Space innovators
View Sequence overviewStudents will:
- explore and investigate what causes day and night.
- determine that the anti-clockwise revolution of the earth causes day and night.
- consider the impact this has on different parts of Australia and the world.
Students will represent their understanding as they:
- contribute to discussions about the causes of the varying length of day and night.
- represent how the revolving of the earth causes different locations to experience sunrise/sunset at different times.
In this lesson, assessment is formative.
Feedback might focus on:
- how students model the orbit and rotation of the Sun and Earth.
- the conclusions that students draw from this modelling/simulation.
Class science journal (digital or hard-copy)
For the Sun/shadow stick observation (note that this is best completed on a sunny day):
- Large sheet of white paper
- A stick/skewer to cast a shadow
- A compass (a compass on a phone/tablet is fine)
- Markers
Equipment to access suggested websites and view images
Optional: a strong lamp to model the Sun’s light
A ball to represent the Earth
A cut out of a map of Australia, available on the Map of Australia Resource sheet. Resize the map appropriately for the ball you have selected to represent Earth before printing and cutting it out.
Demonstration copy of the Sunrise sunset Resource sheet
Optional: Demonstration copy of the Earth from space Resource sheet
Optional: a strong lamp or torch to model the Sun’s light
A ball to represent Earth
Cut out of a map of Australia
Individual science journal (digital or hard-copy)
Sunrise sunset Resource sheet
Lesson
Re-orient
Using the TWLH chart, refer to any questions or comments about day and night and their causes.
The Inquire phase allows students to cycle progressively and with increasing complexity through the key science ideas related to the core concepts. Each Inquire cycle is divided into three teaching and learning routines that allow students to systematically build their knowledge and skills in science and incorporate this into their current understanding of the world.
When designing a teaching sequence, it is important to consider the knowledge and skills that students will need in the final Act phase. Consider what the students already know and identify the steps that need to be taken to reach the level required. How could you facilitate students’ understanding at each step? What investigations could be designed to build the skills at each step?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkIdentifying and constructing questions is the creative driver of the inquiry process. It allows students to explore what they know and how they know it. During the Inquire phase of the LIA Framework, the Question routine allows for past activities to be reviewed and to set the scene for the investigation that students will undertake. The use of effective questioning techniques can influence students’ view and interpretation of upcoming content, open them to exploration and link to their current interests and science capital.
When designing a teaching sequence, it is important to spend some time considering the mindset of students at the start of each Inquire phase. What do you want students to be thinking about, what do they already know and what is the best way for them to approach the task? What might tap into their curiosity?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkObservations about day and night
An observation to take place over the course of a school day
Explain to students that you will undertake an observation of the location of the sun over the course of a school day, using a shadow stick. Note that this is best done on a sunny day.
On a large sheet of white paper, draw a horizontal line and mark its ends with "E" and "W". Take the paper outside and lay it on the ground in a location that will be in full sun for most of the school day. Using a compass, position the paper so that the "E" and "W" points are pointing east and west. Use blu-tac to attach a stick, skewer or chopstick in the centre of the line at a 90° angle.
Mark the position of the shadow created by the stick at regular intervals throughout the day. You might also take photographs of the shadows to show their movement over the course of the day. The data collected will be examined and discussed as part of the Integrate routine of this lesson.
Ask students to define and describe day and night by identifying different times throughout the day (for example 9am, 1:30pm, 7pm, 12am) and detailing:
- what they, and others, might be doing at that time of the day.
- if light from the Sun can be seen at that time.
- where the Sun is.
For example:
| Time | What is happening at that time |
|---|---|
| 9am | It is light. You can see the sun. You don’t need the lights on. School begins. People are at work. |
| 2pm | It is light. You can see the sun. You don't need the lights on. It might be hotter than it was in the morning. Lunchtime is finishing. |
| 6:30pm | In summer it is still light and you can still see the sun. In winter it is already dark and you can see the moon. You might need to turn lights on to be able to see. People are cooking or eating dinner. People are getting home from work. |
| 11pm | It is dark. The moon can be seen. You need to turn lights on to be able to see. Lots of people are in bed. Some people are working. |
Pose the question: What causes day and night?
The Inquire phase allows students to cycle progressively and with increasing complexity through the key science ideas related to the core concepts. Each Inquire cycle is divided into three teaching and learning routines that allow students to systematically build their knowledge and skills in science and incorporate this into their current understanding of the world.
When designing a teaching sequence, it is important to consider the knowledge and skills that students will need in the final Act phase. Consider what the students already know and identify the steps that need to be taken to reach the level required. How could you facilitate students’ understanding at each step? What investigations could be designed to build the skills at each step?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkThe Investigate routine provides students with an opportunity to explore the key ideas of science, to plan and conduct an investigation, and to gather and record data. The investigations are designed to systematically develop content knowledge and skills through increasingly complex processes of structured inquiry, guided inquiry and open inquiry approaches. Students are encouraged to process data to identify trends and patterns and link them to the real-world context of the teaching sequence.
