Earth Quest — Outer Space to Inner Earth
School based activities
School based activities
The activities in the pages that follow complement the exhibits in the ‘Sub Surface’ and
‘Astronomy’ sections of Earth Quest – Outer Space to Inner Earth.
Activity 1: Post box activity
Aim
To allow students to revise what they already know about the Earth’s layers, earthquakes
and volcanoes.
What you need
•
•
•
Photocopies of the worksheet
5 boxes
scissors
What to do
1. Give each student a copy of the worksheet. Have each student fill in the sheet, and
stress that it is anonymous. At this stage the point of the activity is to find out what
students already know about the topic and the range of ideas that exist in the
classroom.
2. Set out the five post boxes on the front desk. Label the boxes: 1 to 5.
3. Students need to cut up their worksheet, and post their responses into the correct
box.
4. After all of the students have posted their responses, split the class into five
groups. Each group takes one of the post boxes and sorts the responses.
5. Instruct the students to sort the responses, but they are not to judge the answers.
They can bundle the ideas, and then see if there are some common ideas.
6. On a large piece of paper, have each group summarise the common ideas held by
the class for each point. Each group needs to report to the whole class about these
points.
7. These posters can then be placed on the walls and used for reflection throughout
the unit of work. Modifications should be made as the students extend their
knowledge.
http://museumvictoria.com.au/scienceworks/education/
12
Earth Quest — Outer Space to Inner Earth
School based activities
Worksheet: Post box activity
1. What is an earthquake?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
2. What causes earthquakes?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
3. What is at the centre of the Earth?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
4. Why do volcanoes erupt?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
5. Why should we learn about natural disasters?
http://museumvictoria.com.au/scienceworks/education/
13
Earth Quest — Outer Space to Inner Earth
School based activities
Activity 2: Earthquakes
Aim
In this activity students watch a short video of a scientist talking about how earthquakes
happen.
What you need
•
•
access to computer and the Internet, or
a DVD player and TV
What to do
1. Discuss with students what they already know about earthquakes. What are they?
How do earthquakes happen?
2. Show the students the short film of the Museum Victoria scientist, Dermot Henry,
speaking about earthquakes and how they happen (available online Feb 2009).
3. Show the clip to the students.
4. Have the students work in groups of three to talk about what new information they
heard, and what they found interesting. Then discuss as a whole class.
5. Ask the students what still remains unanswered. What would they like to find out
about earthquakes? Develop a classroom list of student questions on the topic of
earthquakes.
6. Next, ask how they could find out more. Have the students plan how they could find
out.
7. Each student group could be responsible for finding out a piece of information
about earthquakes and report back to the whole class, until all of the questions are
answered.
http://museumvictoria.com.au/scienceworks/education/
14
Earth Quest — Outer Space to Inner Earth
School based activities
Activity 3: Convection currents
Background information
The Earth’s crust is broken into about twelve major pieces called tectonic plates (a bit like
a cracked egg shell).
The tectonic plates join together like a three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle, with most ‘joins’
between plates fitting together on the ocean floor.
Tectonic plates are usually made of two parts:
1. Oceanic crust (which tends to be more dense) and
2. Continental crust (which tends to be less dense).
Tectonic plates can be 5 to 100 kilometres thick. Continents (such as Africa) are simply
very thick sections of tectonic plate—they are not separate from the tectonic plates.
Tectonic plates sit on extremely hot rock, which heats up and cools down to create
circulating convection currents. These currents are strong enough to gradually shift the
plates around over millions of years. The tectonic plates shift 2.5 to 7 centimetres per year
or 25 to 50 kilometres over one million years.
Aim
To assist students to understand how convection currents work to move the Earth’s
tectonic plates.
What you need
•
•
•
•
•
Full cream milk (room temperature)
Food dye – 4 colours
Plastic plates
Detergent
Lava lamp
What to do
1. Show the students the following animation of continental drift:
http://education.sdsc.edu/optiputer/flash/pangea_4.htm
2. Ask the students what causes the movement of the plates. Students could write it
down in their note book, or three main class theories could be written on the board.
