Download Sunspot Case Study

Primary Type: Lesson Plan
Status: Published
This is a resource from CPALMS (www.cpalms.org) where all educators go for bright ideas!
Resource ID#: 46073
Sunspot Case Study
The Sunspot Activity Case Study is set up as a series of short activities centered around readings or graphs. Students learn about solar cycles that
cause a change in the amount of solar radiation received by the Earth. Students are asked to analyze how these solar cycles might be contributing
to global warming and climate change.
Subject(s): English Language Arts, Science
Grade Level(s): 9, 10
Intended Audience: Educators
Suggested Technology: Document Camera,
Computer for Presenter, Internet Connection,
Interactive Whiteboard, Basic Calculators, LCD
Projector, Overhead Projector
Instructional Time: 4 Hour(s)
Resource supports reading in content area: Yes
Freely Available: Yes
Keywords: sunspots, global climate, climate change, global weather, global warming, sun sunspot cycle
Resource Collection: CPALMS Lesson Plan Development Initiative
ATTACHMENTS
Sunspot ActivityCaseStudyanswers.docx
LESSON CONTENT
Lesson Plan Template: General Lesson Plan
Learning Objectives: What should students know and be able to do as a result of this lesson?
The students will be able to identify the relationship of sunspot cycles to Sun radiation output.
The students will be able to relate the intensity of sunspot activity to global temperatures
The students will recognize that changes in solar activity cannot completely explain the persistent change in global temperature increases.
The students will translate information about sunspot cycles and global temperatures expressed visually as a graph into words.
The students will determine the central ideas or conclusions of a text about sunspot cycles and global temperatures.
The students will summarize complex concepts, processes, or information presented in a text sunspot cycles and global temperatures by paraphrasing them in
simpler but still accurate terms.
Prior Knowledge: What prior knowledge should students have for this lesson?
SC.8.E.5.6 Create models of solar properties including: rotation, structure of the Sun, convection, Sunspots, solar flares, and prominences.
SC.6.E.7.5 Explain how energy provided by the sun influences global patterns of atmospheric movement and the temperature differences between air, water, and
land.
Students should be able to interpret simple line graphs.
Guiding Questions: What are the guiding questions for this lesson?
1. Where does weather come from and how does it affect me? Answers may vary, but should include these basic concepts: The sun's energy striking the
rounded surface of Earth is unevenly distributed. This combined with the rotation of the planet, its revolution around the sun and tilted axis all combine to
redistribute energy in the form air and water currents. These moving currents create the local conditions we call weather. Weather affects every part of our lives
starting with our most basic needs, access to food, water and shelter.
page 1 of 4 2. What causes the earth's climate to change and what does it mean to me? Answers may vary but should include these basic concepts: Climate is loosely
defined as the weather a community experiences over a long period of time. Since weather starts with energy from the sun, changes in the amount of energy the
sun gives off will change our climate. The sun's light waves pass through Earth's atmosphere and different wavelengths are absorbed, transmitted or reflected back
into space. Anything which affects the composition or thickness of our atmospheric layers can affect our climate. We do not completely understand all the variables
which cause these massive changes in climate (or the role of humans), but fossil evidence indicates it has happened repeatedly. Since weather affects every aspect
of human life, climate change may affect a community's ability to secure food, water and shelter for its people, for better or worse. In the past climate change has
lead to dramatic changes in societies.
3. What variables affect Earth's temperature? Answers may vary but should include these basic concepts: As the earth revolves around the sun, its titled axis
changes the angle at which each hemisphere receives the sun's light. The closer the angle of incidence is to 90 degrees, concentrating the energy in a smaller
space, the more it does to raise the local temperature of the earth. As the earth warms and re-radiates this energy as infrared radiation, the air in our atmosphere
warms due to the greenhouse effect. Anything which affects the composition or thickness of our atmospheric layers can affect the surface temperature. As the
earth rotates the side facing away from the sun cools. Additional factors like prevailing winds, proximity to water and altitude all do their part influencing the
temperatures our community experiences.
Teaching Phase: How will the teacher present the concept or skill to students?
1. A class set of the Sunspot Case Study should be prepared ahead of time.
2. Opening this activity may take a good 15-20 minutes depending on how interactive your students are.
3. Expressions like "global warming" and "climate change" tend to provoke political/emotional responses.
4. A good, non-threatening place to start would be to show the Ice Age Trailer (a film most of your students have seen).
5. Ask your students if the weather on Earth today is the same as the weather on Earth in the past. Most of them should be comfortable confirming the idea that the
weather conditions have changed over time. (This would be a good place to remind students that the term climate is used to describe weather patterns over a long
period of time.)
