Reasons for the Seasons Inquiry

1. Reasons for the Seasons Inquiry

2. Using the diagram below, Write down why you think the Earth has seasons What season is it in Darien? What month is shown? Any other info you know?

3. Station 1: Seasons Earth and Sun Interactions throughout the year Materials: 1 small globe/ball with a pin locating north pole, 1 light, 1 large globe for reference, 1 placemat activity, 1 large washer, sponge.

4. Station 1: Part 1 • 1. Look at the mini-globe. Point out the North Pole, the South Pole, equator, Tropic of Cancer, Tropic of Capricorn. • 2. Place the sun bulb on the sun diagram in the middle of placement and turn it on. • 3. Put the washer at position A. • 4. Balance the earth ball on the washer with the north pole pointing directly at the ceiling. • 5. You may wish to tape the ball to the washer with a very small loop of tape on the underside of the globe.

5. 6. Observe the light acting upon the globe, paying particular attention to the differences. • 7. In your notebook, record what you notice and what you wonder. You may wish to draw illustrations to show what you observe. Use different colors of marker to represent different intensities of light. • 8. Move the globe and washer unit through points B, C and D. At each point, stop and observe the interaction of the light and earth as you did at point A. Be sure to record what you notice and what you wonder and observations in your notebook.

6. Station 1: Part 2 • Notice the star labeled “Polaris” on the front wall of the classroom. Throughout this activity, the North Pole of your Earth should point towards Polaris. • Repeat steps 1 and 2 from 1st Exploration, being sure to point the north pole at Polaris even as the globe moves through positions A, B, C, and D. what do you notice and wonder? You may wish to briefly point the pole back at the ceiling to compare the light effects.

7. Seasons Station 2 • Heat and Light Grid Interactive Demonstration • Materials: 1 mini-globe ball, 1 real globe for reference, 1 graph paper grid on transparency, 1 flashlight (teacher will also have 1 set of materials). • Instructions: • 1. Shine the flashlight through the plastic grid onto the earth. • 2. In your notebook, record what you notice and what you wonder. Draw illustrations showing the shapes of the squares. You may use different colors to show different intensities of light. • 3. Take a moment to notice where key parts of the globe are located (poles, equator, latitude lines). • 4. Try shining the light grid onto key parts and observe the sizes and intensities of the light squares on all the key parts. • Note what you notice and what you wonder in your lab notebook.

8. Station 3: Around the World • Materials: photos of the sun moving across the sky on different days of the year. (see next page) • Video • Study each of the photos in the next slides • What do you notice, wonder about? • Record your thoughts in your notebook.

9. Photo 1 http://eaae-astronomy.org Sun paths in Turku, Finland in January– April photographed with two curved-back pinhole cameras around the 20th of every month. Credit: SakariEkko.

10. Photo 2 http://spaceweather.com PhilippusLansbergen Observatory in Middleberg Netherlands. Pinhole camera photograph of the sky from Decemeber 2012 through June 2013

11. Photo 3 http://astrobob.areavoices.com Sun at noon in the northern hemisphere

12. Photo 4 http://ganymede.nmsu.edu Summertime north of the Arctic Circle

13. Photo 5 December 21 Sun path - 8 images taken 30 minutes apart in Fairbanks, Alaska. Photo from the University of Alaska

14. Photo 6