Leo's Turning Globe
Leo watches the Sun rise in the east, climb across the sky, and set in the west. It really does look as if the Sun is the thing moving.
If the Sun is not moving around us, why does it look exactly as though it is?
Page 1
Science · Grade 6 Science
Chapter 1: Earth, Sun, and Moon
The Sun does not go round us.
Leo watches the Sun rise in the east, climb across the sky, and set in the west. It really does look as if the Sun is the thing moving.
If the Sun is not moving around us, why does it look exactly as though it is?
Make your guess to turn the page.
Still to come: 9 pages · Words to Know · What We Learned · 4 questions · Explain It in Writing · Ask and Wonder
The idea this lesson is working on — Children believe the Sun travels around Earth because that is exactly what they see. The book does not argue with the observation; it shows that a turning observer sees the same thing. Ask: when you spin on a roundabout, which way do the trees seem to go? Then ask the harder question the book raises honestly — the globe model fits both ideas, so what evidence could tell them apart?
The evidence for rotation — A Foucault pendulum slowly changes its swing direction, satellites see the Earth turning beneath them, and hurricanes curve. All are explained by rotation and none by a moving Sun.
About the numbers — The pin shadows are what a 20 mm pin at about 40° north gives on the day of an equinox, so the U-shape is the real one. Ana's 24 hours is the solar day, from Sun to Sun. Measured against the stars Earth turns once in 23 hours 56 minutes; the extra four minutes come from Earth moving along its orbit, and is a good extension question for a strong reader.