Utah STEM Foundation
Utah Stem Action Center: Together We Can Rule the Galaxy
In this lesson, students will learn about Galileo Galilei and space.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Lunar Learning
Why does the Moon not always look the same to us? Sometimes it is a big, bright, circle, but, other times, it is only a tiny sliver, if we can see it at all. The different shapes and sizes of the slivers of the Moon are referred to as...
Utah Education Network
Uen: Trb 3:1: Investigation 4: Day and Night
A lesson plan for third graders in which they learn about the rotation of the Earth on its axis and how this movement creates day and night. They also examine the orbit of the moon about the Earth and the Earth's orbit around the sun.
Other
Center for Science Education: Eye on the Sky: What Makes Day and Night?
This activity will allow you to model day and night cycles. A rotating student holding a map (provided) models the earth. A lamp is used to model the sun. Numerous worksheets (pdf) and additional website resources are also provided.
Cornell University
Cornell University: Astronomy: Eratosthenes
Learn how Greek mathematician Eratosthenes used geometry to estimate the circumference of the Earth.
Science Struck
Science Struck: A Scientific Explanation to What Causes Day and Night
Explains how the rotation and the axial tilt of the Earth are responsible for the phenomenon of day and night. Provides information about the Sun, the solar system, and the Earth, and how the circumference of the Earth was first measured...
ClassFlow
Class Flow: Day and Night
[Free Registration/Login Required] In this flipchart students will understand how the Earth rotates during a 24 hour period giving us day and night.
Math Is Fun
Math Is Fun: The Seasons
Learn about the four seasons, when they occur in the northern and southern hemispheres, and why the seasons change as the Earth rotates around the Sun.
University of Illinois
University of Illinois Extension: Tree House Weather Kids: What Causes the Season?
Explore what causes the change of seasons on the Earth.
Utah Education Network
Uen: Trb 3:1 Investigation 6 Celestial Model
Third graders will gain an understanding of why stars appear to move across the night sky.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Tracking the Sun: Observing the Path of the Sun Throughout the Year
Over the course of the school year, students collect weekly data about the sun's position at a specific time of day, resulting in creating a figure "8" that shows the path of the sun called an analemma.
E-learning for Kids
E Learning for Kids: Science: Atlantic Ocean: Day and Night
This module explores day and night. Learn about what we see during the day and night and why we see what we see.
Better Lesson
Better Lesson: Our Stars
For this lesson, learners will observe and communicate how the stars are in the sky both day and night. The extremely detailed lesson includes photos and videos of the lesson in actions, examples of student's work, materials, parent...
Better Lesson
Better Lesson: Our Sky
What objects are in the day sky and the night sky? How do they seem to move? Come and explore with us as we discover the sun, moon, planets and stars! This detailed lesson plan includes pictures and videos of the lesson in action,...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Lunar Lollipops
The students work in teams of two to discover the relative positions of the Earth, Sun and Moon that produce the different phases of the Moon. The students will be given a Styrofoam ball that they will attach to a pencil so that it looks...
National Museums Liverpool
Liverpool Museums: The Sun Tracker
This simulation allows the user to see the sun's arc in the sky anywhere in the world at any time. By changing the season settings the user can see how seasons affect the height of the sun's arc.
University of Chicago
University of Chicago: What's Your Slant? Sun and Shadows
This fun activity helps you to understand the movement of the sun by studying shadows.
Utah Education Network
Uen: Why Angle Changes Intensity
This hands-on activity will help students understand why summer is hotter than winter.
Ohio State University
Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears: Common Misconceptions About Day and Night
Misconceptions about the causes of seasons and day and night are common through all ages. Use the information on this site to help your students understand these concepts. Included are links to many resources and lesson plans for...
Math Is Fun
Math Is Fun: A Day
How long is a day? What do most children do during certain hours of the day? What is day? This site offers the answers to these questions, lists the days of the week, and provides a hour-by-hour listing of what a typical kid's day...
Other
Electric Sky: Vernal Equinox
This site, created by an amateur who has studied astronomy for thirty years, provides a scholarly explanation of the vernal equinox. Links to definitions of significant terms.