Source:
Teaching Science With Everyday Things - McGraw-Hill; 1975 +/-; now out of print; authors: verne rockcastle and victor schmidt; bulletin: dr. schmidt emailed me several months ago and said you can buy this book from the AIMS (math-sience) project. Get one while they are STILL available.

Schmidt was "rocky" in the item in the fillossophee folder - "how did dr. leyden ever get to be a teacher."
Rockcastle is the author of "lazy student" which is in that folder; and the recycled water poem in the acid rain folder.
This is one of the most amazing activites i have ever done -- and among other things it shows that noon in many spots in the southern hemispere -- point SOUTH ! You have to go out in the sun and dork around a while.

SUNLIT EARTH

What must it he like to view the earth from out in space ?

Where would its sunlit and dark sides be ?

Let your class find out by observing a globe in sunlight !

Take the class outdoors on a sunny day and set a globe where no shadows fall on it, preferably on grass or blacktop pavement to reduce unwanted reflection.

Prop it up so that its axis points toward the North Star's position. Then rotate it on its axis until the map of your state is at the highest part of the globe, parallel to the ground.

Now the globe is in the same position as the earth, relative to the sun.

Leyden note: You know when you get it "right" because the toothpick ( mention ed below ) casts a shadow that points the same direction as your shadow.

Where on the earth is it now daytime ? Where is it dark ?

Stick a small lump of modeling clay on the globe to represent the location of your school. Stand a toothpick in the clay so it is straight up. How does the direction of the toothpick's shadow on the globe compare with a flag-pole's shadow on the ground ?

Where do the sun's rays strike the globe at a right angle ?

Where are they now striking the actual earth at a right angle ?

To a person at this place, where would the sun be in the sky ?

Leyden note: Trial and error with your toothpick will tell you the answer. Move it around and see what happens. Where must the toothpick be positioned to make the shadow disappear ?

Some sunny day leave the globe outside all day and watch how its sunlit and dark parts change.
In what countries is the sun
- rising when it is nine a.m. / p.m. where you are ?
- Where is it setting at this time ?
- What places have noon ?
- Midnight ?
- Where are other children eating breakfast now ?
- Going to bed ?
Put the globe outdoors on sunny days throughout the year. Then pupils can see how its sunlit and shaded halves, corresponding to the sunlit and shaded sides of the actual earth, change with the seasons.
Keep a photographic and written journal to note these changes.

9 / 20w / 95 - 12 / 22f / 95