Over the last 500 years humans have gone from seeing a man in the moon to seeing a man on the moon. This phenomenal advance in collective learning has taken place thanks in large part to a group of strategies which have come to be referred to as The Scientific Method. If humankind has made so much progress by using the Scientific Method, then why not teach all our children to use it at an early age rather than waiting until high school or college to teach a few who are fast-tracked into science and technology careers. If we have made this much progress with a few humans using these strategies, then what will our collective learning curve look like if we are all trained to make science discoveries and/or to appreciate the discoveries of others?

Sunday, October 14, 2007

AZIMUTH OF THE SUN

OBJECTIVE: USE THE SUN’S SHADOW TO FIND ITS AZIMUTH LOCATION

Time Needed: One or two periods

Materials:

Azimuth Chart
Compass
Nail or short pencil

Procedure:

1. Wait for a sunny day.
2. Take students outside. Caution them to never look directly at the sun.
3. Ask students if they know what direction the sun is coming from.
4. If they point in a vague direction, tell them that they have a very precise measuring instrument in their hands that can be used to find the answer to within 5 degrees.
5. Have students work in pairs to solve the problem: how to find the sun’s azimuth (without looking at the sun).
6. They should eventually come up with the solution: line up the azimuth chart with north, place a nail or pencil in the center of the azimuth chart, pinpoint the azimuth direction of the shadow, and then find the opposite azimuth point, which will be the direction of the sun.
7. Have students write the data in their journals.

NYS Standards for Lesson #7
Standard 1 Scientific Inquiry
Key Idea #2 : S2.1, S2.2,

Standard 4 Physical Setting
Key Idea #1 Explain daily, monthly, and seasonal changes on Earth

Standard 7 Common Themes
Key Idea #2 Models 2.1, 2.2, 2.3
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