Over the last two weeks in Science, Elder class have been busy investigating two fascinating questions:
Why do we have night and day?
How do shadows change in size during the day?
🌞 Why Do We Have Night and Day?
We discovered that day and night happen because the Earth is constantly spinning on its axis. This is called rotation. It takes 24 hours for the Earth to complete one full turn.
As the Earth rotates:
- The side facing the Sun experiences daytime.
- The side turned away from the Sun experiences night time.
To help us understand this, we explored how the Earth moves around the Sun and learned that our planet is part of the solar system. We also talked about how the Sun stays in one place while the Earth spins!
We also dived deeper to learn about the Earth being slightly tilted on its axis, and this tilt is what causes the seasons.
As the Earth orbits the Sun:
- When our part of the Earth is tilted towards the Sun, we experience summer with longer days and warmer weather.
- When it is tilted away from the Sun, we experience winter with shorter days and cooler weather.
- Spring and autumn happen during the times in between.
Using globes and torches, we modelled both rotation and orbit to help us understand how day, night and seasons are connected.
🌤️ How Do Shadows Change During the Day?
Unfortunately the sun hasn't made an appearance recently for us to investigate this outdoors!
Instead we carried out a detailed shadow experiment using Playmobil figures and torches.
We:
- Placed the figures at different distances from the light source.
- Observed how the shadow size changed.
- Measured and compared shadow lengths.
- Recorded their results carefully.
We discovered that:
- When the figure was closer to the light source, the shadow was larger.
- When the figure was further away, the shadow became smaller.
This helped us understand how both the position of the Sun and the distance from a light source affect shadow size.
This happens because the position of the Sun in the sky appears to change as the Earth rotates. When the Sun is low in the sky, it creates longer shadows. When it is high overhead, shadows are shorter.
🌟 What We Learned
By the end of our investigations, we understood that:
- The Earth’s rotation causes day and night.
- The Earth’s tilt and orbit cause the seasons.
- The Sun’s position changes the length and direction of shadows.
- The distance from a light source affects the size of a shadow.
Well done to Elder Class – we have so many budding young scientists who are demonstrating fantastic curiosity, excellent teamwork, and truly brilliant observations! 👏
