Original Project
Weather and Climate II: Seasonal Differences
The maximum height that the sun reaches in the sky at any place varies over the course of the year, and how it v…
Item CL040002: In the northern hemisphere, the maximum height the sun reaches in the sky is greater in the summer than in the winter.
One day in the winter, a girl who lives in the continental United States noticed that as the sun moved across the sky, the maximum height it reached was the top of a building next door to her house.
What will the girl see if she watches the sun move across the sky during a day in the summer?
- The maximum height of the sun will be above the top of the building.
- The maximum height of the sun will be below the top of the building.
- The maximum height of the sun will be the same as it was in the winter.
- The maximum height of the sun depends on where she is in the United States. In some places the sun will be higher in the summer than in the winter, and in some places it would be lower.
- Distribution of Responses
- Students Responding Correctly
| Group | Correct | Total | Percent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 998 | 2267 | 44% |
| Grades | |||
| 6–8 | 499 | 1190 | 42% |
| 9–12 | 495 | 1068 | 46% |
| Gender | |||
| Male | 478 | 1123 | 43% |
| Female | 489 | 1062 | 46% |
| Primary Language | |||
| English | 841 | 1879 | 45% |
| Other | 94 | 261 | 36% |
- Disciplinary Core Ideas
- ESS1.A Patterns of the apparent motion of the sun, the moon, and stars in the sky can be observed, described, predicted, and explained with models.
ESS1.B The orbits of Earth around the sun and of the moon around Earth, together with the rotation of Earth about an axis between its North and South poles, cause observable patterns. These include day and night; daily changes in the length and direction of shadows; and different positions of the sun, moon, and stars at different times of the day, month, and year.