Prek-2 A1

Science Curriculum Preview Committee Clarification of Learning Results

Revised 08/22/04

PreK-2

G1. Explain cycles of day/night and of the seasons

Curriculum Organizing Questions

What are the seasons?

When do the different seasons occur?

What happens during each season?

What gives us our light in the day?

What makes it dark at night?

Elaboration
Focus should be on observation and noting changes throughout the year. Through observations, students will come to understand that days are longer in summer and shorter in winter. They will come to understand the characteristics of each season and the order of the seasons.

Specific Ideas

The sun can only be seen in the daytime, but the moon can be seen sometimes at night and sometimes during the day. Benchmarks 4A1.

The sun, moon, and stars all appear to move slowly across the sky. Benchmarks 4A1.

The rotation of the earth on its axis every 24 hours produces the night-and-day cycle. To people on earth, this turning of the planet makes it seem as though the sun, moon, planets, and stars are orbiting the earth once a day. Benchmarks 4B2, 3rd-5th.

Seasons result from variations in the amount of the sun's energy hitting the surface, due to the tilt of the earth's rotation on its axis and the length of the day. NSES D3d, 6th-8th.

Developmental & Instructional Implications
During these years, learning about objects in the sky should be entirely observational and qualitative, for the children are far from ready to understand the magnitude involved or to make sense out of explanations. The priority is to get students noticing and describing what the sky looks like to them at different times. They should, for example, observe how the moon appears to change its shape, but it is too soon to name all the moon's phases and much to soon to explain them. Benchmarks, p. 62

Any type of explanation of cycles is developmentally inappropriate at this age. Even at grades 5-8 more than half of the students are unable to use the models they've developed to explain the phases of the moon, and the correct explanations for the seasons is even more difficult. NSES p. 159.

Examples

Adopting a tree and observing its changes over the seasons.

Keeping graphs of weather and temperature.

Noting appropriate dress for each season.

Back to Big Ideas Grid G

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Curriculum Organizing Questions	What are the seasons? When do the different seasons occur? What happens during each season? What gives us our light in the day? What makes it dark at night?
Elaboration	Focus should be on observation and noting changes throughout the year. Through observations, students will come to understand that days are longer in summer and shorter in winter. They will come to understand the characteristics of each season and the order of the seasons.
Specific Ideas	The sun can only be seen in the daytime, but the moon can be seen sometimes at night and sometimes during the day. Benchmarks 4A1. The sun, moon, and stars all appear to move slowly across the sky. Benchmarks 4A1. The rotation of the earth on its axis every 24 hours produces the night-and-day cycle. To people on earth, this turning of the planet makes it seem as though the sun, moon, planets, and stars are orbiting the earth once a day. Benchmarks 4B2, 3rd-5th. Seasons result from variations in the amount of the sun's energy hitting the surface, due to the tilt of the earth's rotation on its axis and the length of the day. NSES D3d, 6th-8th.
Developmental & Instructional Implications	During these years, learning about objects in the sky should be entirely observational and qualitative, for the children are far from ready to understand the magnitude involved or to make sense out of explanations. The priority is to get students noticing and describing what the sky looks like to them at different times. They should, for example, observe how the moon appears to change its shape, but it is too soon to name all the moon's phases and much to soon to explain them. Benchmarks, p. 62 Any type of explanation of cycles is developmentally inappropriate at this age. Even at grades 5-8 more than half of the students are unable to use the models they've developed to explain the phases of the moon, and the correct explanations for the seasons is even more difficult. NSES p. 159.
Examples	Adopting a tree and observing its changes over the seasons. Keeping graphs of weather and temperature. Noting appropriate dress for each season.