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Seasons Reasons Poster Project

Autumn to winter, winter into spring, Spring into summer, summer into fall,-- So rolls the changing year, and so we change; Motion so swift, we know not that we move.

Dinah Maria Mulock

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Introduction

Texas Essential Knowledge & Skills - 7.13a:   identify and illustrate how the tilt of the Earth on its axis as it rotates and revolves around the Sun causes changes in seasons

You have been hired by an educational publishing company to produce posters for middle school science classrooms. Your first poster is to be one that shows the causes of seasons on Earth.

Since many students have the wrong idea about what causes seasons (they think that they are caused by the Earth being closer to the Sun during the summer) it is very important that your poster be very accurate. Your poster will answer the question "What causes seasons"?

The Task

Using a sheet of drawing paper and map colors or markers to make your poster.

The Process

You will work in teams of two.

1. Begin by understanding the misconceptions regarding seasons:

http://www.utm.utoronto.ca/~astro/lesson6.htm

http://www.astronomy.org/programs/seasons/index.html

http://www.oceansonline.com/seasons.htm

2. Review some background information on the causes of seasons.

• i. axis tilt:

http://www.brocktonpublicschools.com/schools/
high/planetarium/activities/seasons/seasons3.html

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/
astronomy/planets/earth/Seasons.shtml

http://www.materialworlds.com/sims/SolarSystem/
FourSeasons1View/WhatIf/netscape.html

http://www.eas.slu.edu/People/CEGraves/Eas138/fg02_04.jpg

http://www.nmm.ac.uk/upload/img/seasons-full_20030416094506.gif

http://seis.natsci.csulb.edu/rbehl/incident.jpg

• ii. Revolution around the Sun

http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/6h.html

http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/6hrevolution.html

http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/
content/visualizations/es0408/es0408page01.cfm?chapter_no=04

http://www.learner.org/jnorth/images/imageshtml/earth-tilt.gif

http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/projects/data/Seasons/seasons.html

• iii. Angle of sunlight

http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/faculty/ritter/animation/
atmosphere/earth_revolution.html

http://cwx.prenhall.com/bookbind/pubbooks/
lutgens3/medialib/earthsun/earthsun.html

http://www-spof.gsfc.nasa.gov/stargaze/Sunangle.htm

http://sunshine.chpc.utah.edu/labs/sunangle/
sunangle.html?ASPIRE_Session=94b70d025bc12d9baa604078a4b68aee

http://www.uwm.edu/~kahl/CoVis/Seasons/

• iv. Direct / indirect energy

http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/News/2001/News-AutumnalEquinox.asp

http://www.pas.rochester.edu/~blackman/ast104/seasons.html

http://www.msnucleus.org/membership/html/k-6/uc/earth/3/uce3_3a.html

General Information:

http://www.teachersdomain.org/6-8/sci/ess/earthsys/lp_seasons/index.html

http://www.astronomy.org/programs/seasons/index.html

http://curriculum.calstatela.edu/courses/builders/
lessons/less/les1/seasons.html

http://www.vu.msu.edu/preview/geo206/seasons_orbit/seasons_orbit.html

http://www.scienceu.com/observatory/articles/seasons/seasons.html

http://www.ecology.com/ecology-today/tilting-earth/

Evaluation