In first grade, part of our curriculum is to teach about the solar system. Our science series is about 4 years old, so it still has information stating Pluto is a planet. I know they were saying Pluto is not a planet and that maybe they found another planet. I'm not exactly sure, so I wanted to get the opinion of other teachers and what they do in the classroom. I was wondering if any of you teach about the solar system and if you do, do you still teach your students that Pluto is a planet? If not, what do you tell them? Thanks in advance.
thanks Thank you, Rainstorm! I did not know that. I thought they said Pluto was no longer considered a planet but now I can use everything I still have. That's a relief. Thanks again!!!
Pluto is now a dwarf planet which puts it in the same category as several large asteroids. The way I understand it, several years ago a large group of scientists met and decided that since new objects are found all the time, they needed to actually have a firm list of criteria for what makes something a planet. There are 3: round, orbit the sun, have nothing else in its orbital path. The 3rd one eliminates Pluto since there are several other large objects orbiting with it. Years ago when it was discovered, they thought it was much closer in size to Earth but size isn't really the determination for whether or not it is a planet. Hope that helps.
Those scientist at a conference actually voted by a show of hands to classify Pluto as a dwarf planet. There were dissenters.
Our state test (MCAS) still classifies Pluto as a planet, not a dwarf planet, so I still teach the solar system with Pluto as one of the nine planets. Later, after the test, I show them articles about the reclassification of Pluto and the two other new dwarf planets, Eris and Ceres, which are larger than Pluto.
In 6th grade, we have a lot of interesting discussions about the decision and how accepted scientific theories often change over time. As in many widely accepted theories, there is disent.
