What causes an eclipse of the Sun or the Moon?
Students may be interested in extending their investigations into finding out why eclipses of the Moon or Sun occur. Students should be prompted to use the opportunity when modelling the Earth and Moon to investigate how eclipses occur. Small groups model the two different types of eclipses and present their models to the rest of the class. Students write in their own words a short paragraph describing lunar and solar eclipses. Students search for animations or images of solar and lunar eclipses on the Internet or a CD-ROM. They import images and annotate them to explain what causes eclipses. They explain which model they think is the best and why. Come to planet X! Individually students construct a web page travel brochure promoting the planet they have researched. They decide on focus questions to assist organisation of their material and incorporate imported graphics. Students accompany their presentation of the web page to the class ‘Travel Expo of the Solar System’ with an oral pr
Related Questions
- Why is the angular dimension of the moon so close to the angular dimension of the sun (the moon covers almost perfectly the sun during eclipse)?
- What are the relative positions of the moon and sun and earth during a solar eclipse?
- Why isn there a solar eclipse every time the moon is between the earth and sun?
