Middle School Inquiry Lab on Lunar Phases
In this lab students will create a model to demonstrate and describe lunar phases.
Each inquiry lab will contain an essential question that will drive the lesson and make students think. For this lesson, the essential question is:
- What causes lunar phases?
BACKGROUND INFORMATION AND MATERIALS LIST:
Students will begin the lab by reading the essential question and background information. This can be done individually, as lab groups, or as a whole class. If you consider lab groups, you also might include some type of whole class formative checks before digging into the lab.
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Materials List:
- 1 wooden dowel
- Styrofoam ball
- flashlight
- scissors
- glue
- lunar phases worksheets (parts 1 and 2)
PROCEDURE:
For this lab, students will start off by taking the Moon phase cards and placing them in the order they think they will go on their lab sheet. After students have predicted the phases of the Moon, students will verify by modeling the positions of the Earth, Sun and Moon.
One student will hold a Styrofoam ball, one a light source, and one will act like the Earth. With the Sun and Earth a meter apart, the student holding the Styrofoam ball will orbit the Earth while the student portraying the Earth will observe how the light reflects off the surface of the ball.
CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING:
At this point in the lab, students will be checked for understanding by answering questions about their findings. Here are a few that come with the lab:
- What is the phase of the Moon that will occur when it is between Earth and the Sun?
- What is the phase of the Moon that will occur when the Earth is between the Moon and the Sun?
- What is the phase of the Moon when it is to the left of Earth?
- What is the phase of the Moon when it is to the right of the Earth?
CONCLUSION
Students will go back to the essential question and write a CER (Claim, Evidence, Reasoning) to conclude the lab. Once completed, students will reflect back on their learning by answering the following questions:
- If you were seeing a full Moon tonight, what would be the next phase?
- What is the difference between a waning and waxing Moon?
MODIFIED AND INDEPENDENT INQUIRY VERSIONS
All of the Kesler Science inquiry labs come with three different modification levels. Each lab is differentiated using the icons below.
STANDARDS ALIGNMENT
NGSS: ESS1-1 – Develop and use a model of the Earth-Sun-Moon system to describe the cyclic patterns of lunar phases, eclipses of the Sun and Moon, and seasons.
