Phases On The Moon Essay

Phases On The Moon EssayWhat causes daytime and night (including seasonal changes in the number of hours of daylight)?When the realm spins nigh on its axis, it arrive ats night and day on humanity. The sunshine rises in the east and sets in the west, turning day into night. On res publica, the length of day and night commonly changes with the seasons. Why argon there divergent seasons? As stated, the Earth spins on a tilted axis ab divulge once every 24 hours to create what we know as night and day. This axis is an invisible line through the centre of the Earth. The northern point is the conglutination Pole and the southern point is the conspiracy Pole.The Earth spins anti-clockwise. The Earth orbits around the sun virtually once every 365 days. As this happens, the tilt of the Earth causes different sections of the Earth to point toward the Sun. This causes different amounts of cheer to r apiece the same surface area of the Earth throughout the socio-economic class. Th e different amounts of sunlight lead to different weather at this location. In the northern hemisphere, when the North Pole points towards the Sun, the Suns light is much sayly overhead and it is summer.When the North Pole points towards the Sun, the South Pole tilts away from the sun resulting in scattered and less direct light. People in the southern hemisphere experience winter while pot in the northern hemisphere have summer. The seasons of spring and autumn are created when the Earths tilt is neither towards, nor away from the Sun. These seasons usually have milder temperatures.Why are there different phases of the Moon?The Moon travels around the Earth in a circle called an orbit. It takes about 28 days to go matchless sentence around the Earth. The Sun always lights up half of the Moon at one time. The Moon is not a light source it has no light of its own. We can only see the Moon because it reflects light from the Sun. The Moon appears to change conformity (phases) but what we are actually seeking is the Moon lit up by the light from the Sun in different ways on different days.What is the cognizance intimacy that supports the teaching of these two ideas?During the Renaissance, Nicholas Copernicus proposed a heliocentric model of the Solar System. His work was defended, expanded upon, and corrected by Galileo Galilei and Johannes Kelper. Galileo added the innovation of using telescopes to raise his observations. Kelper was the first to devise a system that described correctly the details of the motion of the planets with the Sun at the centre.However, it was left to Newtons invention of celestial dynamics and his truth of gravitation to finally explain the motions of the planets. Newton also developed the reflecting telescope. During the nineteenth century, attention to the tierce body problem by Euler, Clairaut and DAlembert led to more absolute predictions about the motions of the Moon and planets.Part 2Eliciting the childrens ideas you ar e to research two different techniques for assessing the childrens ideas in accomplishmentThe aims of primary science can be by and large divided into two categoriesTo stimulate pupils curiosity in the world around them and encourage critical and creative thinkingTo create a foundation for science at secondary school.To fulfil these aims, pupils need to acquire both factual knowledge and the skills of scientific enquiry, identifying questions that can be addressed scientifically planning and carrying out experiments evaluating data and recognising the limitations of their own and others work. The National Curriculum was introduced in 1989, with science as a core adequate to(p). Before 1989, the science curriculum varied widely amongst primary schools.While the National Curriculum is statutory, schools have the freedom to decide how to teach its content to best meet the needs of their pupils. Children tend to be crazy towards science at a young age, as they explore the world aro und them. However, attitudes towards school subjects, including science, often rifles less positive when they transfer to secondary school. As a result, the DfES is focusing its attention on secondary science. However, the primary years are seen as crucial in developing pupils longer term amuse in science. (postnote, 2003, p2).Further, recent research has suggested that pupils interest in science may start to decline at primary school, which are discussed below in more detail below, includeWhether science teaching is adapted by individual schools to reflect the interest of their pupilsThe focus on preparation of SATs tests in the last year of primary schoolsPrimary teachers train of scientific knowledge and confidence in teaching science.Teaching Primary ScienceIn the 1970s and 1980s, teachers lack of scientific knowledge was seen as a major barrier to developing primary science. Primary teaching is largely a female profession and at the time few girls studied science other than biology. Today, primary teachers scientific knowledge is widely recognised as having improved but the debate over the level of scientific knowledge needed by a primary teacher in order to teach effectively remains active. (postnote, 2003, p3).Some professional scientific institutions argue that factual scientific knowledge is paramount. This view is based on a concern that scientific misconceptions are being taught and reinforced in more or less classrooms. Misconceptions (for example, that the Sun moves round a stationary Earth) are often formed at a young age and are difficult to change. Ofsted has raised crabby concerns over the primary sciences, where it reports that many primary teachers are working at the limit of their redeing).On the other hand, Ofsted has found that the best teaching often involves scientific enquiry and close to argue that the emphasis on factual knowledge distracts from this. The essential aim of scientific enquiry, to develop childrens thinking skil ls, can be seen as the basis of any good primary teaching. However, there is concern that some teachers are unclear of the purpose of scientific enquiry, which prevents them from teaching effectively.The Purpose of Assessment clarifying the main purpose for which young children are assessed can help determine what kinds of judgments would be the most appropriate. Assessment of individual children might serve one of the pastime purposesTo