Apparent movement Lesson Plans

Students apply the process of scientific inquiries or technological design to explore the explanations of the daily patterns of the Earth's rotation. They record different shadow lengths showing the apparent movement of the sun through a day.

Students use a simple model of the Earth and Sun as seen from space to explore the sun's apparent movement across the sky over the course of a day and year. They consider the apparent direction of movement and changes in the sun's angle.

Third graders make a sundial and explain how to use it. They describe the movement of Earth and the moon and the apparent movement of other bodies through the sky. They predict what happens when they put their sundials in the sun.

Third graders explore the rotation of Earth and the moon. In this solar system lesson, 3rd graders participate in an Earth and moon simulation in which part of the class "becomes" the sun, while other children represent the moon by rotating from chair to chair around the earth. Students complete drawings and notes about the activity in their Science Journal.

Learners study the apparent motion of the Sun in the sky over the course of a day and a year, and analyze what causes seasons on Earth. They participate in a project that has both a science as well as an art component.

Students create posters of the constellations using glow-in-the-dark glue and black paper. They hang their posters around the room starting with Aries and moving through all the signs. Students create a jingle or acronym to help them remember the zodiac order.

Sixth graders are introduced to several major constellations and locate them in the night sky. They graph the constellations on grid paper and work in groups to research common myths and stories associated with specific constellations.

Students explore how building a model can help them better understand the natural world. They identify common cycles or patterns in nature as well as examples of models in the classroom. After discussion, they choose a pattern or cycle in nature to make a model of it.

Students hone in on their skills at reading diagrams.  In this dimensional lesson students collect information on the functions of organs then figure out how all the parts work together. 

Students model the tilt of the Earth as it orbits the Sun. They explain the meaning and characteristics of solstices and equinoxes. They explain that sunlight hits the Earth at different angles at different locations over the course of the year.