6. Have the students open their Science Notebooks to a new page (or pull out a fresh piece of paper) and title the page Global Climate. You should model this on your
board or on an over-head projector.
7. They should then write down idea Earth's weather has changed over time. Now pose/write the question, What causes the Earth's weather to change? solicit
answers from the students and write all proposed causes of change as a list under the questions. Have your students copy the question and list into their notes. If
the students fail to bring up the SUN, you may nudge them in the right direction, "Well, how about the sun?" When they agree ask them, "Well how would the
sun change earth's weather?"
8. Next, ask the students what they know about sunspots. A good way to get you students started is to model a graphic organizer for them on the board and add
thoughts/ideas as students propose them. Again students should be copying this onto their own notes. Hopefully somebody will bring up that sunspots cause
fluctuations in the amount of energy the Sun puts out, if not you'll need to insert that idea. Now inform the students that they will be doing an activity that explores
how changes in sunspots affect Earth's Climate. Add the following to their notes.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN:
to identify the relationship of sunspot cycles to Sun radiation output.
to relate the intensity of sunspot activity to global temperatures.
to recognize that cyclical conditions cannot explain the persistent change in global temperature increases.
The sunspot.pdf is set up as a series of short activities centered around readings or graphs. They should NOT be done all at once, but rather presented one at a time.
1. The students should copy the questions that go with each portion into their science notebook OR on a separate piece of paper to be turned in OR be provided with a
copy of the questions on a worksheet to be turned in.
2. Distribute the activity packet and ask students to read the introductory paragraph.
3. The students can discuss this material and answer the 3 questions which follow the introductory paragraph individually, in small groups or as a class.
4. When it appears that most students are ready to move on, begin asking students to share their responses to the 1st question. Pull together portions of several
students responses to write one comprehensive answer on the board. Students who had problems with the question should be instructed to correct/re-write their
response using this as a model. Repeat these steps for the next 2 questions. (This may good a good place to pause. The video Understanding Sunspots And Solar
Flares is written for grade 5-8, but would be a good tool to wrap up and review the day's activity, or jump start class the following day.)
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/topnav/materials/listbytype/Understanding_Sunspots_And_Solar_Flares.html
5. Repeat steps 1-4 for the next portion of the case study which has the students analyze a graph of the global temperature record from 1880 to 2007. If the case
study is being done as a class activity, the graph can be displayed on an overhead projector or LCD projector for the class to see and discuss. If being done in small
groups, the graph can be provided as a color print or made available as a computer display.
6. Repeat steps 1-4 for the next portion of the case study which has the students read a short selection How might Sunspot Cycles effect global warming? (This may
good a good place to pause. Again a video from NASA , The Solar Cycle, http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=117384111 could be
used to close for the day or re-start the next day.)
7. The next section the of Case study is a combination of graphs and very short readings. Repeat steps 1-4. If the case study is being done as a class activity, the
graphs can be displayed on an overhead projector or LCD projector for the class to see and discuss. If being done in small groups, the graphs can be provided as
color prints or made available as computer displays. (This may good a good place to pause.)
8. The last 2 pages of the Sunspot Case Study provide a Conclusion which reviews the concepts covered in the previous activities and a summative assessment.
Reflect on What You Have Learned:
Students should copy the questions that go with each portion into their science notebook OR on a separate piece of paper to be turned in OR be provided with a
copy of the questions on a worksheet to be turned in.
Distribute the activity packet and ask the students to read the Conclusion and answer the 3 questions which follow it.
Collect and grade the completed work.
Guided Practice: What activities or exercises will the students complete with teacher guidance?
Students will read the above mentioned selections and interpret graphs with teacher guidance.
Independent Practice: What activities or exercises will students complete to reinforce the concepts and skills developed in the
lesson?
Students will independently answer the above mentioned questions based on readings and graph analysis.
Closure: How will the teacher assist students in organizing the knowledge gained in the lesson?
Once the students have read the Conclusion and answered the 3 questions which follow, the teacher will collect and grade the completed work. The graded work will
page 2 of 4 be returned to the students and verbally reviewed with the class. Examples of well written answers might be presented on an overhead projector and students
encouraged to re-write their answers.
Summative Assessment
1. The last page of the Sunspot Case Study is titled Reflect on What You Have Learned. The 3 questions on this page can serve as an assessment to help the teacher
measure the impact of this resource on student learning.
2. Questions from the activities can easily be re-formatted into TRUE/FALSE, or COMPLETION questions and inserted into a traditional quiz or unit test.