3. Turn on the Lava Lamp (they usually take 30 minutes before they start working
properly).
4. Put students into groups of three. Each group receives a plate, some milk,
food dye and detergent.
5. Have the students pour a small amount of milk into the plate.
6. The students put three drops of each of the colours of food dye into four opposite
sides of the plate.
http://museumvictoria.com.au/scienceworks/education/
15
Earth Quest — Outer Space to Inner Earth
School based activities
7. The students squeeze a small amount of the detergent into the centre of the milk.
Watch what happens. (The food dye should move from the edges of the plate into
the centre of the plate and out to the edges again. The movement in this case is
driven by a chemical reaction between the fat molecules in the milk and the soap
molecules in the detergent. However, this activity simulates a convection current in
birds-eye-view).
8. Ask the class to describe what happened. How does this relate to the movement of
tectonic plates? How is this model similar to / different from the movement of
plates?
9. Look at the Lava Lamp. Ask the students to discuss with the person next to them
how the ‘lava’ is moving. Ask the students to give their ideas. Explain that the ‘lava’
moves because of changes in temperature.
Why does the lava move in a lava lamp?
The lava (wax) heats up when it is at the bottom, near the light (which is hot). The
lava becomes less dense, so it rises to the top. When it is at the top, it cools down
and becomes more dense, so it drops back down to the bottom of the lamp. The
process then continues.
10. Look again at the animation and ask the class how the plates move? How do the
two experiments help us to understand that the plates move by convection currents
in the Earth’s mantle?
Extra
Great animation on why earthquakes and volcanoes happen:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7533950.stm
http://museumvictoria.com.au/scienceworks/education/
16
Earth Quest — Outer Space to Inner Earth
School based activities
Activity 4: Moving continents with Slowmation
Aim
Students create an animation showing continents moving due to the movement of tectonic
plates. Slowmation (abbreviated from “Slow Animation” is a new but simplified form of stop
motion animation. An animation can be made in 2-3 hours.
What you need
•
•
•
•
•
•
Play dough, plasticine, coloured paper
White A3 paper (as background for the clip) – 1 per group
Digital cameras and tripod (1 per group is best)
Computers (with Movie Maker – standard with latest versions of Microsoft Office)
Microphones on each computer to record student’s narration
Information about plate tectonics
What to do
1. Explain to the students that they will be learning about how the continents have
moved over time. Explain to the students that they will be making a one minute
animation to show how Australia has moved in the past using a technique called
‘Slowmation’ (which is like Claymation – but does not take as long to produce).
2. Next, show the students some examples of ‘Slowmation’. This will give them an
idea of the kind of thing they will be making. Stress that they don’t need to have the
clip looking like a perfect movie, as they will have a limited time.
http://www.teachertube.com/search_result.php?search_id=slowmation&search_typ=search_videos
http://edserver1.uow.edu.au/slowmation/
1. Put students into groups of no more than four. To create their clips the students will
need to go through the following process:
a. Research plate tectonics
Allow students time in the library or in a computer room to research this area.
Here are two good websites:
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/geology/anim1.html
http://www.mnh.si.edu/earth/main_frames.html
b. Plan and story board ideas for the Slowmation clip
Give each student a copy of the planning sheet and talk through what they
need to do.
c. Make objects to be photographed, and photograph the clip
Hand out a copy of the instructions to each group. Each group should ideally
have a digital camera, tripod, and equipment to make their own clip.
d. Upload photographs to a computer and produce the clip using Windows
Movie Maker
To do this, each group will need a computer and access to Windows Movie
Maker, as well as the instructions.
e. Show other students the clip, and reflect on the experience
Ask the students how they felt about using this as a process to learn about
plate tectonics. Did they feel it was useful? Did they enjoy the process? What
could be done to make it better?
http://museumvictoria.com.au/scienceworks/education/
17
Earth Quest — Outer Space to Inner Earth
School based activities
Planning your Slowmation clip
1. What is the main message you want to get across in your clip?
_____________________________________________________________________
2. To get this message across, what do you need to make sure you include:
_____________________________________________________________________
3. Will you use a voice over or include text/subtitles in your clip to explain what is
happening?
