Curated OER
Tilted Earth
What causes Earth's seasons? Find out through a series of anticipatory questions, an easy yet powerful activity representing the sun-Earth system, a diagram to label, and follow-up questions. Dispel the misconceptions about Earth being...
Curated OER
Our Sun and the Four Seasons
Learners discover the relationship between the sun and Earth. In this weather lesson, students examine the effect of the sun on the Earth's seasons. Learners complete a weather activity using props to simulate the sun and...
Curated OER
Earth's Place in Space
In this Earth worksheet, students review how the revolution, rotation, and tilt of the Earth effects the Earth. This worksheet has 4 matching and 3 short answer questions.
Curated OER
The Sun: Earth's External Heat Engine - Part 1 of the Astronomy Model
Designed by School Power...NaturallySM, this lesson familiarizes advanced earth science and physics learners about the variables that affect our supply of solar energy. They examine gas spectra and perform calculations. There is an...
Curated OER
The Tilt of the Earth And the Seasons
Fourth graders measure the change in the size of their shadow over time. They visit a fixed structure and record the date, the time, and the measurement of the length of their shadow. They do this over the course of the school year. They...
Curated OER
Earth's Movement in Space
Students explain how the Earth's tilt and rotation causes night and day. In this earth science lesson plan, students determine how seasonal changes are caused by Earth's revolution. They play a jeopardy team game at the end of the unit...
Curated OER
Solar/Lunar Eclipses and the Seasons
How do the moon, sun, and Earth line up to create eclipses? Why do the seasons change throughout a year? The answers to these questions are explained through this series of slides. This apt presentation outlines information using bullet...
Curated OER
Earth's Energy Budget - Seasonal Cycles in Net Radiative Flux
Students attempt to understand seasonal variation by viewing images of the energy received by the earth. In this weather activity, students view images from NASA of the influx of energy from the sun and make predictions about resulting...
Curated OER
A New Slant On The Seasons
Students identify how the tilt and position of the Earth causes the seasons. After a discussion of the seasons and when they begin. Using themselves as the objects in the universe, they role play how the rotational movement of the...
Curated OER
Earth's Seasons
Sixth graders review the relationship between the Sun and the Earth. In groups, they use a globe and flashlights to show the shadows on the Earth during the different seasons. To end the lesson, they write in their journals about their...
Curated OER
Season's Greetings
Students explore Earth's seasons using an interactive website. In this earth science lesson plan, students watch video segments and explain Earth's seasonal milestones. They discuss the factors that causes seasonal changes.
Curated OER
Sundials and Shadows - What Can They Teach Us About Seasons?
Students collect and analyze data relating to seasonal changes. They view a video, research web sites and build a sundial to collect their data.
Curated OER
Seasonal cycles
Learners understand that the rotation of the Earth is responsible for the seasons. In this seasonal cycles lesson, students learn how the rotation of the Earth affects the seasons. Learners answer questions about the rotation, the...
Curated OER
The Reasons for the Seasons
Sixth graders conduct a controlled investigation to determine the length of the sun's shadow on a fixed object (i.e., flagpole, telephone pole, etc.) over a three-day period (one day in the fall, one in the winter, and one in the...
California Academy of Science
Tropical Belt
Where in the world is the equator? Explore a world map with your class, coloring in oceans, continents, and rainforests while locating the three major lines of latitude: the equator, Tropic of Cancer, and Tropic of Capricorn. Discuss how...
Curated OER
Models of the Earth and Moon
Students explore the earth's rotation and phases of the moon. In this planets lesson plan, students rotate and revolve around a light representing the sun. Students use movement and props to simulate what causes the phases of the moon as...
Curated OER
The Earth in Space
High schoolers use computer images to explain why the Earth has seasons and examine the phases of the moon. They create 3-D images and present them to the class. They answer a series of questions at the end of the lesson.
Curated OER
The Reasons for the Season
Students explain the reason for the changes in season. In this lesson examining the relationship between the Earth and the Sun, students use an applet to discover how the alignment of the Earth and the Sun cause the change in seasons.
Curated OER
Planet Earth
In this Earth activity, students review 13 terms associated with the Earth's rotation, revolution, and orbit. Students find the terms in a word search and then fill in the term next to its definition.
Curated OER
Phases of the Moon
Young scholars explore why when you examine the moon depends on its location in relationship to the sun and Earth. The moon never goes away or changes shape-we just see a different fraction of sunlight being reflected from the moon to...
Curated OER
Surface Air Temperature Trends of the Caribbean
Learners use real satellite data to determine the changes in near-surface air temperature at different times of the year over the Caribbean Sea. They discover how Earth's tilt causes seasonal differences in incoming solar energy. They...
Curated OER
Tides, Eclipses, Day and Night, and Seasons
In this earth science worksheet, middle schoolers use the clues given at the bottom of the sheet to complete the crossword puzzle on tides, eclipses, day and night, and the seasons of the year. There are 17 clues to solve in the puzzle.
Purdue University
Sun Tracking System for a Solar Panel
Capture the Sun's rays as best as possible. An engaging STEM lesson teaches scholars about how Earth's tilt causes the path of the sun to change throughout the year. They create solar panel systems that move both horizontally and...
Curated OER
Reason for the Seasons
Young scientists examine why we have seasons on Earth, and how the motion of the Earth around the Sun causes them. Groups of learners are given a variety of balls, a bamboo stick, a marker, and a flashlight, then use the objects to...