Seasons and Phases. Grade 8 Post-Visit Materials Howard B. Owens Science Center

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1 Seasons and Phases Challenge question: Are these sun paths shown for the Northern or Southern hemisphere? How do you know (cite your evidence)? Grade 8 Post-Visit Materials Howard B. Owens Science Center Prince George s County Public Schools Upper Marlboro, Md

2 Teacher Resources NOTE: Post Visit Activity 2 can be used as a formal assessment for understanding seasons. Additional information on the moon: Basic information and scale stuff Descriptions of different types of months (synodic/sidereal/tropical) - Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter: Solar System Exploration: Earth s Moon:

3 Post-Visit Activity 1: Moon on a Stick This is a variant of the Skills Lab, A Moonth of Phases found in Section 3 (Phases. Eclipses, and Tides) in Chapter 1 (Earth, Moon, and Sun) in the Prentice Hall Science Explorer, Astronomy text. Materials: Plastic foam balls, lamp with low wattage bulb, pencils. Only one lamp is needed for the entire class. The bulb does not need to be high power; watts is sufficient. Provide one foam ball to each student if possible, or share. Notes to Teacher: The ball represents the Moon, the lamp is the Sun, and the student s head is the Earth. Place the lamp in any convenient place. The student sticks the pencil into the ball, creating a Moon on a Stick. Holding the Moon at arm s length, the student slowly turns in a circle. The student should carefully observe light and dark on the Moon as he/she is turning, and compare the appearance to pictures of the real Moon s phases. It is important at this point that the student should hold the Moon on a Stick high enough so that his/her head does not get in the way. This will ensure that the student will see the full array of phases. Figure 1 illustrates the proper arrangement. Figure 1 Background notes for Moon phases.

4 The Moon goes through phases as it revolves around the Earth once a month. The Moon s appearance alters depending on where it is in relation to the Sun. The Sun lights up only the side of the Moon facing toward the Sun, and that side is not always facing toward the Earth. The activities here will help your students understand the situation better by personally modeling the motion of the Moon around the Earth, in which they, themselves, represent the Earth. For your background, we are also including this diagram indicating the orbital motion of the Moon, and the accompanying phase of the Moon as seen from Earth Sun s rays Not to scale. Circle represents Moon s orbit viewed from above Earth s North Pole. Positions 1 through 8 show Moon as it appears to the eye in each of the orbital positions.

5 Post-Activity 1: The Moon on a Stick: Phases STUDENT WORKSHEET Follow the instructions provided by your teacher, and fill in the worksheet here. Step 1 Model the motion of the Moon around the Earth by performing the Moon on a Stick activity. Look at the diagram below. Step 2 See if you can observe the appearance of the Moon in each position and match it to the diagram. Shade in the circles on the chart on the next page to match the appearance of the Moon s phase Sun s rays

6 Activity 1: The Moon on a Stick: Phases STUDENT WORKSHEET, p.2 Position Shade the circle to match the appearance of the phase Phase of Moon 1 new Moon 2 waxing crescent 3 first quarter 4 waxing gibbous 5 full Moon 6 waning gibbous 7 third or last quarter 8 waning crescent

7 Post-Visit Activity 1: The Moon on a Stick: Phases Answers Position Shade the circle to match the appearance of the phase Phase of Moon 1 new Moon 2 waxing crescent 3 first quarter 4 waxing gibbous 5 full Moon 6 waning gibbous 7 third or last quarter 8 waning crescent

8 Post-Visit Activity 2: (Web 2.0) Seasons Interactive! Materials: Internet access; this worksheet 1. Go to the site The inclination refers to the tilt of the Earth on its axis. The display should default to an inclination angle of 0 degrees. If not, move the bar over to the left until the display confirms it is set to Describe the position of the Earth s axis when the angle is set to 0:

9 3. Observe the thermometer in the upper right hand frame, and the sunpath in the lower left frame, as the Earth orbits the Sun. (Note: you can speed up the orbit by using the fast and slow buttons). 4. Change the Inclination angle to 23 degrees and observe. Change the inclination angle to 60 degrees and observe. Provide evidence from your observations here and from your planetarium visit to support the statement that the tilt of the Earth s axis causes the seasons.

10 Post-Visit Activity 3: Stonehenge and the Moon (Differentiated instruction: Advanced learners) Worksheets from Planetarium Activities for Student Success (PASS) Volume 12, The Regents of the University of California, (permission granted to copy pages for use in classroom activities and teacher workshops) Includes the following activities: Azimuth and Horizons (to become familiar with the system for describing the position of something along the horizon azimuth ) Many Moonrises (to explore the possible use of Stonehenge as a moonrise calendar; extension on the introduction to Stonehenge provided briefly on the Science and History chart, p. 8J, Chapter 1, Section 1, Prentice Hall Science Explorer Astronomy text)

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