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 WC041003: Sunlight can warm a lake by different amounts during a day depending on the position of the sun in the sky.
The photographs below show the sun at two different positions in the sky above a lake: One shows the sun high in the sky and one shows the sun lower in the sky. In both positions, nothing blocks the sunlight from reaching the whole lake.
Sun high in the sky Sun low in the sky
Would sunlight warm the lake by different amounts when the sun is at different positions in the sky?
- Yes, because the position of the sun changes the angle at which sunlight hits the lake, which determines how much the lake is warmed by sunlight
- Yes, because the position of the sun changes the distance that sunlight must travel to reach the lake, which determines how much the lake is warmed by sunlight
- No, because how much the lake is warmed by sunlight does not depend on where the sun is in the sky or on the angle at which sunlight hits the lake
- No, because a lake cannot be warmed by sunlight
- Distribution of Responses
- Students Responding Correctly
| Group | Correct | Total | Percent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 1252 | 2570 | 49% |
| Grades | |||
| 6–8 | 764 | 1524 | 50% |
| 9–12 | 487 | 1041 | 47% |
| Gender | |||
| Male | 617 | 1263 | 49% |
| Female | 610 | 1252 | 49% |
| Primary Language | |||
| English | 1112 | 2207 | 50% |
| Other | 103 | 241 | 43% |
- Disciplinary Core Ideas
- PS3.B Sunlight warms Earth's surface.
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. - Notes
- NGSS does not actually address the relationship between the changing position of the sun in the sky throughout the day and the amount of energy that is transferred to Earth by the sun, but many of the necessary pieces of knowledge are included.