Interactive Resources

Astronomy with a Stick / Day into Night

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Astronomy with a Stick

AWS Unit 1: Tracking a Moving Shadow

Introduction :: Activity 1 :: Activity 2 :: Activity 3 :: Activity 4

Introduction

This unit details observations to be made on a sunny area of the school playground. The outdoor investigations stimulate questions about shadows and moving bodies and motivate the search for causes.

Objective

To make indirect observations of the Earth's rotation

Materials

  • A portable perpendicular gnomon (This can be constructed with or without the class present. See item 1 of the procedure.)
  • Sidewalk chalk
  • Whistle
  • Seasonally/topically appropriate word finds, crossword puzzles and other paper and pencil activities
  • A meter stick
  • A string compass made from a piece of string 50 cm long with an anchor at one end and a piece of chalk at the other
  • A wooden chalkboard compass (if unavailable, angles can be bisected with the string compass)
  • A protractor
  • Student created journal
  • Graph paper

National Science Teachers Association
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Arlington, Virginia 22201-3000
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www.nsta.org

Send comments to: astronomy@nsta.org


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