Week 6: Earth Sun Moon

 What are your best understandings about?...

1. How the phases of the moon occur? 

The sun covers the moon in different phases and only shows parts of the moon at certain times. Waxing gibbous, waning gibbous, crescent. 

2. What causes the seasons? 

The way that the earth is turned or rotated on the axis and with the hemispheres.

3. What causes a lunar eclipse? 

When the sun is directly in front of the moon. 

What did you do in lab today? 

The questions above are ones that I answered before we started investigating in lab. As seen above, I only had some ideas as to how the sun, earth, and moon work together. I believe I had some prior misconceptions before we began investigating. In lab, we were able to better visual how the moon, earth, and sun work together with the different globes we had, styrofoam balls for the moon, and the light bulb for the sun. After better explanation and visuals, I was able to see that the sun does not cover the moon to make different phases, but rather the spots that are facing the earth that are sunlit are the parts of the moon that we see, creating the different phases. In lab, we also discussed the history behind all of this, learning about geocentric versus heliocentric, and the people that made these ideas along with the catholic churches beliefs. 

What was the big question?

The big question we investigated and made sense of is where are the moon, sun, and earth in relation to each other for the different moon phases?

What did you learn in Thursday's discussion?

In Thursday's lecture, I learned a lot more in depth of what we were investigating in lab. Firstly, I learned that as a teacher, you cannot move forward if less than half of your class understands concepts that you are teaching. That is very important. I learned that the earth does not orbit in an ellipse orbit, and that idea was made because of the 3D picture of the earth's orbit was taken and made 2D. The earth orbits the sun in a circle, as does the moon when it orbits the earth. I also learned that it is NOT warmer in the summer BECAUSE we are closer to the sun. This is a big misconception. I learned that depending on the hemisphere, northern or southern, it is tilted on the earth's axis. So, when the northern hemisphere is experiencing summer, the earth is tilted towards the sun, giving off direct sunlight, and opposite for the winter. We are actually closest to the sun in January! I learned that as the moon is orbiting the earth, we on earth see parts of the moon's sunlit side. I also learned about the tropic lines, and how those play into role with the seasons that we experience. 

Pressbook:

-What did you learn?

I learned a lot of information in the pressbook, which helped me come to sense about what we were experimenting in lab and then talking about in lecture. I learned that geo means earth and centr- means center, so geocentrism is the idea that earth is at the center of the solar system. I also learned that helio means sun and that heliocentrism is the idea that the sun is at the center of the solar system. I learned that a new moon is when the face of the moon is not visible to us on earth. I also learned about the equinoxes and the solstices that happen throughout the year. There is a spring equinox, an autumn equinox, a winter solstice, and a summer solstice. Equinoxes is when all of earth gets an equal amount of sunlight, and solstices is when each of the hemispheres either gets the least amount of sunlight or the most amount of sunlight. 

-What was most helpful? 

I thought that all of the visuals, graphs, and videos were the most helpful. I specifically liked the pictures of the phases of the moon and the pictures for the equinoxes and solstices. I thought that these pictures gave me a better explanation and a good visual to really piece my thinking together. 

-What do you need more information on?

I would like more information on the seasons. There was a picture/visual to show the earth's seasons, but I thought it was not very in depth like some of the other pictures that were on the pressbook. 

What questions, concerns, and/or comments do you have?

'Everyone on earth sees the same phase of the moon on the same day" This one statement in the pressbook kind of confused me. I can't remember if we exactly talked about this idea and I have a good grasp on the main ideas, but this still confuses me. If someone is on the exact other side of the earth from me, and I see a crescent, does that mean they will see the same crescent but just at a different time? Or is it there and they maybe just can't see it?