OpenSciEd Unit 8.4 · Lesson 13 · 13.C
Infographic Text
From Teacher Edition
Facilitation guidance from the lesson plan — what to notice in student thinking and how to respond while teaching.
Building towards
13.C Analyze and interpret data to identify patterns in and between different scale properties for planets and some of their moons in our solar system (including relative size, orbital distance from the Sun, surface features, if any, and atmosphere).
What to look / listen for
As students analyze planetary and other solar system object data
Look for diversity of ideas that will help generate ideas about the scale properties of the solar system and motivate needing the mechanisms behind why the solar system is organized the way it is. Such as
comparing the size of objects in the solar system relative to where they are located;
comparing composition of different planets relative to other planets;
beginning to compare how long it takes the planet to rotate on its axis and how long it takes to go around the main object it orbits; and
beginning to notice a relationship between location within the solar system and object size, object speed, and object orbital period.
What to
If students struggle to describe accurate patterns that emerge from the data, including the correlation between average orbital distance, orbital period, and average orbital speed, then have them choose two objects from different infographics and ask specifically, is there something similar about these two objects? Is there something different about these objects?
Materials
Last updated from official OpenSciEd on 8/17/2026
Assessment opportunity guidance
L13-AO3.html
Student handout
8.4 Lesson 13 Handout Infographic Text.docx
Teacher guide
8.4 Lesson 13 Teacher Edition.docx