October 22

Due Thursday October 24. 

The "Seasons: Why Do We Have Them?" assignment is designed to help students explore and understand the concept of seasons and why they occur. The activity includes several parts:

1. Prior Knowledge Questions: Students answer basic questions about sunlight and seasons before engaging in the exploration to assess their initial understanding.

2. Gizmo Warm-up: Students use a Gizmo simulation to observe how the angle of sunlight affects energy absorption by releasing sunlight rays onto a plate at various angles. They predict and then observe how direct and indirect sunlight impact energy absorption.

3. Activity A – Sunlight on a Plate: Students experiment with different angles of sunlight hitting a plate, recording data on how the angle affects the number of rays that hit the plate. They analyze the data and relate it to how sunlight hits different parts of Earth.

4. Activity B – Sunlight on Earth: Students simulate how sunlight hits various points on Earth and observe how the tilt of Earth’s axis and its orbit around the Sun cause seasons. They collect data from different "plates" on Earth (representing various locations) to see which receive the most or least sunlight at different times of the year.

In summary, the assignment uses simulations and guided questions to help students grasp how the tilt of Earth’s axis and its position in its orbit around the Sun lead to the changing seasons.