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Interactive
American Association of Physics Teachers

Com Padre Digital Library: Open Source Physics: Ballistics and Orbits Model

For Students 9th - 10th
Experience a simulation of ballistic trajectories in relationship to Earth's orbit. Java 1.5 or more recent is required.
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Website
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: What Causes the Gulf Stream?

For Students 9th - 10th
This video segment adapted from NOVA uses satellite imagery to illustrate the Gulf Stream's path and animations to explain how atmospheric phenomena cause it to move. [1:51]
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Activity
University of Chicago

University of Chicago: What's Your Slant? Sun and Shadows

For Students 9th - 10th
This fun activity helps you to understand the movement of the sun by studying shadows.
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Unit Plan
E-learning for Kids

E Learning for Kids: Science: Rio De Janeiro: Day and Night: The Sun

For Students Pre-K - 1st
Gabriella lives in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Help her learn more about the sun and identify the properties of the sun.
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Activity
Exploratorium

Exploratorium: Science Snacks: Reflections of a Star

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This simple lesson allows students to work cooperatively in determining the angular diameter of the Sun.
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eBook
Libre Text

Libre Text: The Coriolis Force

For Students 9th - 10th
The Coriolis force is a central element of the dynamics of ocean and atmosphere flows.
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Graphic
Curated OER

Earth Rotates Toward the East

For Students 3rd - 8th
This site from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration provides a fun project on rockets. "Nothing in space stands still. Everything either orbits around something else, or moves toward or away from something else. So how do...
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Handout
Science Struck

Science Struck: A Scientific Explanation to What Causes Day and Night

For Students 4th - 8th
Explains how the rotation and the axial tilt of the Earth are responsible for the phenomenon of day and night. Provides information about the Sun, the solar system, and the Earth, and how the circumference of the Earth was first measured...
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Article
Cornell University

Cornell University: Astronomy: Eratosthenes

For Students 9th - 10th
Learn how Greek mathematician Eratosthenes used geometry to estimate the circumference of the Earth.
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Website
NASA

Nasa: Heliophysics: New Science of the Sun Solar System Connection

For Students 9th - 10th
This site from NASA lists common and uncommon misconceptions about Sun-Earth Science. Site also provides links to activities and lesson plans as well as background reading.
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Whiteboard
ClassFlow

Class Flow: Weather

For Teachers Pre-K - 1st
[Free Registration/Login Required] This flipchart discusses the weather, sun, earth, day, night, and rotation.
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Unit Plan
University of Illinois

University of Illinois Extension: Tree House Weather Kids: What Causes the Season?

For Students 5th - 8th
Explore what causes the change of seasons on the Earth.
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Graphic
Curated OER

Global Wind Pattern on the Earth Without an Ocean, Axiz Tilt, and Rotation.

For Students 9th - 10th
Global wind pattern on the earth without an ocean, axiz tilt, and rotation.
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Website
Ohio State University

Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears: Common Misconceptions About Day and Night

For Students 9th - 10th
Misconceptions about the causes of seasons and day and night are common through all ages. Use the information on this site to help your students understand these concepts. Included are links to many resources and lesson plans for...
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Activity
Math Is Fun

Math Is Fun: A Day

For Students Pre-K - 1st
How long is a day? What do most children do during certain hours of the day? What is day? This site offers the answers to these questions, lists the days of the week, and provides a hour-by-hour listing of what a typical kid's day...
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Website
Other

Electric Sky: Vernal Equinox

For Students 9th - 10th
This site, created by an amateur who has studied astronomy for thirty years, provides a scholarly explanation of the vernal equinox. Links to definitions of significant terms.
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Whiteboard
ClassFlow

Class Flow: Space

For Teachers Pre-K - 1st
[Free Registration/Login Required] This flipchart describes what causes the seasons, explains the moon's phases, and introduces what a constellation is. It utilizes the Activotes to help describe the phenomena.
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Unit Plan
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Sunspots on the Move

For Students K - 1st
The following videos show sunspots using wavelengths of light that the human eye cannot see. Watch sunspots emerging on the earth's surface, a sunspot moving across the earth's surface, and the rotation of the sun as a sunspot evolves...
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Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Glaciers, Water and Wind, Oh My!

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
This hands-on activity explores five different forms of erosion (chemical, water, wind, glacier and temperature). Students rotate through stations and model each type of erosion on rocks, soils and minerals. The students record their...
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eBook
OpenStax

Open Stax: Gyroscopic Effects: Vector Aspects of Angular Momentum

For Students 11th - 12th
From a chapter on Rotational Motion and Angular Momentum in a Physics textbook. This section of the chapter explains how to use the right-hand rule to determine direction for angular velocity, momentum, and torque. Also discusses the...
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Interactive
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Giving Rise to the Jet Stream

For Students 9th - 10th
This interactive activity from NOVA Online uses animation and graphics to offer a detailed explanation of the jet stream. A thorough account is given of the role played by the Sun's heat and Earth's shape and rotation, among other factors.
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Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Tracking the Sun: Observing the Path of the Sun Throughout the Year

For Teachers 3rd - 7th
Over the course of the school year, students collect weekly data about the sun's position at a specific time of day, resulting in creating a figure "8" that shows the path of the sun called an analemma.
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Unknown Type
American Association for the Advancement of Science

Aaas: Project 2061: Topic: Weather and Climate Ii: Seasonal Differences

For Teachers 9th - 10th
[Free Registration/Login Required] Create a science test that checks for student understanding in science, for common misconceptions, as well as for correct ideas. This is a list of key ideas related to Weather and Climate II: Seasonal...
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Lesson Plan
Utah Education Network

Uen: Trb 3:1 Investigation 6 Celestial Model

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders will gain an understanding of why stars appear to move across the night sky.

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