Your clip should not be longer than one minute, for which you will need about 100
photos. Plan the sequence of events in your clip, using the squares below.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
4. What equipment will you need to do this?
_____________________________________________________________________
5. What tasks will each team member have?
_____________________________________________________________________
http://museumvictoria.com.au/scienceworks/education/
18
Earth Quest — Outer Space to Inner Earth
School based activities
How to construct a Slowmation
Instructions on how to construct a Slowmation on a PC using Windows Movie Maker
These instructions are used with the permission of Garry Hoban, Associate Professor of Science Education
and Teacher Education, University of Wollongong, Australia. Copyright 2007 © Garry Hoban. All rights
reserved.
http://edserver1.uow.edu.au/slowmation/docs/Instructions.pdf
(Acknowledgement to Stephen Keast, from Monash University, for his assistance with these instructions).
You can create clips using Windows Movie Maker. It usually comes free and installed with
Windows XP or Windows Vista. On a PC, Movie Maker is the movie making program and
Movie Player is the program used for playing videos.
™ A. Taking the photographs
1. Small movements are best! Demonstrate a simple animation first on some post-it notes
and flip them. Start small by making a simple slowmation.
2. Lay down a project sheet or butchers’ paper (which can be coloured) and build the
models on the floor in the horizontal plane with the camera mounted on a tripod looking
down at the models. Make sure the models are movable and not stuck to cardboard. You
can use any materials to create your slowmation: playdough, paper, pipe cleaners.
3. Make sure the image size of the camera is set on the SMALLEST SIZE such as
640 x 480 pixels. If you are using more than one camera for the one clip make sure that
they are set on the same photo size.
4. Take the photos moving the materials one small bit at a time. For example, a three
minute slowmation needs over 300 photos.
5. Minimise text and only label key concepts taking one photo which can be copied for a
static image.
6. Connect the camera to the computer and download the photos which should be
available from “My Computer”. Open the “removable disk” and copy the photos onto the
desktop and then disconnect the camera.
B. Using Windows Movie Maker
1. Click on “Start” at the bottom of the PC and click on the Windows Media Maker icon
which should open the program.
2. Go to Movie Tasks on the left hand side, then to “Import”, then click on “pictures”.
3. Locate folder with digital images and click on first image. Click “Ctrl + A” and then all to
select all. Click “Import” so that all the photos appear on the photoboard.
4. Go to Tools, then Options, then Advanced and choose picture duration at 0.500 and
the transition should be set at 0.25. Click “OK”.
5. Click on the first slide and then “Ctrl + A” to select all. Drag the photos down to the
storyboard.
6. The movie will appear in the “storyboard”. Play it by clicking the large arrow in the
animation.
7. If you want to show full screen, click “view” and then full screen.
http://museumvictoria.com.au/scienceworks/education/
19
Earth Quest — Outer Space to Inner Earth
School based activities
C. Making static images to suit a narration
1. Click on the relevant photo in the storyboard and then click “Ctrl + C” to copy and “Ctrl +
V” as many times as you need to keep the static image on the screen which is important
for the narration to be recorded later.
2. Use the arrows on the bottom right hand side of the computer to find the images that
you want to copy and do the same as above.
3. You can rewind the storyboard with “Ctrl + Q” and play the storyboard with “Ctrl + W”
4. You can delete any unwanted photos by clicking on them and pressing Delete.
5. You can add your own authentic photos or photos from Google Images by copy and
paste.
y D. Adding a narration
1. Slowmations need a narration or text but not both. It is advisable to write a script first to
get the best possible narration which should already have occurred in the storyboarding
phase.
2. Go into “Tools” and select “Narrate Timeline” or click on the microphone icon above
the storyboard. Make sure you click on “audio device” to select the microphone.
