LESSON FOUR:
THE MOON

Curriculum Expectations

• The activities in this section will cover a large portion of the curriculum requirements in the space unit and will introduce concepts such as distance between the Earth and Moon, surface features, phases of the Moon, cycles in nature caused by the Moon. It will take a few periods to work through the activities!

Pre-activities: Lunar Journals and Moon Sketching:

• Identify cycles in nature (e.g., cycle of day and night, cycle of seasons) and describe the changes within the cycles (e.g., observe the phases of the Moon over several months to determine the pattern of change, and record these observations);

• Describe, using models or simulations, the effects of the relative motion and positions of the Earth, Moon, and Sun (e.g., solar and lunar eclipses, tides, phases of the Moon);

1. Earth Moon Activity

• Investigate, using models and simulations, the relationship between the Sun, Earth, and Moon;

• Identify the bodies in space that emit light (stars) and those that reflect light (e.g., moons, planets);

2. Modelling Lunar Phases

• Demonstrate an understanding of the patterns of change observable on Earth as a result of the movement of the different bodies in the solar system (e.g., solar and lunar eclipses, tides, phases of the Moon, position of the constellations);

• Describe, using models or simulations, the effects of the relative motion and positions of the Earth, Moon, and Sun (e.g., solar and lunar eclipses, tides, phases of the Moon);

3. Creating Craters

• Describe, using models or simulations, the features of the Moon’s surface (e.g., craters, maria, rills);

• Formulate questions about, and identify needs and problems related to objects and events in the environment, and explore possible answers and solutions (e.g., investigate why craters are of different sizes;

• Plan investigations for some of these answers and solutions, identifying variables that need to be held constant to ensure a fair test and identifying criteria for assessing solutions;

Common Misconceptions

It is really worth your while to take 10 minutes to do the Harvard-Smithsonian Private Universe Teachers' Lab survey about misconceptions related to phases of the Moon at:

http://www.learner.org/teacherslab/pup/yourideas.html

A lot of people think that the Earth and the Moon are closer to each other than they actually are. This misconception leads people to incorrectly conclude that the Moon must pass into Earth's shadow each month and that Earth's shadow causes the phases of the Moon. (In fact, the Moon is so far away from Earth and compared with its size, the Moon falls into Earth's shadow a minimum of 2 times and a maximum of 5 times each year.) The Earth Moon Activity can help to remedy this misconception.

Background information for Teachers

(from "The Annenberg/CPB Math and Science Project)

• The phases of the Moon are caused by its position relative to Earth and the Sun.

• The Moon doesn't change shape at all. It is the way the light from the Sun hits the Moon that allows us to see the phases.

• The Moon orbits about the Earth once every month and we can see the sunlit part of the Moon from different angles; these are the phases.

• The Moon rotates, but does so in such a way (approximately 28 days) that we always see the same side of the Moon which is what astronomers call the "nearside". We never see the "farside" of the Moon.

• In a 28-day period the Moon swells from the new Moon (which we can’t see), through to the crescent, to the first quarter, the "gibbous," and then the full Moon, before waning to the new Moon again.

• For a guide to phases of the Moon, complete with diagrams and informative text, see:

  http://www.aspsky.org/education/tnl/12/12.html

• The Moon orbits the Earth and when it is between Earth and the Sun, we have the new Moon (the new Moon is not visible to us on Earth). When it is on the opposite side of Earth from the Sun, we see the full Moon.

• The Moon rises and sets about 50 minutes later each day

• Sometimes the Moon is visible in the sky during the day. You can see the Moon in the sky in the afternoon when it is a first waxing quarter Moon (rises at about noon and sets about midnight). You can see the Moon in the sky in the morning when it is a third quarter waning Moon rises about midnight and sets about noon)

• The full Moon rises about sunset and sets at about sunrise

• How to tell if the Moon is waxing or waning:

  If you can hold the half Moon in your right hand (between your index finger and thumb), that means it is waxing. If you can hold it in your left hand, that means it is waning.

• The Earth and the Moon are about 387,000 kilometers apart. 30 Earths laid end to end equal the distance between Earth and the Moon.

• The Moon's diameter is a quarter the size of Earth's diameter.

Introductory Activities

Start at least 2 - 3 weeks ahead of time for these activities: Hopefully, your students have, from the introductory lessons in this unit, had a chance to observe the Moon over a period of a few weeks, either by lunar journals or by sketching the Moon above the horizon over a few weeks.

Have students keep a journal of the Moon for a 3 week period. Each night they record:

1. The date the observation was made
   
2. The time of viewing
   
3. The appearance of the Moon
   
4. Its movement/position in the sky

*Don’t forget to tell them to look for the Moon in the night sky and the daytime as well!

For a more in-depth use of Lunar Journals and provides a wealth of questions to stimulate students’ thinking, see:

http://www.learner.org/teacherslab/pup/moonjrnl_print.html

Have your students try to get a glimpse of the Moon each night at around the same time. Use one large page of paper over the course of a 3 week period, drawing the shape of the Moon that is visible each night and its position in the sky compared to the horizon.

Moon Motions Scenario

Time: 10 mins/student

Materials:
- computer with Internet access (students work individually)

http://www.learner.org/teacherslab/pup/act_sunmoon.html

Here is a wonderful website where students can compare the movement of the Moon that they have observed with nine possible scenarios from the model of the Moon's motions. This is also available as a print-out. Just go to the site and click on the print version.

