What causes the pattern of light and dark on the Moon?

4.B.1 Develop and use models of patterns in the Earth-Sun system to identify the cause-and-effect relationships between Earth’s tilt, solar elevation, and sunlight energy on Earth’s surface and seasonal temperature differences.

4.B.1 Develop and use models of patterns in the Earth-Sun system to identify the cause-and-effect relationships between Earth’s tilt, solar elevation, and sunlight energy on Earth’s surface and seasonal temperature differences.

Use the partner and whole class discussion as a formative assessment moment before students take the individual assessment. Look for the way that students are describing how the tilt affects the temperature. It is common for students to combine their ideas about proximity and warmth with the new ideas about the tilt of Earth to form a hybrid conceptual model. Students who are using this conceptual model will explain that the tilt of Earth pushes one hemisphere closer to the Sun in summer.

If you hear this idea come out, highlight it and ask, Is that what is happening? Does anybody else have a different idea? Ask students to go back to the evidence from the investigation and explain how those data support this idea. The difference in distance due to the tilt of Earth between the two hemispheres is negligible compared to these numbers. Make sure the class comes to consensus that while, in general, proximity does affect how much energy we get from something, in this case, the concentration of the light is the primary driver of temperature patterns.

Having students select a personal norm for their work today will help reinforce to them that the class norms are important. This also creates an opportunity for students to actively participate in group work following norms and to self-regulate their participation in group activity. Over time, these norm-reinforcing strategies can help build a positive group-work culture by encouraging students to identify the resources that can strengthen their group and systems to ensure that all students are actively participating in sense-making.