3. Ensure your microphone into your computer is working. Then click on “Start Narration”
and stop when necessary.
4. Make sure you save and name the file.
E. Saving the animation
1. You can save the project by clicking under “Publish to this computer” or “save to this
computer” under the Finish Movie heading. This saves the movie as a .wmv (window
media video) file which allows it to be shared, and opened by other computers.
2. Chose a movie location to suit your needs. You may be best to save it to ‘my
computer’. It must be saved as a .wmv to be uploaded to a web site or shared with others.
If you just “save” under the FILE menu within Movie Maker it becomes a .WMMV file which
cannot be transferred or uploaded.
http://museumvictoria.com.au/scienceworks/education/
20
Earth Quest — Outer Space to Inner Earth
School based activities
Activity 5: Volcanoes!
Aim
For students to explore why volcanoes erupt.
What you need
•
•
•
•
•
vinegar
bi-carbonate of soda
tissues
teaspoons
10 empty cream bottles (with a pop top lid, and washed)
What to do
1. Have the students write down their thoughts on why volcanoes explode or erupt
(or use their responses from the first activity).
2. Explain to the students that they are going to make a model of a volcano erupting
using the above equipment. Get the students to predict what will happen.
3. Put the students into small groups (according to how many cream bottles you
collected).
4. To make a model volcano put some vinegar into the cream bottle. Place 1
teaspoon of bi-carbonate of soda into a tissue. Then pull up the corners of the
tissue and twist it so that it forms a little ‘swag’ with the contents inside.
5. Go outside with these two items ready. This part is best done on a grassy area (as
there will be mess).
6. Have the students place the tissue with the bi-carbonate of soda inside into the
cream bottle. Put the lid on quickly, and give the bottle a little shake. Stand back!
(Make sure the students don’t stand over the experiment).
7. Observe – The students write down their observations of what they saw happen.
8. Explain – The students explain their observations. Was their prediction in line with
what they observed? If the two were different, how were they different?
http://museumvictoria.com.au/scienceworks/education/
21
Earth Quest — Outer Space to Inner Earth
School based activities
Activity 6: Lava flows
Aim
For students to explore different types of lava, and how it flows.
What you need
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
3 honey bottles (squeeze containers work best)
3 beakers (one filled with icy water, one with
water at room temperature and one with hot water)
teaspoons
plastic plates
stop watches
access to hot water
thermometers
What to do
1. Start by brainstorming with the students about what they already know about
volcanoes and lava. Is all lava the same? How might it be different?
2. Have the students find out a bit about different types of lava, and how the
temperature of lava affects its flow.
3. Put the students into groups of four. Explain to each group that they have honey,
beakers of water at different temperatures, plastic plates and stop watches. Explain
that the honey represents lava.
4. The students need to test whether temperature affects the flow rate of the honey.
Have each student group discuss how they might do this.
Hint: One way they could do this is by drawing a circle in the middle of each plate,
dropping the same amount of honey into the circle, and then timing how long it
takes the honey to spread beyond the circle. However, the students may come up
with a different way of testing this.
5. Discuss the testing method with each group to ensure that they are controlling for
all variables. Discuss with the students how they might record their results.
6. The students test the flow rate of the honey.
7. Discuss with the class their findings from their experiments. Did the temperature
affect the flow rate of the honey? Which flowed fastest, slowest? How are lava
flows affected by temperature? How might this impact on people living near
volcanoes? Is it ever safe to stand near flowing lava?
To see some real lava flows, students could look for videos of lava flows on an
Internet video search. They may find examples of the speeds at which different
lava travels.
http://museumvictoria.com.au/scienceworks/education/
22
Earth Quest — Outer Space to Inner Earth
School based activities
Activity 7: Ideas from Questacon
These activities from Questacon relate to the exhibits in the ‘Sub Surface’ section of
Earth Quest – Outer Space to Inner Earth.
Exhibits
Activity
Earthquake
Background Research
You are attempting the world record in building the tallest stack of playing cards.
