Solar eclipse

Because of the solar eclipse which is happening today, we are publishing 'Why does the Sun disappear? Demonstrate what happens when the Moon hides the Sun'.

This activity can be carried out when investigating our Solar system. It compares the
relative sizes and positions of the Moon and the Sun in relation to the Earth.

Related Earthlearningideas can be found in our 'Eclipses - solar and lunar, Earth in Space' category.

Following our astronomical umbrella, we now have 'Craters on the Moon: why are the Moon’s craters such different shapes and sizes'.

This ELI is an investigation into the factors which affect the dimensions of craters produced by the impact of external bodies, such as meteorites.

Related activities can be found in our Earth in Space category.

Using an astronomical umbrella to understand the night sky

Our new ELI today:  'Demonstrate the apparent rotation of the sky with an astronomical umbrella; using a simple model to show the difference in the appearance of the night sky seen from Earth or from space'.

The simulation of the Earth’s rotation with a globe and the astronomical umbrella allows the students to see the same phenomenon from different points of view and facilitates the description of the apparent motion of the night sky.

This is our first ELI in the 'Astronomy' category of 'Earth in Space'. It was sent to us by a friend and colleague and supporter of Earthlearningideas. We hope it may be the first of a series? Remember to send us your innovative teaching ideas for whatever age group.

Understanding the phases of the Moon - with lollipops, a tennis ball and a bright light

An idea for the holidays - 'Lollipop moon; modelling the phases of the moon with a ball, lollipops and a bright light'.

This model demonstrates what the phases of the moon look like when viewed from outside the Earth.Other activities in the series include:

Jaffa moon

Polystyrene moon 

More activities related to the Moon can be found in the Earthlearningidea Earth in Space category. 

Earth's spin and Earth's orbit

'A screaming roller coaster; how fast am I travelling (due to Earth’s spin and Earth’s orbit)?'

 

This activity gives a good introduction to the speed of the spinning and orbiting Earth. Other activities related to day and night and the seasons can be found on our website in the Earth in Space category.

Confused about solar and lunar eclipses? Try this!

The new ELI today is 'What would an eclipse look like from the moon? From the moon, what would the Earth look like during a) a solar, b) a lunar eclipse on Earth?'

Asking pupils the deep questions in this activity will help the class to visualise the different positions of the Sun, Earth and moon during eclipses, and so consolidate their learning and clear up confusion.

Many more related activities can be found in our Earth in Space category on the website.

Solar eclipse - the Moon hides the Sun

'Why does the Sun disappear? Demonstrate what happens when the Moon hides the Sun'

This activity can be carried out when investigating our Solar system. It compares the relative sizes and positions of the Moon and the Sun in relation to the Earth.
Similar activities can be found in our 'Earth in Space' catgory on the website.

Milankovitch cycles and temperatures on Earth

Today's new ELI is 'The Earth and Milankovitch cycles – by hand; modelling the Earth’s squashed orbit, tilt and wobble using your hands'.

Pupils can find the Milankovitch cycles, of the variation in the solar radiation received by the Earth, difficult to understand. This activity uses hand modelling to consolidate learning.
Other activities related to temperatures on Earth, solar radiation and the Earth in space can be found on our website by using the alphabetical index or the search engine.

How do day and night and the seasons work?

The ELI 'Earth on Earth' uses a globe in the sunshine to show how day/night and the seasons work.

A model globe is fixed in the same position, relative to the Sun, as the real Earth, allowing pupils to clearly see how day and night and the seasons work.

'Seasons - the effect of our tilted Earth' is an indoor demonstration explaining the changing seasons.

A globe is ‘walked’ round a circle of pupils, with a bright light at the centre, to show how the tilt of the Earth relative to the Sun creates different seasons.







More similar teaching ideas can be found in the Earth in Space category on our website.

Solar radiation and latitude

Hot or not? This ELI investigates how latitude affects the amount of solar radiation received

When the Sun is overhead, as in the torch shining down on to the flat piece of paper, the rays are more intense than when the Sun is not overhead and the rays are reaching the Earth’s surface at an angle.
Lots more activities relating to this topic can be found on the website by either using the search engine or the index.

Playground planets - solar system to scale

'Playground planets' models the relative sizes of the planets and their distances from the Sun.
One of our readers has sent us a video clip which puts the distances into perspective. Click here to view.

Others ideas can be seen in the extension to this activity.
More 'Earth in Space' activities can be found on our website.

How fast am I travelling (due to Earth's spin and Earth's orbit)?

'A screaming roller coaster; how fast am I travelling (due to Earth's spin and Earth's orbit)?'

After the class roller-coaster experience, ask your pupils ‘Why were we acting like this?’ The answer is that you are all travelling very fast towards the East - due to the spin of the Earth. If you are on the Equator you are travelling at 1,674.4 km/h. To calculate how fast you’re travelling at your latitude, multiply
1,674.4 km/h by the cosine of your latitude – for example, the speed in London is: 1,674.4 x cos 51.5 = 1,042 km/h (647 miles per hour!)
Work out how fast you are travelling at your latitude.
Lots more teaching ideas can be found on our website.

