Students will complete a probe that asks them to review a set of statements and decide which ones describe the cause of seasons on Earth.
Students will discuss their idea of what it means to be in a particular season on Earth, and if all areas of our planet experience seasons the same way.
Students will create a model of the Earth-sun system to investigate how Earth’s tilt and revolution create the solar angles that affect the seasons.
Students will use readings, videos, and online simulations to explain how the Earth’s tilt and revolution cause the seasons.
Students will conduct an investigation to determine what affect Earth’s shape has on Earth’s surface temperature.
Students will conduct an investigation to determine what affect Earth’s shape has on Earth’s surface temperature.
Students will analyze data Earth-sun system and use it, along with evidence from prior lessons, to explain the cause of Earth’s seasons.
Students will read and share articles from NASA’s Classroom of the Future to describe the cyclic changes in Earth’s tilt and orbit over thousands of years.
In the previous cycle, students developed models of the Earth-Sun system to explain the relationship between Earth’s counterclockwise rotation on its’ axis, and day and night on Earth. Students analyzed and interpreted data to explain how Earth’s tilt affects yearly daylight hours for various locations on Earth.
In this cycle, students will construct an explanation that answers the guiding question: How does the relationship between the tilt of Earth’s axis and its yearly orbit around the sun produce the seasons? Students will answer this guiding question by developing models of the Earth-sun system to explain the relationship between the tilt of Earth’s axis, the revolution of Earth around the sun, and seasons on Earth. They will obtain information from text resources, video resources, and online simulations to further develop their explanations. Students will collect temperature data from an investigation to explain the relationship between the angle at which sunlight hits Earth, and temperature at different latitudes.
In the next cycle, students will develop models of the Earth-sun-moon system to explain the patterns of phases on the moon and solar and lunar eclipses.