EmmatheExplorer2 First Grade Lesson Plan

Lesson Title:  Patterns of the Sun and Moon                                      Grade Level: first

Big Idea

It is essential for students to know that there are features that can be found in the day sky and in the night sky.

State Standard/s

Indicator 1.3.1: Compare the features of the day and night sky.

Standard 1-3: The student will demonstrate an understanding of the features of the sky and the patterns of the Sun and the Moon. (Earth Science)

Connection to SC Curriculum Support Document

1.3.1: Compare the features of the day and night sky.

Focus Questions

       How Special Is Our Sun?

     What do we see in the sky from the Earth?

   What might I see in the day and nighttime skies?

Prerequisite Knowledge and Skills A student must already know and be able to…

Previous/Future knowledge: This is the first time that students have been introduced to features of the day and night sky. This is a foundational concept that will be further developed in 4th grade (4-3.5) when students explain how day and night occur.

Overview of Lesson

·       Young children have many misconceptions about the objects in the sky and day and night due to the lack of concrete experiences available and the abstractness of the concepts. They believe such things as:

o   The moon only “comes out” at night.

o   The sun “goes away” when the moon is in the sky.

o   All stars are the same size.

This lesson furthers the students understanding of objects in the sky.

Assessment Procedures

●       How did you assess this unit?

●       Attach student work as Appendices (i.e., rubric for group work, quizzes, tests, concept maps, etc.).

Lesson Preparation

·       Materials

·       Chart paper for web

·       Markers

Procedures

1.    Display the web on chart paper and pose the focus question to the children. Allow the children to share their ideas.

2.    As the children name objects seen in the sky, place labels on the web.

3.    Once the web is complete, discuss each object as to whether it is a “daytime” object or a “nighttime” object.

4.    Using an orange or red marker for day and a blue or black marker for night, have a student come to the chart and circle the object with the correct color marker.

5.    Continue until all objects have been circled.

Resources

Star-Lab

SC support documents

Differentiated Instruction

Extend

1.    Ask the students if any of the objects can be seen in both the nighttime and daytime sky. Circle these with both colors.

2.    Have the children draw one of the objects from the web on a sheet of paper. Ask them to label their drawings.

3.    Remove the web from sight.

4.    Ask the children to help you sort the drawings by nighttime sky objects, daytime sky object or both. (This could be done in a Venn diagram.)

Star-Lab

Webquest 3 Task III and Task IV

Task III

1.  Will your mission be manned or robotic?
The mission will be manned by retired educators only.
2.  Are you landing on the surface?
Yes, the seeds will be grown at Rima Messier.  The coordinates are 0 degrees 55'59.72 S, and 45 degrees, 04'20.64 E.  Elevation -1602m
3.  Why did you choose this landing site?
It is at a lower elevation and it is on the light side of the moon.
4.  What goals do you hope to achieve?
To prove or disprove that you can grow hydroponics in a controlled environment on the moon.  Using artificial light and an aquarium. 
To set up a lab on the moon surface that will enable plant experiments to take place.  A place where educators can share their expertise. 
To also create a possible field trip site for schools around the world.
5.  What kinds of instruments will you be using?
Lamps, rulers, prefabricated greenhouse lab built by an international team of educators. 
6.  Will you need an orbiter to communicate with Earth or as a part of your science investigation?  If so how will this work?
An orbiter will be launched to orbit the moon and launch communications with the International Space Station and Earth to allow students to ask questions in a real time learning environment. 
7.  If you are conducting a manned mission, how will your astronauts survive on the surface?  will there be a  full base or just a temporary lander?  What kinds of tasks will they be charged with when they reach the surface?
A full base will be established with all members of the team responsible for it's construction.  It would be in the shape of a large bubble.  It will house a green house lab to promote plant life.  Individual members would be in charge of communications, facilities and taking care of the experiments.  A lead teacher would be responsible for writing lessons for educators to use in classrooms around the world while teachers are completing the mission.
8.  Will you mission involve a return from the Moon?  If so, will it be samples or just the astronauts returning home?  If samples, what will happen to them when they are brought to the Earth?
Plants grown in the lab will be donated to schools around the world.  The returning crews will conduct seminars about their moon data to different school districts around the world. 

Task 4
Name your mission

The mission would be called:  EEE- Educators, Exploring, Excellence

Webquest 3 Task I and II

A.  If you knew nothing else about the Moon, what would you think of what you are seeing?


     I would think I was seeing a ball of light. 

