These notes outline Kepler's three laws of planetary motion. Diagrams are used to supplement the explanation of the first two laws, and sample calculations are given in support of the third law.

Students review Kepler's three laws of planetary motion, defining the parts of an ellipse and describing the calculation of the eccentricity of an ellipse and associated orbital path. In an associated hands-on activity "Constructing Orbits," students will model orbits using string and calculate the eccentricities of the orbits they construct.

Students will use a model of the solar system to demonstrate rotation, revolution, Kepler’s laws, Newton's laws, precession, nutation, seasons or tides.  They will use kapwing.com to create their own stop motion video.

Students will first use CoSpace to create a virtual model of Newton's.  Students will learn how to use CoSpace to create 3D virtual models.  Next students will review concepts of rotation, revolution, seasons, tides, barycenter, precession, nutation by further exploring CoSpaces.  Students will learn to write code to enable the earth to rotate and then revolve around the sun.