When designing a teaching sequence, consider the diagnostic assessment (Launch phase) that identified the alternative conceptions that students held. Are there activities that challenge these ideas and provide openings for discussion? What content knowledge and skills do students need to be able to complete the final (Act phase) task? How could you systematically build these through the investigation routines? Are there opportunities to build students’ understanding and skills in the science inquiry processes through the successive investigations?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkModelling day and night
Darken the room and place a single light source in the centre of the room to represent the Sun. Role-play day and night with students by asking them to face towards the light (day) and away from the light (night). Remind students not to look directly into the light source.
This role-play might also be replicated in collaborative teams using a torch. One student holds a torch to represent the Sun. Holding the torch horizontally they should point it towards another student representing the Earth (taking care not to shine it directly into students' eyes).
Discuss the role-play and how students moved to face towards and away from the light. Also discuss the role-play as a form of scientific model, created in 3D.
- What was the main difference you saw/experienced when facing towards and away from the light?
- How did you move your body when you changed positions?
- What was representing the Sun?
- What was representing the Earth?
- What did the model allow us to experience?
- When we were ‘facing’ the Sun we experienced day, and when we were turned away from the Sun we experienced night.
- What were the limitations of the model?
- For example, the light source may not have been able to send out 360° light waves, there was no or little heat to accompany the light (making it unlike the Sun), students’ bodies are not the same shape as the Earth, the model doesn’t provide a full explanation of what causes day and night.
- Why do you think scientists might call this a 3D model?
- What does 3D mean?
- 3 dimensions—height, width and length. Real objects are 3 dimensional.
- What does 2D mean?
- 2 dimensions—length and width. Flat images are 2 dimensional.
- What would be different if we tried to model the same thing in 2D?
- Is this model using an ‘Earth’ view or an ‘Astronaut’ view?
- When the student is taking the role of Earth in the model they are looking at the light as if it is the sun, and viewing how they would from Earth. The student holding the torch to represent the Sun (and any observers) are actually experiencing the ‘Astronaut’' view, as they can see what is happening from space.
Optional: Use the Earth from space Resource sheet to view a gallery of images that show Earth as it would be viewed from space. Compare it to a flat 2D map of the Earth (noting that the images are also 2D), and discuss how and why these maps are different. Point out the different continents that might be visible in the images, including Australia. You might also look at a globe to compare the flat 2D images to a 3D model.
Display a 2D map of Australia and ask students to identify the approximate location of their school. Ask them to identify the location of Sydney and Perth and discuss how Sydney is on the east coast of Australia and Perth is on the west coast. You might use Google Maps or a similar tool to view the relevant locations in an interactive way. Alternatively, students might locate these themselves in groups, before a class discussion.
Create an example 3D model for students with a small, cut-out map of Australia, with Sydney and Perth marked on it, stuck to a basketball or similar. Discuss how the basketball is a 3D model (sphere) of the Earth. Note that the map of Australia is 2D, as it is flat, but it will suffice for the purposes of the model.
In teams, students create their own 3D models by attaching a cut-out map of Australia to a ball.
Darken the room, and in collaborative teams, students model the following scenarios using their model of the Earth and a strong lamp or torch to represent the Sun's light:
- daytime in both Perth and Sydney.
- daytime in Sydney and nighttime in Perth.
- nighttime in Sydney and daytime in Perth.
Note: Sydney and Perth have been selected for this model as they are the two major Australian cities with the closest latitude. However, any locations on the east coast versus the west coast of Australia will suffice. Locations may be changed to better suit your context.
The Inquire phase allows students to cycle progressively and with increasing complexity through the key science ideas related to the core concepts. Each Inquire cycle is divided into three teaching and learning routines that allow students to systematically build their knowledge and skills in science and incorporate this into their current understanding of the world.
When designing a teaching sequence, it is important to consider the knowledge and skills that students will need in the final Act phase. Consider what the students already know and identify the steps that need to be taken to reach the level required. How could you facilitate students’ understanding at each step? What investigations could be designed to build the skills at each step?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkFollowing an investigation, the Integrate routine provides time and space for data to be evaluated and insights to be synthesized. It reveals new insights, consolidates and refines representations, generalises context and broadens students’ perspectives. It allows student thinking to become visible and opens formative feedback opportunities. It may also lead to further questions being asked, allowing the Inquire phase to start again.
When designing a teaching sequence, consider the diagnostic assessment that was undertaken during the Launch phase. Consider if alternative conceptions could be used as a jumping off point to discussions. How could students represent their learning in a way that would support formative feedback opportunities? Could small summative assessment occur at different stages in the teaching sequence?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkHow does the Earth move?
Teams share what they found when working with their 3D models.
- How was the ball positioned in relation to the sun when both cities were in daylight?
- How was the ball positioned in relation to the sun when both cities were receiving no light?
- Do you think we can show half of Australia receiving light and the other half of the Australia still being slightly dark? Can you model that?
