This is the new updated edition of the first book in the bestselling Uncovering Student Ideas in Science series. Like the first edition of volume 1, this book helps pinpoint what your students know (or think they know) so you can monitor their learning and adjust your teaching accordingly. Loaded with classroom-friendly features you can use immediately, the book includes 25 “probes”—brief, easily administered formative assessments designed to understand your students’ thinking about 60 core science concepts.

Access this probe as a Google form: English

Download this probe as an editable PDF: English

The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about the effect of solar radiation on Earth’s temperature. The probe is designed to find out whether students realize the Earth continues to cool after sundown and up to sunrise until there is sufficient radiation to begin warming the Earth.

Friendly Talk

heat transfer, solar radiation, temperature, weather

The best answer is Emma’s: “I think it will be coldest at the beginning of sunrise.” The coldest part of the day is generally right around the dawn, actually right after the sunrise while the Sun is still very low on the horizon. During the night, the Earth’s surface radiates the heat it has absorbed back out into space, allowing the temperature to drop. It does this during the day as well, but at night it has had the most time to radiate heat back to space without the incoming Sun’s warmth to offset or compensate for the heat loss. Generally during the day more radiant energy is gained than lost and the Earth warms up. Between sunset and sunrise on a clear night, the Earth’s surface generally receives no solar heat and steadily radiates heat back into space and thus cools. The temperature of the Earth’s surface and the air in contact with it drops. Because the Sun is so low to the horizon at the beginning of sunrise, the solar radiation is very weak and is not yet strong enough to offset or compensate for all the heat escaping from the Earth. Clear skies prevent the heat rising from the Earth’s surface to be radiated back to Earth. As a result, the Earth’s surface continues to lose heat for a short time following sunrise, and the air temperature continues to fall. Eventually, as the Sun rises, its rays hit the Earth’s surface under a larger angle and become more concentrated. Eventually the concentration of the Sun’s rays becomes large enough to compensate for the heat loss. The heat gain–loss balance is shifted, and the air finally begins to warm up.

Elementary Students

In the elementary grades, students learn about the heating and cooling of materials. They observe that warm materials gradually lose heat when they are no longer in contact with a heat source. They learn that the Sun heats the Earth and that during the night the Sun is not shining on the Earth. They can observe and analyze daily temperature fluctuations, including how the temperature in their area is usually lower in the evening and rises again in the daytime.

Middle School Students

In the middle grades, students learn about the various ways heat travels. They develop a more sophisticated understanding of solar radiation and how different materials absorb energy. They can devise models to observe how an object cools down when a source of light and heat is no longer in contact with an object or material and how different materials lose heat at different rates. They can collect and use temperature data to analyze heating and cooling patterns in their local area during a 24-hour photoperiod.

High School Students

Students at the high school level expand their experiences in observing daily heating and cooling of a local area to understanding the Earth’s radiant energy balance. They then apply this understanding to climate. They should recognize greenhouse gases and explain how they trap energy and reduce the cooling of the Earth. They should also recognize the effects of clouds, oceans, snow and ice cover, and position of mountain ranges on heating and cooling.

This probe can be adapted to fit the geographic locale of the students it is used with. For example, use sunset and sunrise times for a local area during a specific date.

• Our preliminary use of this probe revealed that many students from all grade levels think midnight is the coldest time of the night and that it slowly warms up after midnight.
• When we probed further with students who chose 3:00 a.m., they explained that it wouldn’t be coldest at the beginning of sunrise because as soon as sunlight strikes the Earth, it starts warming up again. 

Childs, G. 2007. A solar energy cycle. Science & Children (Mar.): 26–29.

Damonte, K. 2005. Science shorts: Heating up, cooling down. Science & Children. (Jul.): 47–48.

Gilbert, S. W., and S. W. Ireton. 2003. Understanding models in earth and space science. Arlington, VA: NSTA Press.

Oates-Bockenstedt, C., and M. Oates. 2008. Earth science success: 50 lesson plans for grades 6–9. Arlington, VA: NSTA Press.

• This probe lends itself to an inquiry investigation. Have students collect daily and nightly temperature data at hourly intervals during normal weather conditions, noting the time of sunrise and sundown to observe temperature patterns. Internet sites also provide hourly temperature data at specific locations on given dates as well as sunrise and sunset times. Use the P-E-O-E technique (Keeley 2008) to ask students to commit to a prediction that matches a response on the probe. Ask them to explain their thinking, make observations by collecting data, and then revise their explanations if their data do not support their predictions.
• Consider modeling this scenario using a material that absorbs heat from a heat lamp. Move the position and angle of the lamp to simulate the absorption of heat during the day and the slow loss of heat as the Sun sets over the horizon due to the rotation of the Earth. Turn off the lamp to simulate night. Simulate sunrise with a narrow angle between the material and the heat lamp, beginning with only part of the heat lamp shining on the material to simulate the Sun gradually rising over the horizon at dawn. Gradually widen the angle to simulate sunrise. Observe the cooling during the night and gradual rise in temperature right after sunrise.