Alaska Science
Key Element A3

A student who meets the content standard should understand models describing the composition, age, and size of our universe, galaxy, and solar system and understand that the universe is constantly moving and changing (Universe).

Performance Standard Level 2, Ages 8–10

Students make observations of the daytime and nighttime sky and create a 3-dimensional model to explain the movement of the Earth and moon in our solar system.

Sample Assessment Ideas

• Students use models to demonstrate the motion and position of the sun during Alaska’s summer and winter days; explain the cause of these dramatic seasonal changes.

• Students describe the daily, monthly, and yearly motion of the moon.

Standards Cross-References
( Alaska Department of Education & Early Development Standards)

National Science Education Standards

An object’s motion can be described by tracing and measuring its position over time. (Page 127)

The Earth is the third planet from the sun in a system that includes the moon, the sun, eight other planets and their moons, and smaller objects, such as asteroids and comets. The sun, an average star, is the central and largest body in the solar system. (Page 160)

Most objects in the solar system are in regular and predictable motion. Those motions explain such phenomena as the day, the year, phases of the moon, and eclipses. (Page 160)

Benchmarks

The patterns of stars in the sky stay the same, although they appear to move across the sky nightly, and different stars can be seen in different seasons. (Page 68)

Like all planets and stars, the Earth is approximately spherical in shape. The rotation of the Earth on its axis every 24 hours produces the night-and-day cycle. To people on Earth, this turning of the planet makes it seem as though the sun, moon, planets, and stars are orbiting the Earth once a day. (Page 63)

Planets change their positions against the background of stars. (Page 63)

The Earth is one of several planets that orbit the sun, and the moon orbits around the Earth. (Page 63)

Stars are like the sun, some being smaller and some larger, but so far away that they look like points of light. (Page 63)