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 WC117001: A plant receives the most energy from sunlight in the middle of the day when the sun is highest in the sky.
A student wants to put a plant in the ground at a place where it will receive the most energy from sunlight. There are three possible locations, and each one receives sunlight with nothing blocking it for only two hours a day. Below is a table showing the time of day that each location receives direct sunlight.
| Possible plant locations | Time of day the location receives sunlight |
| Location 1 | 9 - 11 am |
| Location 2 | 11 am-1 pm |
| Location 3 | 1 - 3 pm |
At which location would the plant receive the most energy from sunlight?
- At Location 1, because the sun is low in the sky in the early morning, and the sunlight transfers more energy to the plant when the sun is low in the sky
- At Location 2, because the sun is high in the sky in the middle of the day, and sunlight transfers more energy to the plant when the sun is high in the sky
- At Location 3, because this location receives sunlight later in the day, and sunlight transfers more energy to the plant the later it is in the day.
- The plant would get the same amount of energy from sunlight at locations 1, 2, and 3. The amount of energy transferred by sunlight to the plant does not change during the day.
- Distribution of Responses
- Students Responding Correctly
| Group | Correct | Total | Percent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 1948 | 4283 | 46% |
| Grades | |||
| 6–8 | 1145 | 2617 | 44% |
| 9–12 | 803 | 1664 | 48% |
| Gender | |||
| Male | 893 | 2099 | 43% |
| Female | 1016 | 2112 | 48% |
| Primary Language | |||
| English | 1795 | 3861 | 46% |
| Other | 106 | 303 | 35% |
- Disciplinary Core Ideas
- 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 explicitly 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.