Solar & Lunar Eclipses

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Objective
SWBAT develop and use a model to explain the relative position of the Sun,
Earth, and Moon during a solar and lunar eclipse (total, annular, partial) and
the shadows (umbra, penumbra) they produce.
Big Idea
Through the use of models and simulations, students explain the patterns of
eclipses.

Introduction
This set of 10 lessons is designed to teach, reinforce, and challenge students
while meeting the diverse needs of a variety of learning styles.  A minimal
amount material is required for each lesson. Unless otherwise stated a
computer with Internet access and a science journal to record data and ideas
are all that is needed.  Some lessons include directions for hands-on labs.
Feel free to supplement these to fit your needs. 

If you are not yet using Google class or Google docs with your students these
lessons are a great opportunity to explore the usefulness of  using Google
Docs to collect student work and manage their learning.

Each lesson is divided into eight sections with an optional ninth extension
section. A description of each section follows.

After a short Summary that includes the learning objectives for the lesson

students begin with the first section titled Comprehension. Students read a
short passage that gives them background information on the topic then
answer a few questions about the reading. Visualization comes next.
Students will watch a short video relevant to the topic followed by some
summary questions. In Demonstration students engage with or watch a
demonstration to help them begin to make connections with the content. 
With Exploration/Simulation students conduct a hands-on or virtual lab
where they can manipulate variables and collect data. Organization is
designed to review and reinforce key vocabulary and concepts. Students
create a visual model with Illustration.
Next students respond to short answer prompts in
the Reflection section. In Evaluation students are assessed on their
knowledge of the topic. Each lesson concludes with Extension. These can be
used as optional activities for students who finish early or may want additional
practice.
I am in the process of developing additional sections. Calculation will be
added next where students will be given different mathematical challenges
related to the topic. Check back as I will add these in the future.

These lessons give you the flexibility of having students only complete the
sections that you have the time for or feel are necessary. Each section
reinforces the overall learning objective under study.
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Getting Started
The setup for each of these lessons is follows a similar routine. I make the
nine sections available in an online format. I use the Versal platform. Versal
has both a free and Pro option ($50/yr) to meet your needs. The Pro option
obviously has more features which are pretty great and are worth the small
fee. If your school uses an LMS, you have the flexibility of linking the Versal
lesson right into the platform. Directions can be found at the Versal site.

Along with Versal, each of my students has a Google account that are
attached to my Google Classes. I set up class folders at the start of the year
and have students submit assignments right to Google. This allows them to
use Google docs and collaborate with their peers. I use this along with
Schoology (our LMS) to manage students work. It has made management of
my classes much smoother. 

This is the link to the Earth in Space Versal lessons.

Should you just want to proceed with the activities, I have created printable
versions and included them in the resource section below, however I really
encourage you to explore the electronic options if possible. If you'd like to
access my Versal classes, I would be happy to share them with you. In this
regard you have the ability to flip this lesson and let students progress at their
own pace. You can own your own version of the course and manage your
own set of learners. To do so, I would need to invite you as a contributor and
then you would be able to copy the gadgets in your course and then paste
them into another course of your own. 

Step by step instructions:

1. You email me ([email protected]) and I invite you as a contributor to
the course.
2. You accept the invite.
3. You enter edit mode for the course.
4. You copy and paste all gadgets in the course, lesson by lesson.
5. You create a new course and enter edit mode in that new course.
6. You paste each lesson's worth of gadgets into individual lessons you have
created.
Here's a link to a video that shows you how to copy and paste gadgets.

These activites lend themselves to being supplements with hands on labs. For
instance, in the second lesson, Lunar Phases, you could opt to include an all-
class demonstration using a light source and ping pong balls and walk your
students through the various phases. They can they complete the other
sections on their own or with partners. This gives you the flexibility to work
with individual students as needed, even leaving out some of the sections if
you deem them to be unnecessary or keep them in should a student need
more reinforcement. 

