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I found that the best way to explain to students why we have days and nights and seasons is to get out your trusty old flashlight, your globe, turn off all the lights and put on a show! This is a clear and visual way that they can see the light from the "sun" hitting the earth. Days and nights are actually pretty easy for them to understand. Seasons on the other hand is a little harder. Using the same globe and flashlight you can model a mock year with the rotating earth revolving around the sun. They can see how the tilt of the earth relates to how much exposure the northern hemisphere gets throughout the year. I also go on Discovery ed and show them the video models they have of days and nights and the seasons...but they go pretty quick. Doing both the in-class model and watching the video model helps. I also have the kids manipulate our classroom model to show various seasons
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Your post made me think of an idea. I remember going to get my car re-tinted and the salesperson demonstrated a new tint that was better at blocking the heat from the sun. So I put my hand under a lamp and then he put different tints between the lamp and my arm. Long story short I ended up buying the tint that blocked the heat better. Now what does that have to do with seasons. Well I was thinking of doing the same thing to demonstrate how when you are closer to the sun there is more heat and when their arm is further away from the light is not as hot. This is more concrete and I think and all students can understand that. Then when you relate that to why during winters it is colder and why it is warmer during the summer. Especially for students that lived in Hawaii all there lives and never experienced the seasons.
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I am attaching an article that shows a great way to teach students the reason for the seasons. It helps dispel the misconception that seasons depend on the earth's distance from the sun, rather than the real reason which is the earth's tilt toward the sun at certain times of the year. I hope this will help you explain the seasons concepts to your students.
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I think these activities would be good for me as well! Living in Hawaii, we do not get to experience the typical seasons. I lived in Oregon for a year but even there there's just a rainy season and a dry season. I think this is important for our students in Hawaii because they need to understand that our weather here is not typical. I want them to experience winter and fall but here we cannot.
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Tracey,
Take them on a field trip up to the top of Mauna Kea - it gives them a better idea of what winter might feel like!
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Nicole,
Another way I have used to demonstrate the relationship of earth/moon/sun and eclipses and seasons is to make the sun a light bulb hanging in the middle of the classroom, use yourself (and the students) as the earth, and a styrofoam ball mounted on a pencil as the moon. Rotating around is simple, and the shadows on the styrofoam ball are awesome at demonstrating how moon phases and eclipses work.
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These are all great examples on how to demonstrate seasons, eclipses, different temperate zones, etc. The materials involved, that you all mentioned, are very accessible, free or very inexpensive. I can always use material I have around the house or my classroom. I look forward to my introductory lesson on the solar system. Thanks!
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I love this idea Nicole!
Children would have so much fun because its not everyday their in a pitch black learning environment. Doing something like this would be very memorable for the children.When looking back, an activity like this is what students will refer to when trying to remember why we have day and night, not something they read in the textbook!
Fabulous idea!
Ali
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I just experimented with the flashlight and globe this week to teach about day and night. I highlighted certain places on the globe by magnifying Maui, Italy, South Africa, China, and New York City. I printed out larger pictures of each place and stuck it on the globe, so students could easily identify where they were. Then we talked about what time of day it was in each place. Then we discussed how it looks like the sun orbits the earth, but in reality, the sun is stationary and the earth rotates everyday. I think they could identify with that after seeing the flashlight stationary and the earth spin.
It worked out great because the lesson fell near Halloween and the students loved having the lights off!
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I like reading about the different ways other teachers have taught about the Sun, Moon and Earth. I'm currently doing the SciGuide on the topic and found some really good interactive videos to use in class. I started my unit off by also using the globe, a styrofoam "Moon", and the light from my Elmo camera as the "Sun". Turning off all the lights, closing the doors, and closing all the windows really made the lesson hit home! While I demonstrated the model for the class, I went through slides that depict the different phases of the moon. I'll attach my powerpoint. Credit for images go to NASA and Discovery Education.
My second lesson involved 6 different stations with pictures or real items that they could manipulate and students were to write questions and comments at each station. The 6 stations included 1) NASA calendar with the moon phases, 2) Tides, Moonrise and sunrise with an image of Hawaii from the local newspaper, 3) A Hawaiian Moon Calendar with notes for Fishing and Farming depending on the phase of the Moon, 4) A model of the Earth (styrofoam ball) and Moon (marble) which showed that the same side of the Moon faces earth as it rotates around the Earth, 5) A large Office Max box in which I made an interactive model of the Sun, Earth, and Moon complete with stick-on LED floodlight for the Sun, taped marble Moon, and styrofoam moon which students could twirl to see the phases of the Moon (concept of one month), and 6) a diagram of the moon revolving the Earth, showing only half of the Earth and half of the Moon are reflecting the Sun's light. I got a lot of awesome questions and comments out of the students that can steer my future lessons on this topic.
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