Curated OER
What Causes the Seasons?
Third graders investigate why the seasons occur throughout the year. They read a traditional wisdom story pertaining to the seasons. They create their own wisdom stories about the seasons and act them out for the class.
Curated OER
Cryosat Mission
Beginning with general information on satellites and seasons, concluding with polar ice and the Cryosat Mission, this worksheet gives your earth scientists an opportunity to conduct some research. Most of the assignment consists of short...
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Seasonal CEENBoT
Students simulate the Earth's revolution around the sun using CEENBoT. In this earth science lesson students calculate the Earth's distance in AU and it's speed of revolution. They explain how the Earth's movement cause seasonal variation.
Curated OER
Reasons for the Seasons
Students discover how the Earth's axis of rotation affects the angle of sunlight and the length of day. They take a survey and give the survey out to family members and friends. They tally their findings and then determine the correct...
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Heating the Earth
Students explore how the angle of sunlight affects the Earth's temperature and seasons and then apply this understanding to their local situation.
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The Seasons
Students determine the effect of the earth's tilt on the amount of incoming solar radiation throughout the year. They simulate the earth's orbit around the sun using a light bulb and a globe to simulate the seasons. Assessment questions...
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Phases of the Moon
Students 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 Earth.
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Reasons for Seasons
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...
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Seasonal Cycles And Changes
Second graders recall the affect of direct and angled sunlight on the seasons, describe some results of warming soil and air in spring, predict the changes in buds when twigs are placed in water, and taste a product of tree sap and...
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Earth in Space
In this reason for the days and nights on earth worksheet, students study the reasons the Earth has days and nights by answering 28 questions about earth's rotation, the equator, the relationship between the sun and moon, and the earth's...
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The Reason for the Seasons; Science, Geography
Students think about what causes the seasons to change, reflect on what they know about seasons and how their lives affected by seasonal changes.
University of Arizona
The Exotic Vacation
Students explain the concepts and vocabulary of Earth's rotation. They plan imaginary vacations based on the seasons in different locations. This is a very creative lesson plan, which students enjoy.
Curated OER
Seasons and Cloud Cover, Are They Related?
Students use NASA satellite data to correlate cloud cover over Africa to the solar declination.
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It's A Meteor
Students complete a webquest to find Earth's relationship to the sun. In this webquest instructional activity, students complete tasks to understand the effect of the sun on weather and time. Students create a multimedia presentation as...
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Surface Air Temperature Trends of the Caribbean
Students 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...
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Celebrating the Solstice and Equinox
Fourth graders graph the number of daylight hors throughout the year and examine why day length varies. They discover that seasonal changes and latitude on Earth affect the number of hours of daylight in each day. Students listen to...
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Precession
Students explain how Hipparchus, around 130 BC, used a shift in the predicted location of a lunar eclipse to detect a slight shift in the path of the Sun around the sky. They examine the elliptical orbit in which the Earth travels around...
Messenger Education
Give Me a Boost—How Gravity Assists Aid Space Exploration
The propellant needed for space explorations runs in the thousands, while paying to get the craft into orbit costs millions! In the second installment of three, two activities explore laws of conservation of energy and momentum. Using...
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Around the Sun We Go
Sixth graders complete a short survey on the relationship between the Earth and the Sun. In groups, they participate in an experiment in which they test the angle of the Earth and compare it to the sun. To end the lesson, they discuss...
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Investigating the Dynamic Martian Polar Caps
Pupils download NASA Hubble Space Telescope images of the Martian polar ice caps in summer and winter, and measure and compare various images of the changing Martian and Earth polar ice caps.
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Surface Air Temperature Trends of the Caribbean
Students investigate the seasonal changes to sea surface and near-surface air temperatures near the equator. They use actual satellite data to track and graph the differences in air and sea temperatures during different seasons in the...
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Cloudy vs. Clear
Students analyze line plots. In this weather lesson using real NASA data, students discuss how weather affects the way the Earth is heated by comparing different line plots.
Curated OER
Learning Lesson: The Shadow Knows I
Students examine the elevation of the sun to discover the changes in seasons. They observe and measure the length of their shadow. They compare this measurement to one taken four months later.
Curated OER
Measuring the Diameter of the Sun
Ninth graders study the sun and its distance from Earth. In this Sun's diameter lesson students examine how measurement data permits accurate measurement of the sun's diameter.