Suggestions for activities to aid the teaching of 'lighting the Earth' based on the Physics Narrative and the Teaching Guidance.

Ideas to emphasise here

• The relative location of astronomical objects
• How the astronomical objects are illuminated
• That we get information about astronomical objects from seeing
• That light has to travel from source to our eye so that we can see the source
• That both spinning and orbiting change what we are able to see

Teacher Tip: Work through the Physics Narratives to find these lines of thinking worked out and then look in the Classroom Activities for some examples of activities.

Strategies for supporting learning

• Draw on existing models of seeing
• Make extensive use of well thought out questions to intrigue and to promote fruitful additional questions
• Relate observations and evidence to assertions
• Seek to explicitly challenge likely misunderstandings
• Act out and talk through complex changes

Teacher Tip: These are all related to findings about children's ideas from research. The teaching activities will provide some suggestions. So will colleagues, near and far.

Avoid these

• Explaining why we see the different phases of the Moon as this draws on a number of different ideas, and is therefore best left until later
• Explaining why there are different seasons on Earth, as this is complex, and best left until later

Teacher Tip: These difficulties are distilled from: the research findings; the practice of well-connected teachers with expertise; issues intrinsic to representing the physics well.