ESCOLA SECUNDÁRIA DE MIRAFLORES – Physics And Chemistry 7th grade
Teacher: Paula Furtado
Title: Does the Sun rotate?
Description: Everyday we observe the apparent motion of the Sun,
which we know it is a consequence of the Earth’s rotation movement,
but how can we know if the Sun has a rotation movement as well?
Galileo was the first to conclude that the Sun rotates, through the
indirect observation of the sunspots. How can children become Galileo
during their classes?
Keywords: Sun, sunspots, rotation
Educational Data
Types of learning resources (Inquiry-Based Teaching, Project Based
Learning, exercise, experiment, simulation)
Ages:12 years old
1
Inquiry Steps
1 – The students observe the Sun’s photosphere through the
telescope.
2 – They register the existence of sunspots.
3 – However, how can they observe the sunspots throughout a week
without a telescope? They can do some web research …
2
They can use Nasa’s website SOHO http://soho.nascom.nasa.gov to
search for pictures along the week which will substitute the
observations
4 – They use the software Salsa J
http://www.euhou.net/index.php/salsaj-software-mainmenu
9/download-mainmenu-10 to gather the pictures and make a shortvideo that will show the Sun’s rotation
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