How Does The Sun Affect the Earth?

This lesson has students create a hands-on model that accurately explains seasonal changes on Earth and develop knowledge of the Sun-Earth system.

Context for Use

This is the third of four lessons in the SDO curriculum that leads students through an interactive exploration of Solar Science. See the SDO Curriculum Overview here.

The lessons are:

And don't miss the supplemental comic book What Color is the Sun? available in both English and Spanish!

A diagram listing the impacts on Earth from Space Weather.

Goals Header
What Students Will Do

  • Create a model that accurately represents Earth’s seasonal positions on its annular orbit around the Sun.
  • Explain how the tilt of the Earth is responsible for causing seasonal changes on Earth.
  • Evaluate the connection between seasonal equinoxes and solstices. 
  • Analyze real-time solar activity data taken by Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) instruments
  • Identify sunspots, active regions, and other solar features on SDO images
  • Predict the probability of a Space Weather event using SDO data
  • Create and use a magnetometer to detect and visualize changes in Earth’s magnetic field to monitor solar storm impacts on Earth.

Teaching Materials

SDO_3A Sun-Earth Interactions Teacher Guide
SDO_3A Sun-Earth Interactions Materials
SDO_3B Space Weather Teacher Guide
SDO_3B Space Weather Materials
SDO_3C Make a Magnetometer Teacher Guide
SDO_3C Make a Magnetometer Materials

Description

Activity A: Sun-Earth Interactions (1 block period/ 2 class periods)

Earth-Sun interactions, What Causes Earth’s Seasons?, and Reason for Seasons 3-D Model.

Activity B: Space Weather (1 block period/2 class periods; can be extended multiple days)

Causes of Space Weather, Space Weather Concept Map, and SDO Space Weather Forecast 

Activity C: Solar Research in Action! - Make a Magnetometer (1 block period/2 class periods to make magnetometer plus 7-10 days of measurements--2-3 measurements/day)

Earth’s Magnetosphere and Make a Magnetometer.

Additional Resources

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