Meeting the MOON from a Global Perspective

Journal Article | April 2003

The MOON Project (More Observations of Nature) engages middle school students and pre-service teachers in a long-term (16-week) investigation of the Moon. It provides an opportunity to share, via the Internet, their…

Science Sampler: Perceptions about Moon phases

Journal Article | October 2002

One of the most common topics about which students have misconceptions is the phases of the Moon. This article features a two-week course about Moon phases including classroom instruction, videos, field observations,…

Scope on the Skies: The real shape of the Moon's orbit

Journal Article | November 2006

In the typical Moon phase lesson, students learn that the rotation period for the Moon is approximately the same as its revolution period around the Earth. However, as your students complete the following activity, they…

Science Shorts: Does the Moon Still Matter?

Journal Article | January 2012

This column provides classic classroom activities that emphasize science process skills. This month’s issue provides several stand-alone and interconnected activities for third graders that are associated with teaching…

Scope on the Skies: Timely Motions of the Earth and Moon

Journal Article | December 2017

This column focuses on astronomy throughout the year. During the first few days of January, the Earth reaches perihelion, the closest it will come to the Sun each year. The Earth’s perihelion does not occur on the same…

Moon Phase as a Context for Teaching Scale Factor

Journal Article | November 2007

The Sun and the Moon are our most visible neighbors in space, yet their distance and size relative to the Earth are often misunderstood. Science textbooks fuel this misconception because they regularly depict linear…

Scope on the Skies: Dance of the planets and our Moon

Journal Article | June 2008

This summer, the visible planets will put on quite a display, giving us not only the opportunity to compare relative orbital motions, but to also see some beautiful arrangements and conjunctions among the planets, stars…

Next Time You See the Moon (e-Book)

eBook | March 2015

Visualizing the Earth and Moon Relationship via Scaled Drawings

Journal Article | November 2009

Students’ difficulties with accurately conceptualizing the relationships among the Earth, Moon, and Sun are well documented. Any teacher who has seen the film A Private Universe (Schneps and Sadler 1988) will remember…