More About This Resource...

• In this classroom activity, students create models of the spinning Earth and see how the planet's revolution around the Sun creates differing daily and seasonal patterns of dark and light. The printable five-page handout includes:

  • A series of inquiry-based questions to get students thinking about daily and seasonal light cycles.
  • Detailed experiment directions.
  • A worksheet that helps students use the experiment results to gain a deeper understanding of why Antarctica doesn't have daily nights and days.

• Completion Time

  Approximately 1 period

• Topic

  Astronomy

• Subtopic

  The Sun