Blog Week 6

 9/25/23

My understandings about:

How the phases of the moon occur?

   Before:  Phases of the moon occur from different light being reflected off the moon/shading the moon. It depends on where we are in relation to the sun's orbit, I think.

    After: The sunlight reflected off the moon is what we see on Earth. The moon has 29/30 day cycle and is "pulled" with the Sun, so the light slightly changes each day. 

What causes the seasons?

    Before: This also happens because of where we are in relation to the sun, which is why for example the U.S. has opposing seasons to Australia. The Northern Hemisphere is closer to the sun June-August, whereas that is when the Southern Hemisphere is obviously the furthest away.

    After: Where the Earth's axis is turned in it's orbit is what determines the seasons.

What causes a lunar eclipse?

    Before: This is due to where the moon is in relation to the sun. 

    After: The Sun casts a shadow of Earth onto the moon.

    1. What did you do in lab today?

    Today in lab we learned a lot about what we don't know. I thought this was a super helpful, reflective class. Going into this I think most of us had false confidence because we assume we know all elementary content. Instead, we discovered and unlearned lots of misconceptions about the moon, and the solar system. 

    2. What was the big question?

    The big ideas were the phases of the moon and misconceptions about the solar system. Specifically, we looked at how the Sun, Earth, and moon are related. 

    3. What did you learn in Thursday's discussion?

    In Thursday's discussion, I learned more about what I don't know. My biggest takeaway though, is now I actually know how the moon cycle works, and I will be using my hands to teach all of my future students about the moon cycle, and how the sun and moon are related.

1. Answer questions about the weekly textbook reading:
1. What did you learn?
1. The textbook helped me actually learn what a solstice and equinox are, and why they matter. Before I genuinely couldn't tell you the difference between the two, now I know that they both happen twice a year, but the Summer and Winter Solstices are referring to the days with the most and least sun in the year, versus the Equinox which refers to the sun and moon being out an equal amount of time each day. 
2. What was most helpful?
1. The images in the textbook are incredibly helpful. These make everything make a lot more sense because we don't typically get to see "to scale" what is happening during these processes. 
3. What do you need more information on?
1. I would like to learn more about eclipses but understand all of the information we have learned about them so far.