IPS-Moon Phases

Links to science standards:

Interesting reading: The State of State Science Standards 2005

Teaching Methods/Tools

The Ball on a stick

The "ball on a stick" demonstration, a standard moon phase demo.

Kids eye view

Here's a cool demonstration that uses a "kid's eye view" to show moon phases.

moon phase dial

I came up with this easy craft-type aid that's a help for moon phase diagrams.

Direct observation: This chart came from enchantedlearning.com (if you click on the picture you'll go there). There are some important things to remember about direct observation, however.

For instructions, downloads, and more methods of dealing with moon phases, link here:

A gem off the internet for moon phase information:

Using models in science; from the MUSE (Modeling for Understanding in Science Education) site. Click on the picture to go to the lesson.

Link on the image to go to the MUSE section on Earth-Moon-Sun Dynamics.

Survey

Click here to take our Online Survey

Misconceptions:

Research (and our personal knowledge) has identified the major misconceptions surrounding moon phases (see Hermann and Lewis, Trundle et al, Kavanagh et al).

Some students think that moon phases are caused by:

Earth’s shadow on the moon (eclipse)

Earth’s rotation

The moon’s position from different geographic locations on Earth

Clouds

Another planet’s shadow

Earth’s tilt

Sharon Shanks
Ward Beecher Planetarium
Youngstown State University
Youngstown, Ohio

In Ohio, science standards look to the left

require that 2nd graders “observe and describe how the sun, moon and stars all appear to move slowly across the sky” and “observe and describe how the moon appears a little different every day but looks nearly the same again about every four weeks.”

The moon isn't addressed again until 5th and 8th grades, and moon phases, not until 11th grade.

Teaching moon phases is one of the most requested topics in the planetarium, and one of the most difficult. Because it is the mission of the planetarium to educate, I have put this web site together to serve several purposes:

1. Define the best methods to teach moon phases,
2. Identify the core concepts needed to understand phases,
3. To share several inexpensive methods I've run across and gague their effectiveness, and
4. To gather hard data as the basis of publishable research into all of the above.

In a completely unscientific study of a Google search for "teach moon phases," I found repeated mention of only one method in the first four pages of results: look to the left

the ball on a stick. Only a few suggested using more than one method. Some of the “lessons” were gems see a good site on the left

, some were simply awful. One or two went into depth; most were recipes. None explained why we teach moon phases (although I didn't search through all of the 332,000 hits that Google gave me.)

My informal Google search suggests that moon phases are a difficult topic to teach, many people are confused about moon phases, and that moon phases are not being taught effectively. This is a concern, because moon phases need to be taught, not just because they are on standardized tests, but because learning moon phases is one way we can teach students how to learn science.

In today’s world, where the phase of the moon is printed on calendars and obtained instantly via the internet, knowing the “how” and “why” is not a necessary life skill. But going through the process that allows us to understand how the moon shows phases is a necessary skill, because it’s the basic process of science. It’s the process that we want here, not necessarily the end result.

Teaching moon phases, in my opinion, follows the same method humans used to first understand them:

Observing
Seeing patterns
Making predictions
Thinking about and discovering how and why the patterns are made

Planetariums already play the first major role in teaching moon phases: observation. We can compress observation into a 15- or 30-minute period that, at the very minimum, shows the patterns to students and allows them to make predictions. We can give teachers the first part. It’s up to you, the teacher, to continue the lesson in your classroom, and together we can develop the proper tools.

What I see as an ideal moon-phase lesson goes like this:

In the classroom, students receive background information (the core concepts; please take the survey survey link on the left

to see the ones I've come up with) they need prior to their visit, and perhaps briefly discuss what they already “know” (see misconceptions

).

In the planetarium, we can demonstrate sunrise and sunset, moonrise and moonset, and show how the moon rises at different times of the day and night, how it appears to change over the course of a month, and how this pattern repeats. If you cannot visit a planetarium, then direct student observation might be used. go to direct observation methods

After the planetarium visit, students are challenged to understand what they saw by answering
(1) Why does the pattern repeat?
(2) What causes the moon to change? Teach moon phases
(3) Can I come up with a way to repeat what I saw on a smaller level? and
(4) Can I show it/describe it to others?

The place for this thinking and doing is in the classroom, where students have the time and physical space (1) to be creative—the most important element in scientific thinking—and (2) to play with a variety of spheres, shapes, lights, and other simple elements. Yes, play, the synonym in this level of science for experiment.

I envision students rotating through different stations in groups of no larger than 3 or 4. My preliminary ideas:

Making shadows with geometric objects to see that only a sphere makes the kind of shadow needed for an eclipse
Working with spheres on a stick and a light source to see that half of the sphere is always lit and the other half is not (daytime, nighttime). This station could also include an Earth globe to see the same thing
Setting of the geometry of moon phases and viewing it from different angles (kid's eye view)
Taking this geometry and using an Earth globe to see if they can replicate it
Modeling phases kinesthetically with their arms, heads and bodies: walking the moon's orbit around Earth, pointing to moon location and sun location

At the end of their "play," students write what they see in simple journals, and draw the simple geometric patterns they create with their models and with their arms.

To conclude, each small group should draw a poster, or maybe put together a PowerPoint presentation, to share with the class. The teacher’s role is restraint and discretion, leading with careful questions but not “telling” the answers. When this stage is complete, they “show and tell” for the rest of the class and the teacher what they’ve learned. Hopefully, they'll earn the feeling of satisfaction that is the greatest reward of the scientist.

This obviously will take a number of class sessions, and we'll need lesson plans. Will this method work? Do you have any suggestions on what methods to use? What methods do you use? Help!

To get started, please complete my moon phase survey. Take the survey!

References/Further reading:

Benacchio, Leopoldo. 2001. The Importance of the Moon in Teaching Astronomy at the Primary School. Earth, Moon and Planets 85-86: 51-60.

Colburn, Alan. The Lingo of Learning: 88 Education Terms Every Science Teacher Should Know. National Science Teachers Association, NSTA Press, Arlington, Virginia, 2003

Donovan, M. Suzanne and John Bransford, eds. How Students Learn: Science in the Classroom. National Research Council, National Academies Press, Washington, D.C., 2005

Hermann, Ronald and Bradford F. Lewis. 2003. Moon Misconceptions. The Science Teacher November 2003: 51-55.

Kavanagh, Claudine, Lori Agan and Cary Snyder. 2005. Learning about Phases of the Moon and Eclipses: A Guide for Teachers and Curriculum Developers. Astronomy Education Review, 4 (1) (no pages in on-line publication)

Michaels, Kathy. 2004. Phases of the Moon - Yet again. Constellation (Newsletter of the Middle Atlantic Planetarium Society) Winter 2004 (4): 1, 3, 4.

National Research Council. National Science Education Standards. National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 1996

Trundle, Kathy, Ronald Atwood and John Christopher. 2002. Preservice Elementary Teachers’ Conceptions of Moon Phases before and after Instruction. Journal of Research in Science Teaching 39 (7): 633-658.

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