Formative Assessment
1. Opening this activity may take a good 15-20 minutes depending on how interactive your students are.
2. Expressions like "global warming" and "climate change" tend to provoke political/emotional responses.
3. A good, non-threatening place to start would be to show the Ice Age Trailer (a film most of your students have seen).
4. Ask your students if the weather on Earth today is the same as the weather on Earth in the past. Most of them should be comfortable confirming the idea that the
weather conditions have changed over time. (This would be a good place to remind students that the term climate is used to describe weather patterns over a long
period of time.)
5. Have the students open their Science Notebooks to a new page (or pull out a fresh piece of paper) and title the page Global Climate. You should model this on your
board or on an over-head projector. They should then write down idea Earth's weather has changed over time.
6. Now pose/write the question, What causes the Earth's weather to change? solicit answers from the students and write all proposed causes of change as a
list under the questions. Have your students copy the question and list into their notes.
7. If the students fail to bring up the SUN, you may nudge them in the right direction, "Well, how about the sun?" When they agree ask them, "Well how would
the sun change Earth's weather?"
8. Next ask the students what they know about sunspots. A good way to get you students started is to model a graphic organizer for them on the board and add
thoughts/ideas as students propose them. Again students should be copying this onto their own notes.
9. Hopefully somebody will bring up that sunspots cause fluctuations in the amount of energy the Sun puts out, if not you'll need to insert that idea.
10. Now inform the students that they will be doing an activity that explores how changes in sunspots affect Earth's Climate. Add the following to their notes.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN:
to identify the relationship of sunspot cycles to Sun radiation output.
to relate the intensity of sunspot activity to global temperatures.
to recognize that cyclical conditions cannot explain the persistent change in global temperature increases.
Feedback to Students
1. The Sunspot Activity Case is set up as a series of short activities centered around readings or graphs.
2. At the end of each portion of the case study the students will get feedback about their performance or understanding as the teacher reviews the activity with the
class.
3. They can then use this feedback to improve their performance on the next activity which builds upon the previous one.
ACCOMMODATIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS
Accommodations:
ELL students and students with limited reading and writing skills will find this activity difficult as will students who have difficulty interpreting graphs.
Extended time to read and to respond to the questions will work with students who have minor difficulties.
They may find it helpful to have the reading portions down out loud in class OR have it read to them (you may simply record this on a cassette, or have a small
group read it together).
Pairing students with limited skills together to work through the questions as a team (and share the grade) is also a possibility.
Another option would be do the Case study with the class as a whole.
Extensions:
The Sunspot Case Study is actually one of several from Activities for Conceptualizing Climate and Climate Change http://iclimate.org/ccc/index.asp. Other modules
from the site could be used to explore the topic of climate further.
Suggested Technology: Document Camera, Computer for Presenter, Internet Connection, Interactive Whiteboard, Basic Calculators, LCD Projector, Overhead
Projector
Special Materials Needed:
A class set of the Sunspot Case Study should be prepared ahead of time.
Further Recommendations:
You may want to prepare a worksheet for each section of the Sunspot Case Study. These would be turned in at the end of the class.
You may want to download Video clips from NASA and You-Tube to your computer before class to avoid problems with the internet disrupting the flow of your
lesson.
SOURCE AND ACCESS INFORMATION
Contributed by: Nadia Le Bohec
Name of Author/Source: Nadia Le Bohec
District/Organization of Contributor(s): Brevard
Is this Resource freely Available? Yes
page 3 of 4 Access Privileges: Public
License: CPALMS License - no distribution - non commercial
Related Standards
Name
SC.912.E.5.4:
Description
Explain the physical properties of the Sun and its dynamic nature and connect them to conditions and events on Earth.
Remarks/Examples:
Describe the physical properties of the Sun (sunspot cycles, solar flares, prominences, layers of the Sun, coronal
mass ejections, and nuclear reactions) and the impact of the Sun as the main source of external energy for the
Earth.
Identify, analyze, and relate the internal (Earth system) and external (astronomical) conditions that contribute to global
climate change.
SC.912.E.7.7:
LAFS.910.RST.3.7:
Remarks/Examples:
Explain the possible natural (e.g. increased global temperature, wildfires, volcanic dust) and anthropogenic
mechanisms (e.g. air pollution, acid rain, greenhouse gases, burning of fossil fuels) and the effects of these
mechanisms on global climate change.
Translate quantitative or technical information expressed in words in a text into visual form (e.g., a table or chart) and
translate information expressed visually or mathematically (e.g., in an equation) into words.
page 4 of 4