Curated OER
What Goes Up Must Come Down!!
Fifth graders look at actual sunrise and sunset times for their hometown to determine a pattern in the amount of daylight. They collect their data in Excel and create a chart to help them identify the pattern, then write an explanation...
Curated OER
Arctic Days Record Sheet
In this sunlight worksheet, learners record the amount of daylight, sunrise time, sunset time, and average temperatures for the 21st day of each month. Students fill out 60 boxes total.
Curated OER
Sunrise-Sunset
Pupils gather data, make and share predictions about the time of sunrise ans sunset in their area. Patterns are analyzed and shared with students from other areas.
Curated OER
Sunrise, Sunset: Apparent Motion of the Sun
Students discuss the meaning of a day and what happens to the sun as it turns to night. Then they go outside and draw the view in front of them, paying close attention to the location of the sun. Every hour they return and chart the...
Curated OER
Sunrise/Sunset
Students apply data from a weather-related website to predict patterns in the sunrise and sunset.
Curated OER
It's Time to Make Time!
Students explore the evolution of time measurement, and explain the relationship of sunrise/sunset to length of daylight. They collect data and calculations to determine length of daylight during a given day.
Curated OER
Time Zones
In this time zones worksheet, students are given a map of the Earth indicating the time zones, the prime meridian and the international date line. Students answer 5 questions about solar occurrences and determine when each would be seen...
Curated OER
Tracking Sunrise and Sunset
Students collect, record, and graph the sunrise and sunset times. They explain how the relationship between the tilt of Earth's axis and its yearly orbit around the sun produces the seasons.
Curated OER
Sunrise and Sunset - Graph of Daily Solar Radiation
Students use a graph of daily solar radiation to determine the times of sunrise and sunset. They also compare how sunrise, sunset, and the length of the day changes with latitude and longitude.
Curated OER
DASH Sunrise and Sunset/ Seasons Chart
Second graders rotate as the person to enter the information of sunrise and sunset into a spreadsheet. The teacher also demonstrates how to convert the spreadsheet into a chart.
Curated OER
Time Zones in the United States
Eighth graders explore how to use the time zones in the United States and internationally. They use elapsed time to solve problems. Students calculate the time in various places in the United States. They discuss the 6 time zones in the...
Curated OER
Time and Time Again
Students analyze the effects of time zone differences on how we function as a global community, focusing particularly on the turn of the millennium as a way for students to calculate time zone differences.
National Wildlife Federation
Summer Midnight Sun
Sunlight hours and climate have a clear connection. Young researchers collect data about the sunrise and sunset times in an Arctic climate as well as the average temperatures. They then graph their data to make connections between the...
Curated OER
The Earth's Rotation
Students see a model of a globe to watch the Earth rotate. In this Earth lesson, students rotate the globe and shine a flashlight to see where the sun shines and how it rises and sets. They create a diagram and explain day and night in...
Curated OER
Tell Time With Your Feet
Students discover what the latitude and longitude of their location is. They start walking and measure their shadow. They fill in a chart to discover the approximate time.
Curated OER
Measure the Earth's Circumference
Students explore geometry by conducting a science experiment. In this circumference measurement lesson plan, students review the Greek geographer Eratosthenes who first discovered the circumference of our planet. Students utilize...
Space Awareness
Day and Night in the World
How do different parts of the world experience day and night? Introduce scholars to the concept of global citizenship while teaching about animal behavior with discussion of nocturnal and diurnal animals. Then, learners complete...
Curated OER
Astronomy: Picture Time
Students investigate how to tell time by observing the placement of objects in the sky. Researching on the Internet, they locate the time for sunrise and sunset, the time the full moon rises, and the difference between clock and solar...
Curated OER
Sun Path: Interactive On-line Mac or PC
Students use SunPath in the yearly mode to investigate seasonal changes in sunrise, sunset, length of day and sun altitude at their own latitude. Sun Path JAVA applet uses equations for a spherical Earth to calculate the sunrise and...
PHET
AM Radio Ionosphere Station
Tune in! Young scientists use an AM radio at home to monitor solar output. The long-term project would be ideal in a flipped classroom or as an out-of-class project.
Curated OER
The Earth Moves Around the Sun
Students demonstrate that the movement of the sun causes shadows which were used as the first indicators of telling time.
Curated OER
The Case of the Mysterious Red Light
Students investigate why some sunrises and sunsets are unusually bright red.
Curated OER
Sunrise and Sunset
Students utilize a Mesonet daily solar radiation to determine the times of sunrise and sunset and the length of the day. They describe how sunrise and sunset change with latitude and longitude and how the length of the day changes with...
Curated OER
Why is the Sky Blue?
Students explore diffusion or scattering of light. In this physics instructional activity, students explain why the sky is blue and sunsets/sunrises are red.