You have a choice of building the stack in either San Francisco (United States) or
Tokyo (Japan). Both of these cities are prone to major and minor earth tremors,
and you must choose one or the other place. Which city would you choose to
attempt your record? Are you best to try in a city with larger, but infrequent
earthquakes, or a city with regular, much smaller earthquakes?
http://quake.usgs.gov/research/seismology/wg02/
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/faq/#pred
Tectonic
Plates
Activity
Cut up a globe of the Earth into major tectonic plate pieces (check second hand
stores for cheap, damaged globes). Try and piece the globe back together as a
three dimensional globe. Cut up 2D map of tectonic plates. See if you can put the
globe back together. Map of tectonic plates:
http://geology.about.com/library/graphics/crustalplates.gif
Fossil Finder
Activity
Place a small seashell in a ball of plasticine, allowing a small access hole to run
through the shell from the top to the bottom of the plasticine. You can make the
hole using a wooden skewer. Drop a little vinegar into a hole each day to dissolve
the shell and allow gases from the chemical reaction of the shell breakdown to
escape. This will be messy, so do it over a sink! Then, block one of the holes and
pour a little plaster of Paris into the plasticine to create a cast from the mould left
by part or all of the shell. Allow the plaster of Paris to set for a few days, then
remove the plasticine to see your ‘fossil’.
Background Research
How fossils form: http://museumvictoria.com.au/dinosaurs/sciprocess.html
How Deep?
Activity
Students use a globe of the Earth to find out where they should start digging in the
Northern Hemisphere, so they come out on a continent in the Southern
Hemisphere. If you start digging in the Northern Hemisphere, are you more likely
to come out in an ocean or through a continent in the Southern Hemisphere?
Exploring
Earth
Activity
Fill four aluminium soft drink cans with sand, liquid soap, water and air. As you hit
each can, ‘feel’ for any difference in the vibrations on the other side of the can. Is it
easier to feel the vibrations through some fillings more than others? Do you think
the Earth’s layers are liquid or solid?
http://museumvictoria.com.au/scienceworks/education/
23
Earth Quest — Outer Space to Inner Earth
School based activities
Activity 8: Our Sun
Background information
Our Sun is a medium sized yellow star. Its diameter is 109 times that of Earth and its mass
is 795 times as large as the mass of all the planets in the Solar System put together. The
Sun is the closest star to Earth; it is about 150 million kilometres away. It’s so close that it
is dangerous to look directly at it with the naked eye or any optical instrument. A safe way
to view the Sun is by projecting its image from a telescope onto a screen or white sheet of
paper.
The Sun rotates on its axis from west to east (like Earth), taking about 27 days for one
rotation. Due to the Sun being gaseous, it rotates differently. Not all of the Sun rotates at
the same time like the Earth does. The gas at the Equator takes about 24 days to rotate
once, while rotation at the Poles takes about 30 days. The time it takes for the Sun to orbit
around the whole galaxy is 225 million years.
Most of what we know about the Sun comes from the energy it radiates. Sophisticated
equipment available today allows us to peer into the Sun, revealing its structure, history
and even its future.
The structure of the Sun
The Sun is made up of about 95% hydrogen and 1% helium. The other 4% consists of
elements like carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, aluminium, sodium, potassium, copper and iron.
For the Sun to contain these types of elements suggests that it is made up of gas recycled
from a supernova explosion. Matter at the centre of the Sun is so hot it exists in a special
state called plasma. (Plasma is a form of matter that consists of charged particles. The
more familiar types of matter are solid, liquid and gas which are made up of neutral
atoms).
The Sun can be divided into three main layers: the interior, the surface layer and the
atmosphere. The layers don’t have defined boundaries, but blend into one another.
