Virtual Library Lesson: Seasons IQ-MS

Seasons

Lesson Overview
In this lesson, students will use materials to investigate how the tilt of the Earth on its axis
affects life on Earth.

Standards Addressed
SC 2014 8.E.4B.3 Develop and use models to explain how seasons, caused by the tilt of
Earth’s axis as it orbits the Sun, affects the length of the day and the amount of
heating on Earth’s surface.

NGSS MS-ESS 1-1 Develop and use a model of the Earth-sun-moon system to describe
the cyclic patterns of lunar phases, eclipses of the sun and moon, and seasons.

Disciplinary Literacy Best Practices

Think-Ink-Pair-Share
Pairs Squared
Two Minute Paper
Read Aloud
Concept Map

Lesson Plan
Time Required – Two 55- minute class periods

Disciplinary Vocabulary: axis, direct and indirect solar radiation (sunlight), tilt, revolution,
season, hemisphere, solstice, equinox

Materials needed: (per groups)

• Small containers (ex. Shoe box covers) – 2

• Thermometer – 2
• Sand or clean soil
• Book – 1
• Brick (or larger source for incline) - 1
• Flashlight – 1
• Graph paper – 1 sheet

Assessment: Cause-and-effect model (concept map) of how Earth’s tilt results in varied daylight
hours and unequal heating of Earth’s hemispheres and seasonal change

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Virtual Library Lesson: Seasons IQ-MS

Engage

o Students will watch one or both of the videos below as an introduction to the lesson:

Video #1 The Reasons for the Seasons:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pgq0LThW7QA (5 minutes 38 seconds)

Video #2 What Causes Seasons on Earth

http://www.teachertube.com/video/what-causes-seasons-on-earth-657(2 minutes
17seconds )

Have students Think-Ink-Pair-Share the answers to the following questions:

 What does the term axis mean?

 What is the angle of tilt for the earth's axis?
 How long does it take the earth to spin or rotate once on its axis?
 How long does it take the earth to orbit or revolve around the sun once?
 Many places on earth experience four different seasons. What are those seasons?
 Why is the angle of rays of sunlight so important in determining the amount of energy
collected by the earth?

Explore
NOTE: This has been extracted from the Teachers’ Guide of the ETV Streamline SC video The Reasons for
the Seasons

Safety Note(s): Students should know and practice the procedures for fire, glass and chemical
safety. Students should use care when performing this experiment, and be wearing the proper
safety equipment including aprons and goggles. Students should know and practice safe
disposal of materials in a laboratory setting.

o If the class size is large or if time or materials are limited, then the teacher may decide to
have half of the students complete Part A of the investigation and the other half of the
students complete Part B of the investigation.

o The teacher will have students work in pairs to complete the investigation. After the
investigation is complete, pairs of students will “square” or pair up with another group of
students to share results and discuss their learning.

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Virtual Library Lesson: Seasons IQ-MS

Part A: The Angle of Sunlight

III. Procedure:

1. Put an equal amount of sand in each box cover.

2. Go outside on a sunny day and pick a spot in direct sunlight.

3. Place the book on the ground and lay one box cover filled with sand in the box.

4. The other box cover should be angled so that it is facing directly into the sunlight. Use the
brick to help aim the box cover at the sun.

5. Put a thermometer into each container so that the bulb of the thermometer is buried in
the sand.

6. Record the temperatures of the two thermometers and then wait 15 minutes and record
the new temperature in the data bar below.

o The teacher will have students “pair square” to dialogue about their
observations with another pair of students. Students should record data after
listening to each other’s responses.

Copyright 2015 S2TEM Centers SC

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Virtual Library Lesson: Seasons IQ-MS

Groups should discuss the following questions:

o What did you find out?
o How is the temperature affected by the angle?
o How does this compare to the tilt of the Earth on its axis?
o Based on your results, where on Earth would you expect the temperature to be
hotter? Colder?

Part B: The Angle of Light

o The teacher will use the Pairs Squared Strategy to allow students to dialogue about
their observations with a different pair of students.

o What did you find out?

o How is the amount of light affected by the angle?
o How does this compare to the tilt of the Earth on its axis?
o Based on your results, where on Earth would you expect the most light? The least?

Copyright 2015 S2TEM Centers SC

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Virtual Library Lesson: Seasons IQ-MS

o Assessment – Students complete a Two Minute Paper. The teacher provides each
student with a half-sheet of paper three to five minutes before the end of the class
period to record their thinking about the lesson. Tell the students they have two
minutes to respond to the following questions:
 What was the most important thing you learned today?
 What did you learn today that you didn’t know before class?

