Original Project
Weather and Climate I: Basic Elements
The pattern of the rise and fall of air temperature over a day and over a year at any given place on the surface…
Item WC035003: It is colder in the winter than in the summer because sunlight reaches the earth at a smaller angle in the winter and cannot transfer as much energy to places on the surface of the earth.
A student lives in a town where the summers are warm and the winters are cold. She asks her friends why the winters are colder than the summers and she gets four different explanations. Which of the following explanations is TRUE?
- Sunlight travels much farther to reach the town in the winter than in the summer, so sunlight cannot transfer as much energy to the town in the winter.
- Sunlight reaches the town at a smaller angle in the winter than in the summer, so sunlight cannot transfer as much energy to the town in the winter.
- Sunlight transfers the same amount of energy to the town during the winter and the summer, but the wind blows cold air to the town in the winter.
- The only reason it is colder in the winter is because the sun is low in the sky, so some parts of the town never receive sunlight in the winter.
- Distribution of Responses
- Students Responding Correctly
| Group | Correct | Total | Percent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 1210 | 2746 | 44% |
| Grades | |||
| 6–8 | 667 | 1559 | 43% |
| 9–12 | 539 | 1177 | 46% |
| Gender | |||
| Male | 599 | 1315 | 46% |
| Female | 588 | 1368 | 43% |
| Primary Language | |||
| English | 1032 | 2355 | 44% |
| Other | 114 | 264 | 43% |
- NRC Framework
- ESS1.B …the intensity of sunlight falling on a given location on the planet’s surface changes as it orbits around the sun. Earth’s spin axis is tilted relative to the plane of its orbit, and the seasons are a result of that tilt.
- Notes
- See also Practice 6: Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions: ...evaluate…explanations for consistency with the evidence (Framework, chapter 3, p. 69).