The interior
The interior is split into three parts: the core, radiative zone and convection zone. The core
is very dense (about 160 times the density of water on Earth) and has a temperature of
about 15 million degrees C. The core transfers heat through to the radiative zone via a
heat transfer process called radiation. The radiative zone is not as hot or as dense as the
core. It decreases by one or two million degrees C, and the density decreases to about the
density of water (on Earth). The next layer, the convection zone, is even cooler than the
radiative zone and less dense still. At the base of this zone, the temperature has dropped
to about two million degrees C.
http://museumvictoria.com.au/scienceworks/education/
24
Earth Quest — Outer Space to Inner Earth
School based activities
The surface layer
The surface layer is called the photosphere. This is the layer of the Sun that we see from
Earth. Sunspots, which are the dark, cooler regions visible on the Sun, appear on this
layer. It is narrow compared to the others layers. It ranges in temperature from about 6 000
degrees C to about 4 500 degrees C on the outer surface.
The solar atmosphere
The Sun’s atmosphere is comprised of the chromosphere and the corona.
The density of the chromosphere is less than the photosphere but the temperature rises to
about 100 000 degrees C or more at the top. Scientists can not yet explain what heats the
chromosphere to this very high temperature. The corona is even hotter than the
chromosphere and varies from about one million degrees C to about five million degrees
C. The corona extends millions of kilometres out into space. The corona can be seen
during total solar eclipses.
In the following activity, students will make a 3-D mobile of the Sun that will display its
basic structure.
What you need
•
A4 cardboard (white)
•
photocopy of the Sun mobile master
•
glue
•
scissors
•
string
•
hole punch
What to do
Ask your students to:
1. Glue a photocopy of the Sun mobile onto white cardboard.
2. Colour and label both sides of the model.
3. When it is dry, carefully cut around the dashed lines of the model.
4. Fold along the dark lines so that a 3D version of the layers emerges.
5. Punch out a hole at the top of the mobile.
6. Thread a piece of string though the hole and tie a neat knot.
7. The mobile is ready to be hung.
http://museumvictoria.com.au/scienceworks/education/
25
Earth Quest — Outer Space to Inner Earth
School based activities
Optional
•
•
You may want your students to write researched information about each layer on
the mobile or extend the mobile by hanging information from it.
The following activity demonstrates the relative diameters of the Earth and the Sun.
Use a five cent piece to represent the Earth.
Go outside into the school yard. Tie a piece of string 109cm long onto a piece of
chalk. Ask one student to hold the string while another student takes the taut end of
the string with the chalk and draws a circle (like a large compass).
The circle drawn with the chalk represents the size of the Sun compared to the five
cent piece that represents the Earth. Put them together and compare their sizes.
The five cent piece representing the Earth would need to be placed about 234
metres away from the chalk circle (representing the diameter of the Sun) to
represent the distance between the Sun and the Earth using this scale.
http://museumvictoria.com.au/scienceworks/education/
26
Earth Quest — Outer Space to Inner Earth
School based activities
‘Our Sun’ mobile
The thin layer of the photosphere is already coloured in black for you.
Do not cut or fold around the photosphere layer.
http://museumvictoria.com.au/scienceworks/education/
27
Earth Quest — Outer Space to Inner Earth
School based activities
Activity 9: Reasons for the seasons on Earth
Background information
The Earth orbits the Sun in a slightly elliptical path. This means that sometimes the Earth
is slightly closer to the Sun than other times but this does not explain why we have
seasons. If this was the case then the Northern and Southern Hemispheres would
experience the same seasons at the same time of the year. This does not happen. When it
is summer in the Northern Hemisphere, it is winter in the Southern Hemisphere (and viceversa,) and when it is autumn in the Northern Hemisphere it is spring in the Southern
Hemisphere (and vice-versa). The two hemispheres experience opposite seasons.
However, near the equator there is little seasonal change.
Seasonal changes are mainly caused by the Earth’s tilt. As the Earth travels around the
Sun, it remains tilted (23.5 degrees) and pointing in the same direction. Sometimes the top
half of the Earth is pointing towards the Sun while at other times it points away. During our
summer, the Southern Hemisphere is tilted towards the Sun. Therefore light from the Sun
is more intense and is more effective at heating the ground than during winter when the
Sun’s rays are spread over a greater surface area. The Sun is also in the sky longer during
summer allowing more time for warming and less time for cooling the Earth. Half way
between the times when the Earth is pointing towards or away from the Sun, both
hemispheres get almost equal amounts of sunlight. These times are what we call spring
and autumn.