In the video that follows I address how you might measure student
performance with these lessons:

ECLIPSES: Student Answers Sheet

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Part 1 (Comprehension - Visualization - Demonstration)

20 MINUTES
Comprehension
(Strategy Focus: Science Literacy: Use of informational texts relevant to
student inquiries as part of the literacy development a)  is inherently
interesting to most students, b)  motivates further reading, c) builds
background knowledge (concept understanding and vocabulary) for future
learning because it helps children learn about the world around them.)
What this looks like in my classroom: Students read the passage and
answer the follow up questions. The passages is short and contains the
relevant background information and details needed to proceed through the
other sections. Follow up questions highlight the "need to know" content. 
Visualization 
(Strategy Focus: Content/Lecture Videos: Use of internet generated or
teacher created videos a) allow students to follow along at their own pace,
pause/play, rewind/fast forward, b) demonstrate a large variety of resources
that exist on the Internet to help teach and provide examples of concepts and
c) promote self exploration of additional resources. )
(Strategy Focus: In-Video Quizzes: In-video quizzes are a type of informal
assessment that appears within lecture videos, typically after a key concept
has been explained. In-video quizzes allow for lecture videos that are more
interactive, dynamic, and personalized. In addition, these quizzes facilitate
retrieval-based learning and enable students to test their understanding on the
spot. Research shows that such interactivity plays a critical role of the efficacy
of videos in e-learning environments (Zhang et al., 2006).
In addition, research shows that even simple retrieval questions have
significant pedagogical value. For example, in two papers in
Science, (Karpicke & Roediger III, 2008; Karpicke & Blunt, 2011) show that
activities that require students to retrieve or reconstruct knowledge produces
significant gains in learning - much more so than many other learning
strategies.
What this looks like in my classroom:  Students watch a short video and
answer quiz questions that follow. 
Demonstration
(Strategy Focus:  Science Demonstrations. Demonstrations have the
potential to provide a beginning point for experiencing science, talking about
experiences, proposing questions, suggesting patterns, and testing those
questions and patterns; structuring these into a ritual with a specific content
focus provides another structure for emotionally intense and cognitively
focused interactions that support student learning. Demonstrations are used
to capture the attention of the class and prepare them for the lesson that
follows (questions about what they saw or what happened that leads into an
Exploration). 
What this looks like in my classroom: Students complete or watch a hands-
on demo, experiment, or virtual model that allows them to connect the
information through application. 
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Part 2 (Exploration/Simulation - Organization - Illustration)

30 MINUTES
Exploration/Simulation
(Strategy Focus: Exploration. Exploration includes the skills required for
developing and carrying out investigation. This includes planning and
designing, using instruments to measure and record, collecting data,
constructing, inventing and experimenting.) 

What this looks like in my classroom:Students manipulate equipment and

materials to explore scientific models and theories.

(Strategy Focus: Simulations. Simulations can help students a) translate

among multiple representations, b) build mental models of physical, chemical
or biological systems, c) engage in hands-on, active learning experiences d)
understand equations as physical relationships among measurements, e)
collaborate on learning f) investigate phenomena that would not be possible
to experience in a classroom or laboratory.)

What this looks like in my classroom: Working in pairs, students use computer
based simulations to explore scientific models and theories. 

Organization
(Strategy Focus: Reviewing. In this strategy students are going back over
what they have done to pick out key points, make connections, and find
relationships between key components. This allows them to identify further
questions for investigation and consolidate their thinking.)
What this looks like in my classroom: students work in lab or small groups to
review key points and make connections between ideas.   
Illustration
(Strategy Focus: Making Thinking Visible.  visible thinking strategies are a
collection of approaches designed to help students communicate their
understanding of concepts using a visual model. The focus can be on the
"why" and/or the "how" of an issue concept or idea, main ideas organized and
presented in a logical format, and/or connections between investigations and
course material.) 

What this looks like in my classroom.  The teacher may present a model for
students to use or students may self select a model they are familiar with to
create an illustration of their ideas. 

In the images below, students used A Web Whiteboard (virtual whiteboard) to

create drawings to solar and lunar eclipses. 
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Part 3 (Reflection - Evaluation - Extension)

30 MINUTES
CCC: Cause and Effect

Reflection
(Strategy Focus: Reflecting. After performing a scientific inquiry, it's necessary
for students to reflect upon the process, make links to key concepts, identify
areas that are poorly understood or require clarification, and determining how
this learning fits with their previously held beliefs.)

What this looks like in my classroom:  Students work independently or as a

group to determine the applications of the investigation, recognize
connections between the investigation course material and examine the
results of their investigation along with development of questions which could
be addressed in future investigations. 
Evaluation
(Strategy Focus:Assessment.  Students are assessed on the knowledge and
skills  acquired over the course of the lesson.  A variety of assessment tools
can be used both formative and summative as well as project-based.)

What this looks like in my classroom: Complete assessment task determined

by the teacher or proposed by the student and agreed upon by the teacher
that demonstrates their understanding of the content being studied. 

Extension
(Strategy Focus:Transfer of Learning.  Students are challenged to explore
further questions that they have and extend their understanding.)
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