Content Understanding

Content Understanding

This assignment as taught me so much about the moon, I did not know before.  The moon has different phases which continue to appear every 29.5 days.  The moons phases are caused by the suns reflection.  The sun shines on the same part of the moon each day.  The moon has a full moon phase, first quarter phase, or a third quarter phase.  The periods in between are called the waxing and waning.  Waxing is when the moon grows because it has more illumination from the sun.  Waning is when the moon appears to shrink because it does not have as much illumination form the sun due to the location of how the moon revolves around the Earth.  The Moon and Earth are always moving which is the cause of the different phases of the moon.  The ration and orbit of the Moon and Earth determines the moon phase each day.  The Earth rotates faster than the moon can orbit the Earth.  This is way the moon can be seen during the day.  The moon does not always rise and set during the night.  

Teaching Students about the Moon:

To teach my students about the moon first they need to learn how the moon revolves around Earth.  We will use a flashlight, tennis ball, and student volunteer to discover how the moon revolves around the Earth. Next the students need to learn how this affects the amount of illumination the moon gets from the sun, and how the rotation and revilement of the Earth around the sun affects the moon phases.  We will again use a flashlight, student volunteers, and tennis balls to discover how the moon revolves around the Earth affects its appearance from different parts of Earth.  Using this method I would guide students to understanding how the moon “grows” (wax) or “shrinks” (wane) on subsequent days.