The following activity simulates how the Earth orbits the Sun with its North Pole always
tilted at 23.5 degrees. It should be noted that the tilt of the Earth is the reason that the
north and south hemispheres experience opposite seasons.
What you need
•
balloon
•
felt tipped pen
•
straw
•
sticky tape
What you do
1. Blow up a balloon to a diameter of approximately 25 cm. This will represent the Earth.
2. With a felt tipped pen, mark the North Pole, South Pole, the position of Australia,
Europe and the Equator.
3. Cut the straw in half.
4. Make three cuts on one end of the straw forming tabs. (See diagram)
http://museumvictoria.com.au/scienceworks/education/
28
Earth Quest — Outer Space to Inner Earth
School based activities
5. Stick this straw onto the balloon at the North Pole to represent an imaginary axis.
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 to represent an imaginary axis at the South Pole.
7. Choose a light source in the classroom that will represent the Sun.
8. Circle the light source with the model, keeping the axis at the North Pole slightly tilted
as it circles all the way around the light. Make sure that the North Pole always points at
the same pointing the ‘sky’ (Polaris – the Pole Star).
9. Notice that sometimes the top half of the Earth is pointing towards the Sun and
sometimes it is pointing away.
10. Model and discuss what would happen if the Earth circled the Sun straight up and
down with no tilt.
Optional
•
Identify the positions when it is summer, winter, autumn and spring in Australia.
Discuss the tilt in the Earth’s axis and the angle of the Sun’s rays for each season.
•
Identify the positions when it is summer, winter, autumn and spring in Europe. Discuss
the tilt in the Earth’s axis and the angle of the Sun’s rays for each season.
http://museumvictoria.com.au/scienceworks/education/
29
Earth Quest — Outer Space to Inner Earth
School based activities
Activity 10: A Model showing the path of the Sun
The following activity represents the apparent path of the Sun on four special occasions of
the year in the Southern Hemisphere.
•
Path (a) – Summer Solstice (December 22), when the Southern Hemisphere has its
longest day and shortest night of the year.
The midday Sun is 90º above the horizon at the Tropic of Capricorn (23½ºs).
Melbourne is ~15º further south, so the midday Sun in Melbourne is 90º – 15º = 75º
above the horizon.
•
Path (b) – Autumn and Spring Equinox (March 22 and September 23), when the length
of day and night in the Southern Hemisphere is approximately equal.
The midday Sun is 90º above the horizon at the Equator (0º). Melbourne is 38º further
south, so the midday Sun in Melbourne is 90º – 38º = 52º above the horizon.
•
Path (c) – Winter Solstice (June 22), when the Southern Hemisphere has its shortest
day and longest night of the year.
The midday Sun is 90º above the horizon at the Tropic of Cancer (23½ºN). Melbourne
is ~ 62º further south, so the midday Sun in Melbourne is 90º – 62º = 28º above the
horizon.
What you need
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
A4 master copy of model
cardboard
glue
protractor
pipe cleaners
sticky tape
stanley knife
What to do
1. Glue the A4 sheet (see next page) onto cardboard.
2. Carefully cut out the model along the dotted lines outlining paths (a), (b) and (c) using a
stanley knife.
3. Fold the ends of path (c) along the thick black lines so that its midpoint becomes tilted
at an angle that approximates 28 degrees above horizontal. You may want to use a
protractor to measure the angle.
4. Fold the ends of path (b) along the thick black lines so that its midpoint becomes tilted
at an angle that approximates 52 degrees above horizontal. You may want to use a
protractor to measure the angle.
