Earth is the third planet from the Sun. It travels around the Sun in a nearly circular orbit at a distance of about 150 million kilometers. Earth is water rich, with 71% of the planet’s surface covered with water. It is surrounded by a shallow atmosphere of nitrogen (78%) and oxygen (21%), and small amounts of a lot of other gases. The anchor phenomena students investigate in the Earth and Sun Module are the patterns observed in the sky over a day, a month, a year, and more, and their effect on Earth. The driving question for the module is how do Earth’s geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere interact to create a sustainable environment for life?
The constant renewal of water on Earth’s land surfaces by the activities in the atmosphere is one of the defining characteristics of Earth, the water planet. The Earth and Sun Module provides students with experiences to explore the properties of the atmosphere, energy transfer from the Sun to Earth, and the dynamics of weather and water cycling in Earth’s atmosphere. Other experiences help students to develop and use models to understand Earth’s place in the solar system, and the interactions of Earth, the Sun, and the Moon to reveal predictable patterns—daily length and direction of shadows, day and night, and the seasonal appearance of stars in the night sky. Students gain experiences that will contribute to the understanding of crosscutting concepts of patterns; cause and effect; scale, proportion, and quantity; systems and system models; and energy and matter.
The anchor phenomena investigated in this module are the patterns observed in the sky over a day, a month, a year, and more, and their effects on Earth. The driving question for the module is how do Earth’s four major subsystems (geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere) interact to create a sustainable environment for all life, including human life?
Students start in Investigation 1 by investigating two related phenomena—outdoor shadows and how they change as the Sun’s position in the sky changes during the day, and the phenomenon of day and night. The guiding questions are how can we predict events based on shadows? and what do shadows tell us about daily patterns involving the Earth/Sun system?
In Investigation 2, students consider the phenomenon that we see some objects in the sky during the day, some only at night, and some at both times, and they appear to move across the sky. Some of these objects, stars, give off light; others reflect the light of stars. The guiding questions are what objects do we observe in our solar system and how do they move in relation to each other? and what do we see outside of our system?
In investigation 3, students investigate the phenomenon that air surrounds us—Earth has an atmosphere. They connect the phenomenon of local weather to activities in the atmosphere. The guiding question is what is Earth’s atmosphere and what does it have to do with weather?
In Investigation 4, students investigate the phenomena that solar energy (sunlight) can transfer to matter on Earth’s surface (geosphere and hydrosphere), and, in turn, to Earth’s atmosphere. The guiding question is how does Earth’s atmosphere heat up?
Finally, in Investigation 5, students turn to the phenomenon of water on Earth—a critically important factor in determining weather. The guiding questions are how is water distributed over Earth’s surface and atmosphere?, how does water move over the planet?, and what is the effect of water movement on Earth? This brings students back to the driving question for the module—how do Earth’s four major subsystems—hydrosphere, geosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere—interact to create a sustainable environment for all life, including humans?
The documents below have been created to help consider the FOSS materials in the context of the Next Generation Science Standards. We recommend you review, at the very least, the following documents:
Unit Guide - A summary of materials, sequencing and content for the module.
Storyline - An overview of the sequencing and reasons for the various activities
Assessment - A collection of assessment tools including what to look for as students work on the activities.
We've put together some resources to help you plan when to make Moon observations - particularly to help schedule daytime moon observations. (As well as tips for helping students understand what causes the phases of the moon.)