determine progress on significant developmental achievementsTo diagnose learning and teaching problemsTo help in instruction and curriculum decisionsTo serve as a basis for reporting to parents andTo assist a child with assessing his or her own progress.Decisions regarding the purpose of assessment should begin with discussion among all the stakeholders parents, educators, and other members of the community as appropriate. The group may want to keep in mind thatPlans, strategies, and assessment instruments are differentially suited for each of t he following potential purposes of assessmentAn boilersuit assessment should include the four categories of educational goals knowledge, skills, dispositions, and feelingsAssessments make during childrens informal work and play are most likely to minimise the many potential errors of divers(a) assessment strategies. (Katz, 1995, p67).The Risks Of Assessing Young ChildrenYoung children are notoriously poor test-takers perhaps they are sometimes conf utilize by being asked questions that they think the tester mustiness already know the answers to. There is reason to suggest that the younger the child being evaluated, assessed, or tested, the more errors are made (Shepard, 1994 Ratcliff, 1995). If this principle is sound, then the younger the children the longer the children stand firm with a label (a true or false one), the more difficult it may become to discard it.Assessment Technique enactment 1 Earth, Sun and Moon Assessment TestThis test has 14 questions, which are listed b elowWhat shape is the Earth?Put the Moon, Sun and Earth in order of size, biggest first.Why is it difficult to collect evidence about the Sun?Why does the Sun appear to move across the sky?Draw the Moon. rationalize why you have it in this way?How long does it take for the Moon to orbit the Earth?How long does it take the Earth to make one staring(a) turn on its axis?Where does the Sun go at night?What does orbit mean?Why do we get more hours of daylight per day in the summer?Where would you be standing if you got 24 hours of daylight every day in summer?If you were remedy in the same place as in question 11, how many hours per day of darkness would you get in winter?Which TWO changes make plants start to grow in the spring?What was your ducky part of this topic?Foundation deliver 2 children aged 4As stated, very young children do not perform well in tests. This test is more like a knowledge and understanding checklist and can be utilize in a mixed bag of circumstances. If children are going to cook scientific knowledge and retain an interest in the subject as they progress through school, then the learning process must be fun, synergistic and stimulating.With the two 4-year olds the test was used to structure a highly interactive dialogue and to assess their current level of knowledge and understanding of the subject matter. twain children knew kind of a lot about day and night, and the shape of the planets. This information had been developed through a variety of sources from school, mum and dad, play with friends, the TV.The dialogue lasted almost 15 minutes and covered about six or seven of the questions on the list. Asking direct questions did not produce positive results. The children become agitated. However, when they become fully engaged in discussion the test could be used to assess their current level of knowledge. This technique, if used correctly, is a useful and versatile assessment method.The childrens responses to the questions can be recorded and revisited at a later date to determine how much new learning has occurred. This technique is also useful when used in conjunction with a variety of learning resources about the subject matter.Year 2 2 children aged 7In this situation the teacher used less prompts to engage each child in discussion about each of the questions in the test. Again the technique proved for assessing the childrens current level of knowledge and understanding of the subject matter. This session lasted 30 minutes and nearly covered all of the questions. When the children became particularly animated about some aspect of the subject matter then it was more productive to let them express their ideas and opinions for some time rather than simply passing onto the next question.Assessment Technique 2 Concept CartoonsThese are a new approach in teaching, learning and assessment in science. They were created by Brenda Keogh and Stuart Naylor in 1991. They feature cartoon-style drawings sh owing different characters contention about an common situation. They are designed to intrigue, to provoke discussion and to stimulate scientific thinking. They may not have a right answer. They are easy with background science notes for teachers.A typical Concept Cartoon has the followingVisual representation of scientific ideasMinimal text, in dialogue formchoice viewpoints on the situationScientific ideas are applied in everyday situationsThe scientifically acceptable viewpoint in the alternativesThe alternativesWith both sets of children, concept cartoons, proved to be very popular. With the 4 year-olds they obviously needed more assistance to help work through each situation that was a portrayed in each cartoon. The 7 year-olds needed less help and were more able to freely express their ideas and opinions about different aspects of the subject matter.Part 3Foundation Stage 2 children aged 4What the children got rightThere is night and dayThere are 4 seasons, which are cause d by the relationship between the Earth and the SunThe Sun is a star and not a planetMisconceptionsThe Moon is made of cheeseThe Sun goes round the EarthThe Earth stands stillAs stated, the 4 year-olds got their ideas about the Moon, the Sun and the Earth from a wide variety of sources. A major problem with developing scientific knowledge is that the children cannot concern to, many of the concepts in the daily lives. Yes they understand there is night because they go to sleep at night it is physically black. They wake up when it is day. However, the Earth whirl on its axis and orbiting around the Sun is something you can tell them but because they cannot go home and find something to relate to they tend to forget this information. If you simply supply them more facts they end up being more confused.Year 2 2 children aged 7The 7 year-olds are generally more clued up about many of the concepts that