5. Fold the ends of path (a) along the thick black lines so that its midpoint becomes tilted
at an angle of approximately 75 degrees above horizontal. You will need to wrap
sticky-tape around the ends of this path so that it is supported at this angle.
6. You may want to glue pipe cleaners onto each path to hold it in place.
Optional
7. Students can decorate the horizon by adding grass, houses and trees.
http://museumvictoria.com.au/scienceworks/education/
30
Earth Quest — Outer Space to Inner Earth
School based activities
A model showing the path of the sun
http://museumvictoria.com.au/scienceworks/education/
31
Earth Quest — Outer Space to Inner Earth
School based activities
Activity 11: Some days are really longer than others
Background information
The shortest day of the year, the Winter Solstice, is around June 22 in the Southern
Hemisphere. This day has the least amount of daylight hours. The Sun rises in the northeast, stays low in the sky and sets in the north-west. The longest day of the year, the
Summer Solstice, is around December 22 in the Southern Hemisphere. This day has the
greatest amount of daylight hours. The Sun rises in the south-east, moves high into the
sky, then sets in the south-west.
The seasons in the Southern Hemisphere are:
•
Summer: December, January and February
•
Autumn: March, April and May
•
Winter: June, July and August
•
Spring: September, October and November
You can view a current colour map of the Earth showing the day and night regions at
http://www.fourmilab.ch/earthview/vplanet.html
What you need
•
pen and paper
•
sunrise and sunset times (for Melbourne), you can get these from a newspaper or from
the Melbourne Planetarium web site:
http://museumvictoria.com.au/Planetarium/DiscoveryCentre/Rise-and-Set-Times/
Note: sunrise and sunset times for any location in the world can be obtained from:
www.auslig.gov.au/geodesy/astro/astro.html
What to do
1. Calculate the day length, in hours and minutes, of the Summer Solstice and the Winter
Solstice.
2. Now do the same for the days of the Equinoxes.
3. Calculate day length for some other days.
4. Discuss the path of the Sun at different times of the year.
http://museumvictoria.com.au/scienceworks/education/
32
Earth Quest — Outer Space to Inner Earth
School based activities
Optional
•
Calculate day length every fortnight for the year and draw a bar graph using this
information (Day length versus fortnight, primary students).
•
Calculate day length for every day of the year and graph this information using Excel
(Day length versus day, secondary students).
•
Describe the shape of the graph.
•
How many weeks are there when the day length:
is less than 12 hours?
is more than 12 hours?
•
Does the graph correspond with the longest day being around December 22, and the
shortest being around June 22?
Hours of
Daylight
(Melbourne)
Questions
1. Colour in the different sections of the graph showing the different seasons in a year.
2. Describe the shape of the graph.
3. How does the amount of daylight in a day change from winter to summer?
4. Cross out the wrong word in bold in the following sentences:
(i)
During summer, the days are longer and the nights are longer/shorter.
(ii)
During winter, the days are shorter and the nights are longer/shorter.
http://museumvictoria.com.au/scienceworks/education/
33
Earth Quest — Outer Space to Inner Earth
School based activities
Activity 12: Order of the planets
Background information
A mnemonic is a sentence or phrase that helps us to remember a set of words in a specific
order. It uses the same first letter as the words we are trying to remember.
For example, a recently modified mnemonic for remembering the order of the planets is
the following:
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
M
V
E
M
J
S
U
N
My
Very
Excellent
Mother
Just
Served
Us
Noodles
What you do
Students should have a go at writing their own mnemonic for remembering the order of the
planets. They could also try making a mnemonic for other lists as well. See who can come
up with the longest mnemonic.
Some people remember a set of numbers by a mnemonic whose words have the same
number of letters as the set of numbers. For example:
May
3
I
1
give
4
a
1
black
5
telescope
9
to
2
Aldrin
6
Jones?
5
This represents the first 8 decimal places of the value of Pi, 3.14159265. Have a go at
making up a mnemonic for your phone number, perhaps substituting the word ‘Oh’ for 0.
Sun
http://museumvictoria.com.au/scienceworks/education/
34