Lessons and Activities

These resources offer many opportunities for classroom activities and demonstrations that center on the relationship between the earth and the sun.

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The Sun and the Earth http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/07/g35/seasons.html

This lesson plan helps students understand how the relationship between the Earth and the Sun affects the seasons. Students will describe the differences between the four seasons, diagram the Earth and Sun during different seasons; use a map activity; and write journal entries from the points of view of people living in different parts of the world. MSP full record

A Reason for the Season http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/activities/07/season.html

This web site, part of National Geographic's Xpeditions Hall, provides lesson plans and activities. Using images and text, students learn why the seasons occur, how the seasons affect different animals, and how ancient civilizations celebrated and explained the seasons. A short quiz tests knowledge of the solstices and equinoxes. MSP full record

The Earth's Orbit http://hea-www.harvard.edu/ECT/the_book/Chap2/Chapter2.html

These 11 activities are from the online book Eyes on the Sky, Feet on the Ground, which provides explorations into astronomy as a classroom tool for learning how to theorize, experiment, and analyze data. The activities begin simply by trying to quantify the observation that it is colder in the winter and end by measuring the tilt of the earth. The activities are fully illustrated and contain detailed, step-by-step instructions as well as suggested discussion topics. MSP full record

The Four Seasons http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/lessons.cfm?DocID=256

In this activity, students learn that it is the tilt of earth's axis that causes the seasons. This resource is part of the Science NetLinks. MSP full record

Teachers' Domain: Seasons on Earth http://www.teachersdomain.org/6-8/sci/ess/earthsys/lp_seasons/index.html

This lesson will reinforce the concept that earth's seasons result from a combination of its orbit around the sun and the tilt of its axis, and help to dispel two popular misconceptions of what causes the seasons. Students will use class discussion, activities, and videos. They will also study satellite data showing seasonal changes of plant life and explore an example of long-term natural climate change. MSP full record

Tilt-A-World http://hea-www.harvard.edu/ECT/Tilt/tilt.html#intro

The effect of the tilt of the earth on the seasons is emphasized in this lesson from Everyday Classroom Tools. MSP full record

Seasons and Shadows: Investigate How Shadows Shift Throughout the Year http://www.exploratorium.edu/ancientobs/chaco/HTML/TG-shadows.html

In this activity, students can see how the sun's tilt on its axis changes the length of shadows. MSP full record

Modeling the Seasons http://www.exploratorium.edu/ancientobs/chaco/HTML/TG-seasons.html

This activity provides instructions for students to model the seasons with their own earth globes. After students have modeled four dates (December 21, March 21, June 21, and September 21), they will have modeled a year, or one earth revolution around the sun. MSP full record

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Copyright June 2007 — The Ohio State University. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0424671. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.