Featured Activities for 2002
K-3 -
Eye on the Sky-What Makes Shadows--Observing and Drawing
We are working to develop more engaging Sun-Earth Day material for the K-3
community. This year, we are creating a website containing activities
specifically for this audience. We will then feature the activities in our
next year's webcast, 2003-Live From the Aurora. In the meantime, we'd
appreciate any advance feedback you can provide, so please review the
activities we have posted on this site, and let us know what you think.
A good introduction to the Sun-Earth connection for you and your students
would be to watch the first ten minutes of our Sun-Earth Day webcast on
March 20, 2002. It's an explanation of the Lakota Equinox celebration, and
makes an easy, visually compelling introduction to the classroom activities
you can then do with your students. We recommend
"What Makes Shadows--Observing and Drawing,"
which gives students a chance to explore shadows
created by classmates. We also hope you will try the other activities on
that site! Please share with us any changes you make to the activities to
meet the needs of your classroom. Include information such as: the number of
students, their ages, and the amount of time taken to complete the
activities. Please send all correspondence to us via the web page section
called, "Want more information?," which can be found on the Sun-Earth Day
home page.
Thanks for your time and effort. Your feedback is valuable. We look forward
to the addition of the K-3 component in 2003 webcast!
3-5 -
The Rise and Fall of Daylight Hours
http://www.nsta.org/301
6-8 -
GEMS Activity-emailed to you
The "Days and Nights Around the World" activity is reproduced here with
permission from
the Great Explorations in Math and Science (GEMS) teacher's guide entitled
The Real Reasons
for Seasons: Sun-Earth Connections, for Grades 6-8. The GEMS Seasons guide was developed at
U.C. Berkeley's Lawrence Hall of Science, in partnership with the NASA Office of Space Science
Sun-Earth Connection Education Forum, and copyright is held by The Regents of the University
of California. The guide includes a series of eight classroom activities ("Days and Nights
Around the World" is the sixth activity) designed to help students arrive at a clear
understanding of the often misunderstood "reasons for the seasons" as they investigate
connections between the Sun and Earth. A CD-ROM with helpful resources, software programs,
and web links comes with the GEMS guide. There are now more than 70 GEMS guides and handbooks,
available from LHS GEMS, Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California, Berkeley
94720-5200. All GEMS units are tested in classrooms nationwide before publication. For
more information, visit the GEMS web site at
http://www.lhsgems.org or call (510)642-7771.
For a direct link to the Seasons guide and ordering information, go to:
http://www.lhsgems.org/GEMSSeasons.html
Seasonal Changes in Number of Hours of Daylight
03Seasonsweb.pdf (52 K)
Days and Nights Around the World: The Activity
seaslabbook14.pdf (12 K)
Data Sheet: Latitude and State/Country
seaslabbookpg15.pdf (8 K)
9-12 -
Telescopes in Education
The Telescopes in Education (TIE) program brings the opportunity to use a remotely
controlled telescope and charge-coupled device (CCD) camera in a real-time, hands-on,
interactive environment to students around the world. TIE enables students to increase
their knowledge of astronomy, astrophysics, and mathematics; improve their computer
literacy; and strengthen their critical thinking skills.
http://tie.jpl.nasa.gov
