Sun
Earth and Space

Explaining day and night

Classroom Activity for 11-14 Supporting Physics Teaching

What the Activity is for

Scientists represent their ideas using words, diagrams, symbols, charts and mathematics. The aim of this activity is to encourage children to translate knowledge represented by a diagram into words. Translating between different forms helps to develop understanding.

What to Prepare

  • Printed copies of the support sheet: Day and night (see below)

What Happens During this Activity

Tell the pupils that scientists use all kinds of ways to represent what they know. Being good at science requires the ability to go between one form and another easily.

  • Give out the support sheet and ask the pupils to produce an explanation on their own (5 minutes maximum).
  • Now ask them to join with another pupil and compare explanations. Can they produce a joint explanation that is better than either one?

Resources

Download the support sheet / student worksheet for this activity.

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