- Did the direction (left or right) you turned the model affect which city received light first?
- When the model was turned towards the right (or clockwise) Perth would have received light first. When the model was turned towards the left (or anti-clockwise) Sydney would have received light first.
- What time of the day is it when we’re first receiving light?
- Sunrise.
- What's the opposite time of day to this?
- Sunset.
- Is it possible for both cities to receive the first light of the day/experience sunrise at the same time?
- How might we confirm which way the Earth is turning, and therefore which city receives light/experiences sunrise first?
- Is the Sun moving, or are we/Australia moving?
- In the morning, is the Sun coming up, or are we turning towards the Sun? Why do you think that? Can you show me on your model?
Remind students about the observations/recordings/images they took to track the movement of shadows over the course of day. Explain that by working out the change in direction of these shadows, they can figure out which way the Earth is turning.
Discuss the data collected and draw conclusions from it.
- When shadows are formed, does the shadow fall towards the light source, or does in fall in the opposite direction to the light source?
- Shadows fall in the opposite direction to the light source.
- Over the course of the day, did the shadows we marked move from east to west or west to east?
- The shadows moved from closer to west, to towards east as the day moved on.
- What do you think that might tell us?
- Because shadows are cast in the opposite direction of the light source, in the morning when the shadows are pointing towards the west it must mean the sun is shining from the east. In the afternoon when the shadows are pointing east, the sunlight must be coming from the west.
- That means the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.
- Were the shadows moving clockwise, or anti-clockwise?
- The shadows were moving anti-clockwise.
- What must this confirm for us about the direction the Earth spins?
- It tells us that the earth spins in an anti-clockwise direction.
Use one of the 3D models (ball with the map of Australia attached) to show that in this model, the east coast of Australia receives light first, before it gradually moves across all of Australia. Also, discuss how this means that the east coast also moves into night first, as the shadow reaches it first.
Introduce the term ‘rotates’ as the term typically used to describe the spinning movement of the Earth.
Students use the Sunrise sunset Resource sheet to represent what they observed using 3D models on a 2D model. Support students to do this by comparing this view to what an astronaut might be able to see from space (Astronaut view) if they were observing sunrise over Australia.
Discuss other places in the world and how the people on the other side of the Earth experience ‘opposite’ times as compared to people in Australia—when we are facing the Sun and experiencing ‘day’, they are facing away from the Sun and experiencing ‘night’, and vice versa. Demonstrate this by placing stickers or small figures on a part of the ball that corresponds approximately to the location of another country in relation to Australia. Select locations to explore that students may have, for example, travelled to or where they may have relatives.
Ask students to identify if they know how long it takes for the Earth to rotate once, going through a cycle of day and night. Students may already have identified that a day takes 24 hours.
Either as a class or independently, construct a sentence to explicitly identify that it takes (approximately) 24 hours for the Earth to rotate, which is why days are 24 hours long.
Review the original question posed, What causes day and night?, and write a sentence to answer the question.
Optional: Use the ‘world clock’ feature available on mobile devices or a world clock website to explore the current time/date at various locations around the world.
Optional: Discuss 24-hour time.
Reflect on the lesson
You might:
- add relevant terms to the class word wall or glossary.
- add to the L and H columns of the TWLH chart.
- consider and discuss the importance of using models in science to help study and understand phenomena we cannot ‘touch’ or see easily, and why it is valuable to learn about the Earth, Sun, Moon, and space.
The direction of Earth’s rotation
How can we use shadows as evidence of the direction that the Earth rotates?
The Sun appears to rise in the East and set in the West because the Earth rotates anti-clockwise on its axis when viewed from the North Pole.
In the morning and evening the sun is low on the horizon and casts longer shadows.
Because shadows are cast in the opposite direction of the light source, in the early morning, as the Sun's light travels from an easterly direction, shadows will be cast towards the west.
In the late afternoon, as the Sun's light travels from a westerly direction, shadows will point eastwards.
Around midday, when the Sun is directly overhead, people and objects cast small, short shadows.
Although the Sun appears to move across the sky from East to West during the day, almost all of the Sun's apparent motion across the sky comes from the rotation of the Earth. It is the spinning of the Earth on its axis that causes the shadows to move and creates the impression of the Sun moving across the sky.
The Sun appears to rise in the East and set in the West because the Earth rotates anti-clockwise on its axis when viewed from the North Pole.
In the morning and evening the sun is low on the horizon and casts longer shadows.
Because shadows are cast in the opposite direction of the light source, in the early morning, as the Sun's light travels from an easterly direction, shadows will be cast towards the west.
In the late afternoon, as the Sun's light travels from a westerly direction, shadows will point eastwards.
Around midday, when the Sun is directly overhead, people and objects cast small, short shadows.
Although the Sun appears to move across the sky from East to West during the day, almost all of the Sun's apparent motion across the sky comes from the rotation of the Earth. It is the spinning of the Earth on its axis that causes the shadows to move and creates the impression of the Sun moving across the sky.