were discussed. However, when probed about their level of curiosity about the subject matter they said that they did not really like the subject. Yes they agreed that it was important to understand basic scientific facts but they said they were pre-occupied with other things. They could not easily relate to scientific knowledge in their everyday lives.Misconceptions come from a variety of sources but perhaps a loss of interest in the subject matter was the major cause of this incorrect information. The 7 year-olds were not interested in finding out the correct information. Perhaps the biggest problem with teaching primary science is that the pupils find it extremely difficult to apply scientific knowledge to their everyday lives.There are three key aspects to learning something new friendship i.e. facts e.g. the Earth spins on its axis every 24 hours. knowledge putting the facts into a context, which the pupils understand there are lots of learning resources, which can be used to achieve comprehension.Application this is when the pupils can apply this new knowledge to some aspect of their daily lives.Application is a major weakness in many of the strategies that are used to teach primary school pupils science. Where schools spend a lot of time relating science to other areas of the curriculum and the childrens everyday environment at home and at the school then the childrens knowledge and understanding of science dramatically increases.Part 4 A Strategy To Improve The Quality of Teaching Primary ScienceScience at Key Stage 1 Planning For One Childs (Aged 7) ResponseSection 1 Introduction The activity for this section involved asking Tom to draw and explain a find out showing how these would imagine to a traveller in space. He was asked the following questionsIs the Earth flat?Is the Sun bigger than the Moon?Does the Sun move?Knowledge / Comprehension / Activities These questions were used to ascertain Toms current level of knowledge and understanding. Tom knew that the Earth is not flat. He knew that the Sun was bigger t han the Moon. He was not quite sure whether the Sun moved. This is an area, which requires further investigation.ICT The Paint software package was used to allow Tom to paint the Earth, Moon and Sun.Section 2 Flat or Spherical Children Should LearnThat the Sun, Earth and Moon are approximately sphericalThat it is sometimes difficult to collect evidence to test scientific ideas and that evidence may be indirectKnowledge / ComprehensionChildren recognise that the Earth, Sun and Moon are spheresDescribe some indirect evidence that the Earth is spherical e.g. ships seem and disappearing over the horizonActivities Using photographs of the Earth, Sun and Moon taken from space, Tom was asked to confirm whether the aforementioned bodies were flat or spherical. It was explained to Tom that it is only inside recent times (i.e. the last 40 years) that we have had access to photographic evidence from space about Earth being spherical.Tom was asked why people at an earlier time thought that the Earth was flat. Some ideas were explored. In the Middle Ages for example, people could travel far and far as they were concerned the Earth was flat. In those days for the vast majority of people their eyesight and their ears were the primary source of information. Science as such did not exist.ICT The Internet was used to look for additional photographs of the Earth taken from space.Section 3 Size and Distance Children Should LearnAbout the relative sizes of the Sun, Moon and EarthKnowledge / ComprehensionChildren get three spheres to represent the Earth, Sun and Moon recognising which is largest and which is smallest and making a reasonable match to relative sizeActivities The drawings that Tom had made earlier and the images he had made using Paint were used for the next activity. He was presented with a range of spherical objects lawn tennis ball, ball bearing, table tennis ball etc and was asked to select three of the objects, which he considered represented the re lative size of the Earth, Moon and Sun.ICT Instead of asking Tom to select from a range of spherical objects he could have used Paint to produce spherical images of varying sizes to represent the Earth, Moon and Sun.Section 4 The Changing Position Of The Sun What Children Should Learn?That the Sun appears to move across the sky over the pedigree of a dayThat evidence may be interpreted in more than one wayKnowledge / ComprehensionChildren describe how the apparent position of the Sun changes over the course of a day and clarify that this does not mean that the Sun is movingActivities Tom was asked about where the Sun shines into the school and his home at different times of day. He was asked to consider what happened to his shadow during the course of the day. This activity could be extended to looking at shadows in the playground at different times of the day.ICT Tom was provided with assistance to use the Internet to search for websites, which showed different lengths of sh adows.Section 5 The Movement Of The Earth Children Should LearnThat is the Earth that moves, not the Sun, and the Earth spins on its axis once every 24 hoursThat it is daytime in the part of the Earth facing the Sun and night-time in the part of the Earth away from the SunKnowledge / ComprehensionChildren illustrate (e.g. using drawings etc) that different parts of the Earth face the Sun during the course of the day and where it is day and nightExplain that the movement of the Sun is a result of the Earth rotating or spinningActivities Tom was asked to view a all of a sudden excerpt from a video, which showed the Earth spinning on its axis. A short discussion ensued about how the content of the video and the concepts that were illustrated. A table lamp and a tennis ball were used to illustrate the concepts of day and night.ICT Websites which demonstrate the aforementioned concepts and which are interactive.SummaryWhilst the outlined strategies were effective at helping Tom to i ncrease his knowledge and understanding of the Earth, Moon and Sun it is likely that his retention of this information would be increased by linking these studies to other aspects of the curriculum. For example, green issues, how does the Sun affect Eskimos, people who live in Africa etc. This approach would should to increase the comprehension of the pupils with regard to sections 1 to 5.