The manipulation of models also assists students to view the motion of the sun, Earth and the moon from a new perspective of an observer of the whole system as opposed to their usual perspective as an observer on a very small region on the surface of the Earth. Opportunities to make models and to manipulate the models to help students explain their ideas should be provided. Students’ preconceptions should be identified and then their understanding should be guided and developed through discussion and hands-on activities. In this way the research is more directed and not simply a fact finding exercise. They should then be guided to develop their own questions to research and explore. These observations can be made during the day as well as at night. Students should be encouraged to make use of observable features of astronomy. Students are often interested and highly motivated to learn about ideas about space and care must be taken to avoid the overuse of library and internet sources and to ensure that students are engaged and thinking about secondary sources of information. At any one time half of the Earth’s sphere is in sunlight (day) while the other half is in darkness (night).Įxplore the relationships between ideas about day and night in theĬoncept Development Maps - (Gravity, Stars, Solar System).An Earth day is 24 hours because the Earth spins on its axis once every 24 hours.The Earth and sun are part of the solar system, with the sun at its centre.The Earth is a sphere and the sun is a star and produces light.The term ‘one day’ is determined by the time the Earth takes to rotate once on its axis and includes both day time and night time. Day and night are due to the Earth rotating on its axis, not its orbiting around the sun. The Earth orbits the sun once every 365 days and rotates about its axis once every 24 hours. The Earth is essentially a sphere and the sun is a nearby star which is an unimaginably large ball of gas that radiates light and heat as products of nuclear reactions. The Earth is one of several planets that orbit the sun, and the moon orbits the Earth. These views are also evident in and related to the focus idea night occurs when clouds cover the sun.night occurs when the moon covers the sun.a day is the time it takes for the sun to move around the Earth.a day is the time it takes the Earth to move around the sun.the sun and the moon are on different sides of the Earth and the Earth rotates facing one and then the other.the sun shines during the day and the moon shines at night.Students hold a range of views which they use to explain day and night: Note: the girl’s hair still hangs ‘down’.

The view is that observers are located around the surface of the Earth but ‘down’ is not towards the centre of the Earth, but towards the bottom of the page. The view that the air and Earth form equal hemispheres and the observer is located centrally. The view is that the Earth is a circular disc floating in the atmosphere. Top of the sphere as the upright person (see diagram 3 below). Students can often represent the Earth as a sphere (or circle on the plane of the paper) but they still perceive the person on the Some children view the Earth as round or circular as opposed to spherical (see diagram 1 below).Īnother common view is of the Earth as flat and that it and the air form a sphere (see diagram 2 below). Even though students can often articulate that the Earth is a sphere, upon further investigation they often believe in fact that the Earth is how they perceive it, flat.

The views held by students about the shape of the Earth are varied and often unique to the individual. This can make ideas in this area very challenging for students to grasp. In order to understand the motion of the sun and Earth they must imagine a different point of reference. In addition, students observe motion from their own point of reference. They often find it difficult to comprehend distances in the order of their own country and consequently larger distances like those involved with the solar system are often unimaginable for them. They observe the world from their own place on a very small region of the Earth. This has implications for their understandings of ideas that represent objects on a very large scale like the solar system. Understandably, students have a strong tendency to interpret reality only according to the way it is perceived from their own perspective.

Contrasting student and scientific viewsĬontrasting student and scientific views Student everyday experiences.

Does the sun revolve around the earth