Turn, Turn, Turn

Although seemingly far away from us on Earth’ surface, there is a lot to observe and explore in the sky! Just look up during the daytime and nighttime and you’ll see the shining Sun, the bright Moon and hundreds of twinkling stars. It seems like these objects move around the Earth, as the locations of the Sun, Moon and stars change in the sky over the course of a day/night cycle. But what’s really moving? Due to the Earth’s rotation on its axis, the Sun, Moon and stars appear to move around the Earth. In this lesson, students will develop and use models to construct an explanation about the cause of the observable patterns in the sky due to Earth’s rotation on its axis.