Homework Assignments - Weather & Water

Supplementary Materials: SUNRISE/SUNSET TIMES FOR 2000

24-Hour Clock Number Line.doc

07 elapsed time.doc 

Monthly Hours of Daylight New York City, etc.doc

07 Daylight Hours New York NY.doc

NORTH or SOUTH of the EQUATOR 2.doc

Washington DC Buenos Aires daylight hours.doc

(Paul) Most of my students were befuddled by the SUNRISE/SUNSET TIMES FOR 2000 exercise (Lab notebook, page 7) because they did not know how to compute elapsed time. The graph itself was easy, but to complete the graph you need to know how many hours and minutes of daylight there were each month. I created a 24-Hour Clock Number Line to assist them, but for many it was still very slow-going. I did some additional elapsed time exercises (including a transparency), and another graphing exercise with New York City to practice elapsed time.

What’s more, they did not get the big picture from reading the story, “Wendy and Her Worldwide Weather Watchers” (Resources book, pages 12 to 16). The NORTH or SOUTH of the EQUATOR? activity was used to aid here. Some did not know of that distinction. The graphs for Washington, D.C. and Buenos Aires, Argentina aim to underscore the essential point about the difference between the northern and southern hemisphere vis-à-vis daylight hours. I gave up on elapsed time by this point and just focused on the distinctive difference between the two graphs. As one student observed, if you turn one upside down they almost fit together to make a whole.   

Supplementary Materials: SEASONS AND SUN

Reasons for the Seasons 2.doc

(Paul) This was another tough one. My students cannot get it out of their heads that seasons have to do with Earth’s closeness or distance from the sun. Reasons for the Seasons sought to revisit the topic using two Internet animations (see bottom of page 2) that I think are clearer than the FOSS animations. I projected these and did this as a class exercise, but if each of your students has computer access you could do it that way.

Supplementary Materials: WEATHER AND WATER RESOURCES book