to view the movement of the Moon around the Earth, allowing the teacher to explain concepts such as the luar phases of the eclipses.
Sun, Earth and Moon shows a close-up of the Sun seen from a fixed point in space. In different superposed windows appear sights of the Moon and the Sun seen from the Earth, as well as a general view of the Sun-Earth-Moon system which allows getting to know the relative position of each of the three bodies in each moment. This scenario permits the interaction through the Kinect device of two students, one of them simulating the movement of the Earth and the other one the movement of the Moon.

Learning issues addressed

The understanding of the phenomena caused by the movements of the planets and the satellites is complicated. Investigations carried out in the field of Didactics demonstrate that the study of the Solar System and the movements that provoke eclipses, lunar phases, seasons... must overcome a series of difficulties due to:

The magnitude of the measurements with which the students have to work.
The complexity of the planetary movements.

Curricular contents covered

Primary

First cycle

Day-Night

Second cycle

Movements of the Earth
Lunar phases
Year seasons and their characteristics

Third cycle

The Solar System in the Universe
Characteristics of the Sun and the Planets

Secondary

First grade

Universe and Solar System
Universe, stars and galaxies. Milky Way, Solar System.
The Earth as a planet. Natural phenomena related to it.
Movement of the celestial bodies: seasons, day-night, eclipses...
Historical evolution of the understanding of the position of the Earth.
The Universe: geocentrism - heliocentrism.

Second grade

Light and sound.
Rectilinear propagation of light. Understanding of different situations and realization of straightforward experiments to make it evident.
Shadows and eclipses.

Third grade

In Social Science: latitude, longitude, time zones.

Fourth grade

Overcoming of the Sky-Earth barrier: astronomy and universal gravitation.
Geocentric system: questioning and appearance of the heliocentric system.
Copernicus.
Universal gravitation.
Weights-masses.
Satellites (velocity, period, frequency).
Current conception of the Universe.
Movement of the planets and natural and artificial satellites in the Solar System related to gravitational force.

Bachillerato:

2nd grade: Physics

Block 2: gravitational interaction.
A scientific revolution that modified the vision of the world.From Kepler’s Laws to the Law of Universal Gravitation. Gravitational potential energy.
The problem of long-distance interactions and its overcoming by means of the concept of gravitational field.
Characteristic magnitudes: gravitational intensity and potential.
Study of the Earth gravity and experimental determination of the gravitational acceleration.
Movement of satellites and rockets.