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Year 6 Science · How science ideas change

Name: ______________________

Date: ____________

1. In the Earth-centred model, what is at the centre?
- ☐ (a) The Sun
- ☐ (b) Earth
- ☐ (c) Jupiter
- ☐ (d) The Moon
2. Who published a Sun-centred model of the solar system in 1543?
- ☐ (a) Isaac Newton
- ☐ (b) Ptolemy
- ☐ (c) Nicolaus Copernicus
- ☐ (d) Galileo Galilei
3. Galileo saw four moons orbiting which planet?
- ☐ (a) Jupiter
- ☐ (b) Mars
- ☐ (c) Venus
- ☐ (d) Mercury
4. Why did the Earth-centred model seem sensible to people long ago?
- ☐ (a) Telescopes showed Earth at the centre
- ☐ (b) The Sun seems to move across the sky and we cannot feel Earth move
- ☐ (c) Earth is the biggest object in the sky
- ☐ (d) The Moon told them so
5. What usually causes scientists to change an accepted idea?
- ☐ (a) A vote
- ☐ (b) The idea becoming old
- ☐ (c) New evidence that the old idea cannot explain
- ☐ (d) A famous person disagreeing
6. The model with the Sun at the centre and the planets orbiting it is called the ____-centred model.
7. What new instrument did Galileo use to gather evidence about the planets?
8. True or false: an accepted scientific idea can change when new evidence is found.

Answer sheet

1. Earth — The Earth-centred model placed a still Earth at the centre with everything moving around it.
2. Nicolaus Copernicus — Copernicus published his Sun-centred model in 1543. Galileo's telescope observations came later, around 1610.
3. Jupiter — Galileo discovered four large moons of Jupiter.
4. The Sun seems to move across the sky and we cannot feel Earth move — Everyday observations made it look as if Earth stood still and everything moved around it.
5. New evidence that the old idea cannot explain — Scientific ideas change when new evidence shows a better explanation is needed.
6. Sun — It is the Sun-centred (heliocentric) model.
7. telescope — The telescope let Galileo see Jupiter's moons and the phases of Venus.
8. true — Science is always open to improvement when new evidence appears.