Science Assessment

Students are expected to know that:

1. From any place on earth, the maximum height that the sun reaches in the sky above that place during a day gradually rises and falls during a year. The maximum height of the sun during a day at any place north of the tropical region is highest in late June (beginning of summer) and is lowest in late December (beginning of winter). The maximum height of the sun during a day at any place south of the tropical region is highest in late December (beginning of summer) and is lowest in late June (beginning of winter).
2. The maximum height of the sun above places north of the tropical region decreases a little each day from late June to late December, and then increases from late December to late June. The maximum height of the sun above places south of the tropical region decreases a little each day from late December to late June and then increases from late June to late December.
3. The maximum height that the sun reaches during a day is the same at all places that are the same distance from the equator, but it varies for places that are different distances from the equator, such that for any given day, the maximum height of the sun in the sky decreases the farther the place is north or south of the tropical region.
4. How much the maximum height that the sun reaches during a day varies over a year differs in different places. The maximum height changes very little at the tropical region, and the farther a place is from the tropical region, the more the maximum height that the sun reaches in the sky during a day increases from winter to summer and decreases from summer to winter.
5. The higher the sun gets in the sky above any given place, the larger the angle is between the sunlight and the surface of the earth, and the more intense the sunlight is when it hits that place.
6. The greater the intensity of the sunlight, the more energy the sunlight transfers to that place in a given time.
7. Because the amount of energy sunlight can transfer to a place depends on the maximum height that the sun reaches in the sky above that place, sunlight transfers the most energy (intensity of the sunlight is greatest) during a day at the beginning of summer than during a day at the beginning of winter. The amount of energy sunlight transfers to a place over a day decreases a little bit each day from the beginning of summer to the beginning of winter, and increases a little bit each day from the beginning of winter to the beginning of summer.