📸 Photo Description
The video shows a car driving down a road with houses and trees on the side. The sun is low in the sky, casting long shadows from the trees and the car onto the ground. The light is warm and golden, indicating it is either early morning or late afternoon.
🔬 Scientific Phenomena
This video captures the phenomenon of shadow formation and its relation to the sun's position. The sun's light travels in straight lines. When an object, like a tree or a car, blocks the path of sunlight, a shadow is formed on the surface behind it. The length and direction of the shadow change depending on the angle of the sun in the sky. When the sun is low (sunrise or sunset), shadows are long, and when the sun is high (midday), shadows are short.
📚 Core Science Concepts
- Sunlight and Shadows: Objects block sunlight, creating areas of darkness called shadows.
- Sun's Position: The position of the sun in the sky directly affects the size and direction of shadows.
- Time of Day: Shadows are longest in the morning and evening when the sun is low, and shortest at midday when the sun is highest.
Pedagogical Tip: Encourage students to observe shadows at different times of the day and record their observations. This hands-on approach reinforces the concept of the sun's changing position.
UDL Suggestions: Provide visual aids, such as diagrams or real-life examples, to illustrate how the sun's angle changes shadow length. Offer sentence starters for students to describe their observations.
🔍 Zoom In / Zoom Out Concepts
- Zoom In: At a microscopic level, the shadow is formed because the object's atoms and molecules absorb or reflect the light photons, preventing them from reaching that specific spot on the ground.
- Zoom Out: The changing length and direction of shadows throughout the day are a result of Earth's rotation on its axis relative to the sun. This daily cycle of light and dark influences weather patterns and the behavior of living organisms.
🤔 Potential Student Misconceptions
- Misconception: Shadows are "things" that are attached to objects.
- Clarification: Shadows are not objects themselves but rather areas where light is blocked. They change shape and position as the object or light source moves.
- Misconception: The sun moves around the Earth, causing shadows to change.
- Clarification: While it appears the sun moves across the sky, it is actually the Earth spinning on its axis that causes the sun to appear to rise, move across the sky, and set, leading to changes in shadow length and direction.
🎓 NGSS Connections
- 3-ESS2-1: Represent data in tables and graphical displays to describe typical weather conditions expected during a particular season.
- 3-ESS2-2: Obtain and combine information to describe climates in different regions of the world.
- 3-ESS3-1: Make a claim about the merit of a design solution that reduces the impacts of a weather-related hazard.
💬 Discussion Questions
- Why do you think the shadows are so long in this video? (Bloom's: Understand | DOK: 1)
- How would the shadows look if the sun were directly overhead? (Bloom's: Apply | DOK: 2)
- What patterns do you notice about how shadows change throughout the day? (Bloom's: Analyze | DOK: 2)
📖 Vocabulary
- Shadow: An area of darkness created when an object blocks light.
- Sunlight: Light that comes from the sun.
- Angle: The slant or tilt of something.
- Rotation: The act of spinning around an axis.
🌡️ Extension Activities
- Shadow Puppets: Have students create shadow puppets using their hands and a flashlight. They can experiment with different hand positions to create different shadow shapes and discuss how their "object" (hand) blocks the light.
- Shadow Tracing: Students can go outside at different times of the day and trace the shape and length of their own shadows or the shadows of objects like trees or playground equipment. They can then compare the traces to see how the shadows change.
🔗 Cross-Curricular Ideas
- ELA: Write a short story or poem about a shadow's journey or what it sees throughout the day.
- Art: Draw or paint a landscape scene focusing on the long shadows cast by the sun, emphasizing the mood or time of day.
- Math: Measure the length of shadows at different times and create a bar graph to show the changes.
🚀 STEM Career Connection
- Meteorologist: Studies weather patterns and climate. They use information about the sun's position and its effects to understand weather phenomena. Average annual salary: $117,000.
- Architect: Designs buildings. Architects consider how sunlight and shadows will affect a building's interior and exterior throughout the day and year. Average annual salary: $85,000.
📚 External Resources
- Shadows and Light by Carme Solé Vendrell
- What Makes a Shadow? by Jennifer Boothroyd
- The Sun's Energy by William J. Broad