Week 6: Earth, Moon and Stars

 Elementary Science II

Week: September 30th - October 1st 


1. What did you do in lab this week? 

We started a new unit that is called Earth, Moon, and Stars. After we took a 5-question quiz to determine what we know. Then we had to answer three questions with just the knowledge we had.

  • How does the phase of the moon occur? I think that the moon's phases occur because of the world's orbits, as the world turns the sun affects the moon's shape.
  • What causes the seasons? Because the world is shifting ???
  • What causes a lunar eclipse? Once a year the sun and moon are both in the sky and start the rotation again. 
It was challenging to answer these questions because the last time I remember talking about the moon phases was in 5th grade. We would go outside to trace our shadows and then have a class discussion on why sometimes we have shadows. In groups, we would talk about our answers and then use the class materials to answer the questions.  

2. What was the big question? 
There were three big questions but we focused on how the phases of the moon occur and what causes the seasons. After the lecture, I learned that the phases of the moon happen during the 29-day moon rotation and the sun's reflections change the shape that the moon shows from the earth's angle. Also, everyone around the world sees the same phase but at different times. Then I learned that the seasons are caused by the tilt of the earth's axis as it orbits around the sun. This tilt causes different parts of the earth to receive varying amounts of sunlight throughout the year, leading to the changing of seasons.  

3.  What did you learn in Thursday's lecture? 
In the lecture, I learned that as a teacher we need to be able to use the data that we collect from our student's quizzes to determine whether or not the students learned the content. We looked at the class results from the quiz we took in the lab. In question one, which of the following four diagrams most accurately depicts the shape of Earth's orbit around the sun. 45.5 percent of the class got the answer right. This tells us as future teachers that there is still learning that needs to be done. 

 
4. Textbook
  • What did you learn? I learned that geocentrism stands for the theory that the Earth is at the center of the solar system. People believed it because during those times the church preached it and was in the bible. Nicolaus Copernicus and Galileo helped open our eyes from geocentrism to heliocentrism, the theory in which the sun is at the center of the solar system. 
  • What was most helpful? The textbook included formative assessments, images, and videos which was helpful for a visual learner like me.
  • What do you need more information on? I don't think so. 
5. What questions, concerns, and/or comments do you have? 
I have no questions. 





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