Utah Education Network
Uen: Trb 3:1: Investigation 4: Day and Night
A lesson 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.
Smithsonian Institution
Encyclopedia Smithsonian: Foucault Pendulum
Provides a detailed description of the Foucault Pendulum and how it works. It was originally built to demonstrate the rotation of the Earth.
CK-12 Foundation
Ck 12: Plix: Seasons
[Free Registration/Login Required] View how the axis of rotation causes Earth to have seasons on this site. Also test your knowledge on how the position of Earth and seasons relate with a short quiz.
CK-12 Foundation
Ck 12: Plix: Seasons
[Free Registration/Login Required] This site contains an animation showing how the seasons are produced by the tilt of Earth's rotating axis. Site also includes a short quiz over the topic of seasons.
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...
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.
NASA
Nasa: Image Science Center: Ask the Space Scientist Earth
Site from NASA contains a collection of 91 questions pertaining to the Earth's atmosphere, magnetic field, ionosphere, rotation and origin of life.
ClassFlow
Class Flow: Earth's Movements in Space
[Free Registration/Login Required] This flipchart contains definitions for axis, rotation, revolution explanation of seasons and an assessment using Activotes.
Other
Center for Science Education: Eye on the Sky: Motion of the Sun and Earth
Students model the interaction of the earth and the sun. The activity is designed for the playground. You will need chalk, but all the other worksheets are provided.
ClassFlow
Class Flow: Earth and Space Day and Night
[Free Registration/Login Required] This flipchart illustrates a view of the earth from space and how day and night happens.
McREL International
Mcrel.org: Planet Rotation [Pdf]
A worksheet regarding the axis of rotation within each of the planets. PDF
McREL International
Mc Rel: Earth's Axis [Pdf]
A worksheet regarding the path of the Sun around the Earth and the Earth's tilt on its axis.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Mn Step: The Earth and Sky in a 24 Hour Day
An activity where students learn, through modeling and demonstration, about the relative sizes of the Earth and Sun, the distance between them, and how the Earth rotates in a 24-hour period.
ClassFlow
Class Flow: Earth, Sun and Moon
[Free Registration/Login Required] In this unit children learn about the shapes and relative sizes of the Earth, Sun and Moon. Using models they learn how the three bodies move relative to each other and how these movements relate to...
NASA
Nasa: Heliophysics: New Science of the Sun Solar System Connection
This site from NASA lists common and uncommon misconceptions about Sun-Earth Science. Site also provides links to activities and lesson plans as well as background reading.
University of Wisconsin
University of Wisconsin: Reasons for the Seasons
A brief explanation of the Earth's rotation around the Sun and how it relates to the amount of sunlight the Earth receives, and to the seasons. Includes two questions for students to respond to.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Cosmology and Astronomy: Season Simulator
This season simulator takes Earth through an entire year cycle allowing the viewer to observe the tilt of the Earth and the intensity of the sunlight.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Sunspots on the Move
The following videos show sunspots using wavelengths of light that the human eye cannot see. Watch sunspots emerging on the earth's surface, a sunspot moving across the earth's surface, and the rotation of the sun as a sunspot evolves...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Foucault Pendulum
Students learn about the Foucault pendulum, an engineering tool used to demonstrate and measure the Earth's rotation. Student groups then create small experimental versions, each comprised of a pendulum and a video camera mounted on a...
American Geosciences Institute
American Geosciences Institute: Astronomy
Eight hands-on lessons module in which students explore the characteristics of planet Earth, its moons, the sun, the solar system, planets, and the difference between science fact and science fiction.
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: Moon Journal Activity
Students use the process of journaling to make discoveries about the moon. This activity involves having students write observations about the moon in a journal. Using their observations they go to an online resource and choose...
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.
NASA
Nasa: Sci Jinks: What's a Solstice?
Find out how the Earth's tilted axis affects the seasons on the Earth.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Global Weather Machine
In this illustrated essay from NOVA Online, explore the cyclical process of weather creation and the effects of El Nino on the global weather system.