LAUSR

An astronomy 'experiment' composed of three parts is described in the article. Being given necessary data a simple model of inner planets of the solar system is made in the first part with planets' circular orbits using appropriate scale. In the second part revolution of the figurines used as model representations of the planets along their orbits is observed. In the third part of activity apparent motion of Venus with respect to the observer on the Earth is studied. In the second part of the paper problems are given, which relate to experimental activities and are designed to test if learning outcomes of the experiment have been achieved: if correlation between orbital radius and orbital velocity has been perceived, concepts related to motion of Venus as observed from the Earth have been acquired and periodicity recognized. Described astronomy 'experiment' was one of the three science experiments given to 11 and 12 years old students prior to Slovene science competition in 2017 (the call for competition is at www.dmfa.si, guidelines for the experiment (in Slovene) can be found at www.kresnickadmfa.si/files/2016/07/poskus_1617_r67p1_S.pdf). At the end of the paper the results obtained at competition are presented.