Main Activities

Time: 30 mins.

Teacher Demonstration /Students in Small Groups

Even though it seems that the Moon is huge when it is on the horizon, this is an optical illusion. You can check this by comparing the size of the Moon at the horizon and overhead with the tip of your pinkie held at arm's length. The Moon will be the same size.

http://www.learner.org/teacherslab/pup/act_earthmoon.html

In the activity (found at the website above), students use spherical objects such as softballs, tennis balls, golf balls, and marbles to build a more accurate conception of the distance between Earth and the Moon. Beginning with an investigation of the Moon's distance from Earth helps students to understand that half of the Moon's surface is always lit. Students work in pairs using different-sized spherical objects to represent Earth and the Moon. The diameter of the objects is used to establish scale.

Time: 30 mins.

Teacher Demonstration/Students in Pairs

In this activity, the phases of the Moon are modelled with a light source (to represent the Sun) and a styrofoam ball (representing the Moon) to show how the phases of the Moon arise and why they change and also about eclipses. The student’s head represents Earth. The activity helps students visualize the geometry of Earth's orbit and the orbits of the Sun and the Moon. Students observe how different portions of the ball are illuminated as they hold it in various positions. They create a complete series of phases matching the appearance of the Moon and are then able to relate lunar phases to the positions of Earth and the Sun.

Students will be able to state the order of the lunar phases from one full Moon to the next and to demonstrate how the position of the Moon relative to Earth creates lunar phases.

• A light source with clear bulb to represent the Sun. We use a clip-on lamp placed on top of an object such as an overhead projector at eye level in middle of room.
  
• Light works well as you will need to set up your light source in the middle of the room (we clip it onto an overhead projector on a table in the middle of the room).
  
• One styrofoam ball for every two students (to represent the Moon). If you can’t get styrofoam balls, have students scrunch up paper into a ball shape and stick a pencil in the bottom. They’ll now be holding up the pencil with the "Moon" on top.
  
• Cards with pictures and names of lunar phases.

1. Have the class sit in a circle while you use a volunteer to help you demonstrate the activity.

2. Turn on the lamp (Sun) and have student stand facing away from Sun, holding up styrofoam ball out and above head. In this position, Earth is between Sun and Moon, so the styrofoam ball should be seen from Earth as fully lit, or in its full Moon phase. Now have student put the Moon between Earth and the Sun. What is the view from Earth now? The nearside is dark, therefore can’t be seen from Earth and is a new Moon. It’s a good idea to have cards printed with the picture and name of each phase. Hold them up or tape them to the blackboard as you demonstrate.

3. Have half the class sit and watch while the other half of the class gets up with a styrofoam ball to try out the demonstration. Stop the demo students on occasion and ask the viewers what phase each student’s Moon is in. Students can refer to the cards on the blackboard for easy reference.

For a more detailed version of this activity, go to:

http://www.learner.org/teacherslab/pup/act_moonphase.html

Here’s a 10 minute activity that you can do with students if you happen to be fortunate enough to have a sunny day when the Moon is visible (in the morning if the Moon is at last quarter, or in the afternoon if the Moon is at first quarter). This activity reinforces how the phases of the Moon are caused by the way the light from the Sun hits the Moon. Stand in the sunlight with the Moon visible; hold a ball or other round object in your hand; extend the round object in the direction of the Moon, and note that it is illuminated in the same way as the Moon is illuminated by the Sun.

Time: Lots of prep time required!

Activity: 30 mins.

Teacher demonstration/Students in groups of 4

There are very few astronomy activities in which you can control the variables, in the same way as you would in a lab experiment. One way is through this messy-but-fun activity in which students create craters in a pan of flour.

In this activity, students experiment to find out more about what causes the various features of impact craters. What they learn in this activity about our own Moon, Luna, they can later compare and contrast to what they find out about the moons of Jupiter and our own planet Earth.

http://www.ThursdaysClassroom.com/10feb00/teach10.html

You will have to review the website to gather all the materials needed. There are quite a few materials needed for this activity, but it is well worth it. In general here are the main items:

• 1 or more brooms or whisk brooms to clean up spills
  
• 1 container of instant chocolate milk powder
  
• Three or four 2kg packages of white flour
  
• The website provides links for pictures of the full Moon and crater Copernicus to be printed out on to transparency paper.
  
• 1 overhead projector and screen
  
• Shallow basins, newspaper, spoons, 3 rocks (small, medium and large) for each group
  
• 1 "Craters" activity sheet (provided on website)

Language Arts Links:

• Read your students this Tsmishian legend from the Pacific Northwest:

  Walks All Over the Sky

  From: Starlore of Native America assembled by Brad Snowder at:
  http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~skywise/legends.html#Walks

  Back when the sky was completely dark there was a chief with two sons, a younger son, One Who Walks All Over the Sky, and an older son, Walking About Early. The younger son was sad to see the sky always so dark so he made a mask out of wood and pitch (the Sun) and lit it on fire. Each day he travels across the sky. At night he sleeps below the horizon and when he snores sparks fly from the mask and make the stars. The older brother became jealous. To impress their father he smeared fat and charcoal on his face (the Moon) and makes his own path across the sky.

• Have your students work cooperatively to do research about Moon myths. The following site has all the instructions and resources needed:
  http://btc.montana.edu/ceres/html/Quemoon1.html