Forces, space and radioactivity: Video playlist

Aiysha and Steve are relaxing in a park during a summer evening. They are discussing the line-up for the new series of the latest reality show ‘Big Star Survival’. Misinterpreting the conversation about “real stars”, Ada the science app springs to life. Ada explains the life cycle of average and large stars. The main processes during birth, life and death of a star are explained, drawing attention to the main stages of each process. Key stages are discussed in terms of forces and how stars progress between each stage.

After watching the animation, describe how stars of different sizes are formed. Discuss the balance of forces at different stages of a star’s life; do this for different sizes of stars. Create a model, using information from the animation, showing the different stages of a star’s life. Discuss the beginning of life, and ask pupils to describe how we arrived as we are on Earth today. Show the animation and ask pupils to compare our lives with the life cycle of stars. Pupils can compare ingredients for the life of a star to the ingredients for our lives. Ask pupils to model the forces at each stage of a pupil’s life using a rope as a tug of war system. Pupils should explain what would happen at each stage if a balance in these forces were disturbed.