Summer is tilt, not distance
Your sheet for this lesson. Name:
Your mission: Prove — with two facts anyone could check — that summer is NOT about being closer to the sun. Then explain what actually runs the seasons, well enough that you could convince one of the adults who got it wrong.
What you do
Warm-up · 5 minVote, and report what their three adults said. No debating yet — the count is data.
Task 1 · 8 minWrite one sentence: “If distance caused summer, January would be…” — and say what actually happens in January where they live.
Task 2 · 10 minRead both day lengths off the projected pages and record them on the sheet. Pairs with devices pull a southern city of their own choice and check it agrees with Sydney.
Task 3 · 10 minWatch one full orbit and answer on the sheet: what changed between June and December, and what stayed exactly the same? (Wanted answer: only which end leans toward the light.)
Task 4 · 7 minTrace the bright patch upright and tilted, and label which one is winter. One line: why does LOW sun mean WEAK sun?
Wrap-up · 5 minWrite the claim-evidence-reasoning paragraph: the claim (tilt, not distance), the two facts that killed distance, and one sentence on why tilt survives both.
Exit ticket
- Earth is closest to the sun in January. What does that single fact do to the “closer = summer” idea?
- It is December 21. Sydney has a long day and you have a short one. What one word explains how both can be true at once?
- Your friend says the tilt makes us closer to the sun in summer. Fix the sentence.
Teacher's page: the full lesson plan.