B)  List at least three questions which come to mind.

1.  Why does the moon appear to be different colors during the year?
2.  Why does the moon have a ring around it?
3.  Does the  moon travel on the same path as the Earth?

Task 2
Luna 21
I chose this mission because of the data it collected.  It used a rover to collect images.
Apollo 14
Tree seeds orbited the Moon and returned to be planted on Earth.
Different forestry agencies received the seeds and were planted around the USA.

Webquest II Task#4

Figure 3 :Rontgen Satellite(ROSAT) X-Ray Image
1. What do you see?
I see light hitting one side of the moon and the other side is dark. The light is creating different hue of colors.
2.Why is part of it bright and part dark?
The part that is dark doesn't have light nor heat reflected on it.  The bright side does.

Figure 4:Very Large Array radio wave photo of the Moon
1.Which part of the Moon is the Sun shining on?  Why?
The sun is shinning on the red portion of the moon because the strongest radio waves are in red and the sun's energy rays only hit one side of the moon.

Figure 5: UV, Visible, Infrared Wavelengths
1.Compare and contrast these images. How are they similar or different?
Each photos of the moon has different wavelengths and the light hitting them are from different bands on the spectrograph.
UV light is when there are clearly exposure of the coolest places on the moon with two colors.
Mid Infrared displays the lowest points on the moon as different shades of red.
Near Infrared  allows many different colors to show.
2. What patterns do you see?
The different wavelengths of light reflecting on the moon allows the different elevations show up clearly.
3.What features are more or less visible in each frame?
The geographical feature are visible in each frame. The depths are more defined.
4. Can you see any benefits of using one type of light versus another? How?
Near infrared light wavelengths show more depths on the moon.  Infrared light makes it easier to see where are the craters are located on the moon.

Figure 6:Stacked Spectra
5. How are these stacked spectral images different from the other photos?
The stacked image are the result of layering of all the different wavelengths.  They put the photos together to present all the data. It makes the image much more clear and easier to  interpret.
6. Are the colors used the "real" colors of the Moon?
No
7.Why are there different colors?
There are different wavelengths which show different colors and depths.

Webquest 2 Task #3

Spectrum
The light hits the side of the CD disk and the disk reflects the different colors of the wavelengths. I noticed this happening after it rains to create a rainbow!

Webquest II Task #1 and Task #2

Task I
1.What is light and where does it come from?
Light is electromagnectic radiation that travels indefinitely if nothing interrupts its path.
Visible light is only part of the electromagnectic spectrum.
There are three different types of light continuous, emission, and absorption.
Contiunous spectrum is uninterrupted.
Emmission spectrum comes from a hot gas with distinct atomic characteristics.
Absorption spectrum is when light travels through a cold gas.
Task II So What?
A.
1. Which elements or compounds were you able to identify?
Magnesium, Iron, and  Sodium
2. Based on what you learned in Task#1 about how spectra are created, what do these spectra tells us about the Sun's composition? It's structure?

The sun is made up of a lot of Hydrogen. It also has Magnesium, sodium and Iron.  The spectrum data shows a lot of hydrogen.  The sun is largely made up of gases.  The sun is made up of mostly hot gases and the hot gases causes many different colors.
B.
Website not found.

Webquest I Task #6

Video 1
1.What is their conclusion?
You don not need wind to keep a flag moving. Less pressure has more movement.  They put  the flag in a vacuum so that there is no pressure.  The flag still will move without atmospheric pressure!
2. Scientifically, why do we get this effect in a vacuum?
Less pressure more more movement

Video 2
1. What pseudoscientific assumptions led to the development of this hoax theory?
Photos are taken in a studio because shadows are not parallel.
2.What real science proved/disproved it?
If he was standing in a shadow of or moon module we would not see him clearly. 
During the testing set, the light source was the sun. They turned off the lights to test the shadows. They used similiar cameras as used on the moon. Shadows are parallel on the recreation. The moon has regalith that reflects light which affects the photos taken on the moon.

Video 3
1. What scientific technique forms the basis of this video?
They bounced a laser off the retroreflectors left by Apollo 15.  They shot a laser to the moon and it reflected back. They went to New Mexico to send the laser.   The light returned exactly at the distance they expected and at the same intensity.