Explain
o Watch Exploring Weather: The Atmosphere in Motion video “The Sun and Weather”
(6:48- 8:54) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7ieF7EkIuA


Why is the tilt of the earth the cause for seasons on our planet?

The North Pole and South Pole each have long periods of complete
sunlight and complete darkness. Why?
o Access the article from http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/fgz/science/season.php?wfo=fgz .
The teacher should Read Aloud the article and ask open ended questions while reading
aloud to the students. The teacher should also have students examine the diagram so
that they can develop a model at the end of the class period.

o Dialogue as a class about “How does the tilt of the Earth’s axis affect the length of the
day and the amount of heating on Earth’s surface, thus causing the seasons of the
year?” The earth spins around an imaginary axis. A planet's axis is an imaginary line
that goes through the North and South poles of the planet. It takes the earth 24 hours to
spin around once on its axis. We call this a day. The earth's axis is tilted at 23.5 degrees.
If the axis wasn't tilted, we would only have one season. Parts of the planet would
receive the same amount of sunlight every day, so weather and climate would not
change very much. Because the earth's axis is tilted, we have different seasons. As the
earth orbits around the sun, the axis sometimes points toward the sun and sometimes
away from the sun. When this happens, there are times when the Northern Hemisphere
is receiving more light than the Southern Hemisphere. The Northern Hemisphere would
be having spring or summer, while the Southern Hemisphere would be having fall or
winter.

Copyright 2015 S2TEM Centers SC

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Virtual Library Lesson: Seasons IQ-MS

o Seasons are the parts of the year called winter, spring,

summer, and autumn, or fall. Each season lasts about
three months. Each season brings changes in
temperature, weather, and the length of daylight.

Image: The changing seasons are caused by the changing

position of the Earth in relation to the sun. Credit: World
Book illustration by Roberta Polfus

The changing seasons are caused by the changing position of the Earth in relation to the
sun. Different parts of the Earth get different amounts of sunlight as the Earth travels
around the sun. When the North Pole is slanted toward the sun, it is summer in the
Northern Hemisphere -- the northern half of the Earth. The sun's rays shine on the Earth
from a high angle, so northern areas get a lot of sunlight. At the same time, the South
Pole is slanted away from the sun and it is winter in the Southern Hemisphere.

"Season." The World Book Student Discovery Encyclopedia. Chicago: World Book, Inc.,
2005.

o http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/wbkids/k_season.html

Assessment: Have students create a visual representation/concept map to explain how

seasons caused by the Earth’s tilt affects the length of the day and the amount of heating
on the Earth’s surface.

Copyright 2015 S2TEM Centers SC

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Virtual Library Lesson: Seasons IQ-MS

Extend
o Students make claims about how the tilt (small or large) of another planet in our solar
system and that planet’s orbit around the sun (closer to or further away than Earth)
affect the seasons and provide evidence to support their claims.
Students research the length of seasons on other planets in our solar system to collect
data.
Adapted from- http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/activity/the-
reason-for-the-seasons/?ar_a=1

o Sing a song about the seasons:

http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/solar_system_level2/javascript/song.html
o Exploring Seasons:
http://www.classzone.com/books/ml_science_share/vis_sim/ssm05_pg41_seasons/ss
m05_pg41_seasons.html

Teacher Reflections and Biographical Information

The biggest challenge is not implementing the strategies, but trying to choose the most
appropriate strategy that will support the learning goal or objective. I have learned that
choosing the right strategy can make or break a lesson. The more I used the strategies, the
more confident I felt that I could select the best ones. There is no greater feeling of
accomplishment than when your students are able to master a concept or standard. That’s
when you know that all your hard work and planning have made a difference.

Portions of this lesson originally appeared in the SC Standards Support System (S3) Curriculum.
As a teacher in the IQ-MS project, I adapted it by supplementing additional disciplinary literacy
strategies to support student understanding of the content.

Lesson Author: Kerry Branch is an Education Specialist with S2TEM Centers SC. She has
experience teaching 7th and 8th grade science and using disciplinary literacy strategies in the
classroom. She began her career in education as a high school science teacher and enjoyed
sixteen years as a classroom teacher before joining S2TEM Centers SC in 2013.

Copyright 2015 S2TEM Centers SC

www.s2temsc.org