The fourth grade students at the Estabrook Elementary School in Lexington have been studying astronomy and space exploration. Part of our work involved the construction of a scale model of our solar system.

We aimed for authenticity in our research, and we quickly realized that we could not possibly display an accurate model of our solar system within the confines of our school building.

Our first step was to discover the best size for our model of the Sun using proportional equations. The second step was to calculate how far Pluto would be from the Sun model. The final step was to calculate all the planets' sizes and distances from our 10 foot diameter Sun. This scale model accurately portrays the distances and sizes of the planets and sun in our solar system.

Working in groups students constructed 3-dimensional models of the planets (and a 2-dimensional model of the sun), designed signs showing interesting facts about each planet (using trade books and the Internet to locate information), and studied local maps to determine where each planet could be accurately situated in the community.