Solar eclipse

Last Friday, many people were watching the solar eclipse. Perhaps it's a good time to try the ELI 'Why does the Sun disappear?' This activity demonstrates how a small object, which is near, can block out the view of a much larger one that is further away. Do you think the Sun and the Moon often appear to be the same size in the sky? In fact, they are not the same size at all and yet the Moon can block out the Sun completely, so that it goes quite dark. This is called a total eclipse of the Sun (or a solar eclipse).

The image above is from the NASA website. The photo below shows the recent eclipse as viewed through a colander!

You could also try the ELI 'Eclipse the lollipop' which models eclipses of the Moon and the Sun with a ball, lollipops and a bright light.
Search our website for lots more innovative and exciting teaching ideas.

Modelling the phases of the Moon with Jaffa cakes!

Have you tried 'Jaffa Moon' in which you model the phases of the Moon using Jaffa cakes? Having discovered how the light part of the Moon changes shape over a lunar month, pupils are asked to reinforce this learning by cutting Jaffa cakes into shapes to simulate the light part of the Moon. By placing these on second dark-side-up Jaffa Cakes, they can see how the dark part of the Moon changes shape at the same time. They then test their understanding by identifying correct versions of predictive sentences which are provided.
This is one of a number of Earthlearningideas about the Moon; all can be found on the website.

Seasons: the effect of our tilted Earth

The new ELI, published today, 'Seasons: the effect of our tilted Earth' is the last in this 'Earth in space' series. It involves an indoor demonstration which explains the changing seasons very clearly.

After watching the activity pupils will be able to:-

• explain how the half of the Earth bathed in sunlight at any one time is experiencing day, whilst the other half is experiencing night;
• point out and explain the day/night dividing lines of dawn and dusk;
• explain why night and day are of equal length at the equinoxes;
• point out and explain how polar regions are lit in the summer but are in darkness in the winter;
• explain why winter and summer are at the opposite ends of the year in the other hemisphere, compared to their own;
• explain why equatorial regions have no seasons.

Visit the website for more 'Earth in space' teaching ideas.

How do day/night and the seasons work?

New ELI today - 'Earth on Earth; using a globe in the sunshine to show how day/night and the seasons work'. 

Pupils can use the ‘globe in the sunshine’ to:

• explain how the half of the Earth bathed in sunlight at any one time is experiencing day, whilst the other half is experiencing night; 
• point out and explain the day/night dividing lines of dawn and dusk; 
• show how equatorial regions are warmer (and feel warmer) than polar regions because the Sun is nearer to being overhead and so the rays are more concentrated
• point out and explain how polar regions are lit in the summer but are in darkness in the winter.

Click here for other activities in the 'Earth in Space' category.

Latitude and its affect on solar radiation

The latest ELI is 'Hot or not? - investigating how latitude affects the amount of solar radiation received'. After doing the activity, pupils will be able to:-
• explain that the rays of the Sun will be most intense and so the surface of the Earth will be hottest when the Sun’s rays apparently come from directly overhead;
• explain that as the Sun’s rays move away from overhead, they become less intense because they are spread over a larger area;
• realise that as the tilted Earth moves around the Sun, only twice is the Sun overhead at the Equator, i.e. on March 21st and September 21st;
• realise that the Northern Hemisphere summer occurs when the Sun is overhead at the Tropic of Cancer on June 21st and that the Northern Hemisphere winter when the Sun is overhead at the Tropic of Capricorn on December 21st.
This activity could be used in science or geography lessons dealing with the seasons. As a lead-in activity, try 'Screaming roller coaster'. This ELI will be followed soon by 'The seasons: an indoor demonstration of the seasons' and' Earth on Earth: using a globe in the sunshine to show how day/night and the seasons work'. If you need these activities before they are published on our website, then please contact us.

Screaming roller coaster? Earth's spin and orbit

Your pupils will look puzzled when they are asked to face east and to hold on tightly to something in front of them as we gradually ascend a very steep roller coaster. We go up and up and up and then scream loudly as we hurtle down the other side. Whatever is going on? We are demonstrating the speed of the Earth's spin; in London we are travelling at about 647 miles per hour (1042 km/h)! On the Equator, the spin-speed is 1,040 mph (1674 km/h). You can calculate the spin-speed where you are by multiplying 1,674 km/h by the cosine of your latitude. All this is explained in our new Earthlearningidea 'Screaming roller coaster; how fast am I travelling (due to Earth's spin and Earth's orbit)?
This activity is in the 'Earth in Space' category on our website; more will follow.

What is the size of the Earth compared to the Sun?

Have you tried 'Playground planets'? This ELI models the relative sizes of the planets and their distances from the Sun. If the Earth is modelled as a sphere 6mm in diameter, how big is the Sun? (696mm) Using a scale of about 100 billion to 1, if the Earth is 1.5m from the Sun, how far is Neptune? (45m)
This activity can be used in any lesson about space and astronomy. It can also be used in mathematics for work on large numbers and scale.
Visit our website for more activities in our 'Earth in space' category.

Modelling eclipses of the Moon and the Sun

The new Earthlearningidea models eclipses of the Moon and the Sun with a ball, lollipops and a bright light - 'Eclipse the lollipop'. This activity explains that an eclipse of the Moon occurs when the shadow of the Earth falls on the Moon so that
it becomes dark. It also explains that an eclipse of the Sun occurs when the Moon comes between the Earth and the Sun, covering up the Sun, as seen from Earth.
It is one of a series of activities about the Moon that can be found on our website.