Students create their Sky Viewer (download)
Investigation
Students use their Sky Viewer model and take turn doing the investigation while making notes in their science notebook.
During the Investigation students may observe how the Earth is spinning from space, when watching a sunrise or sunset from the ground it can still be hard to imagine that the Earth is moving.
To help them visualize it, show one final video!
Assessment
Students are asked three questions:
- When you watch the sunset, is the Sun really moving down? What's happening?
- Can the Sun ever appear to move down in the morning? Explain.
- From Sunday evening to Friday evening, how many times around does the Earth spin?
Lesson Plan Materials
Step 1: Get supplies and print worksheets
Each student will need:
Each pair of students will also need a paper Sun. To make these, you’ll need a sheet of red, orange, or yellow construction paper for each pair of students.
Step 2: Cut out paper suns
Cutting 15 paper suns (enough for a class of 30) will take about 5 minutes.
A paper sun is just a large circle of construction paper, about the size of a paper plate. It doesn’t have to be precise — a sloppy circle is fine. We suggest cutting half a dozen suns at the same time.
Advanced Students Optional Project
Additional Reading
Activity
Earth in the Sun — on a sunny day, uses a globe to show students exactly how sunlight illuminates the Earth.
Position a globe so that light from the Sun shines on it in just the same way that sunlight shines on the Earth. As the Earth spins, the boundaries between ‘day’ and ‘night’ will move steadily across both your globe and the Earth. (Follow these instructions to position your globe.)
Self-Centered Globe
Feel the Burn