Science Assessment ~ Ideas ~ The maximum height that the sun reaches in the sky at any place varies over the course of the year, and how it varies depends on how far the place is from the tropical region.

Key Idea: The annual rise and fall of air temperature at any place and the differences in the rise and fall in air temperatures between two places are explained by the amount of solar energy that reach those places.

Sub-Ideas
Items & Student Performance
Misconceptions
NGSS

Students are expected to know that:

From late December to late June at places north of the tropical region, both the number of daylight hours and the maximum height of the sun in the sky (intensity of sunlight) gradually increases a little bit each day, which means that the amount of solar energy transferred to those places over the course of each day gradually increases. The gradual increase in solar energy transferred leads to a gradual increase in air temperature from December to June at those places. The same pattern occurs at places south of the tropical region from late June to late December.
From late June to late December at places north of the tropical region, both the number of daylight hours and the maximum height of the sun in the sky (intensity of sunlight) gradually decreases, which means that the amount of solar energy transferred to those places over the course of each day gradually decreases. The decrease in solar energy leads to a gradual decrease in air temperature from June to December. The same pattern occurs at places south of the equator between late December and late June.
Both the number of daylight hours and maximum height of the sun in the sky (intensity) change more over the course of a year the farther a place is north or south of the tropical region, which means that the amount of solar energy transferred to a place changes more over a year the farther the place is from the tropical region . Because the amount of solar energy transferred to a place influences the air temperature at that place, there is a very small rise and fall in air temperature over the course of a year at the tropical region, and the farther a place is north or south of the tropical region, the larger the rise and fall in air temperature over the course of a year.

Boundaries:

Students do not need to know the pattern of changes in solar energy over a year within the tropical region.

Percent of students answering correctly (click on the item ID number to view the item and additional data)
Item ID Number	Knowledge Being Assessed	Grades 6–8	Grades 9–12
CL052002	The air is colder in the winter than in the summer at a particular town because the sunlight shining on the town is less intense and the sun shines for fewer hours in the winter than in the summer.	48%	52%
CL057002	Any place at the equator is much warmer than the north pole because the sun is more directly overhead at the equator than at the north pole.	44%	45%
CL053002	Both the intensity of sunlight and the amount of time the sun is above the horizon change a little every day at a place in North America.	32%	40%
CL056002	For two places at different latitudes north of the tropical region, the intensity of sunlight is always greater at the place that is closer to the tropical region, but the number of hours of daylight can sometimes be greater for the place closer to the tropical region and sometimes greater for the place farther from the tropical region.	29%	31%

Frequency of selecting a misconception
Misconception ID Number	Student Misconception	Grades 6–8	Grades 9–12
CLM023	The intensity of sunlight at a place does not change from day to day during the year (AAAS Project 2061, n.d.).	43%	41%
CLM022	The amount of time the sun is above the horizon at a given place does not change from day to day (AAAS Project 2061, n.d.).	44%	32%
CLM018	The equator is closer to the sun than the north pole is (AAAS Project 2061, n.d.).	27%	31%
CLM017	The amount of time that the sun shines on a place is the same throughout the year (AAAS Project 2061, n.d.).	18%	17%
CLM025	The intensity of sunlight a place receives does not depend on how far north or south a place is (AAAS Project 2061, n.d.).	19%	15%
CLM019	The air around the earth is warmed by energy deep within the earth (AAAS Project 2061, n.d.).	13%	11%

Frequency of selecting a misconception was calculated by dividing the total number of times a misconception was chosen by the number of times it could have been chosen, averaged over the number of students answering the questions within this particular idea.

NGSS Statements
Code	Statement
ESS1.B Grade 5	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.
ESS1.A MS	Patterns of the apparent motion of the sun, the moon, and stars in the sky can be observed, described, predicted, and explained with models.