Sundials: Observing and Using Shadows

What causes a shadow to appear? Have kindergartners and first graders explore shadows with a fun science activity. After reading a short paragraph about light sources, they draw a shadow for a little girl based on the location of the...

Can people really measure time just by using the sun? Scholars venture outside on a nice, sunny day to build sundials and learn how people measured time 600 years ago. The class builds two different sundials while gaining practice with...

Why does it look like there is a man on the moon? Why does the moon look different every night? These are the focus questions of a lesson that prompts class members to observe and record the nightly changes of Earth's natural satellite.

Students experiment with light and shadow. In this light lesson, students look at the relationship between shadows and light. They experiment with light source, shadow size, transparent objects and reflective objects. 

Exactly what do groundhogs know about weather? Not as much as your science students will after completing these lessons and activities that cover everything from the earth's rotation and the creation of shadows, to cloud...

Find out why your shadow looks different at various times of the day with a short earth science video. Young scientists learn about what a shadow is, why it grows longer or shorter over the course of a day, and why it points in different...

Who needs a compass to find cardinal directions? Just place a stick in the ground and record the movement of its shadow over the course of a day. Then, measure the shadow lengths in order to determine a north-south line. A simple...

Students trace shadows. In this light and shadows lesson, students conduct an experiment to determine what a shadow is and what is necessary to make a shadow. Students observe how shadows change as well as write and draw shadows in their...

Students collect and record data during experimentation on how light affects shadows. They demonstrate how distance affects the size of a shadow. They practice with different materials cast shadows.

Students create their own sundial and explore how to read it.