Shadow Sticks

Students will explore how to use the movement of the sun to tell time and direction without a clock or a compass and extend this understanding by making a shadow stick / sun dial. Students can further create a sun map of the schoolyard garden to determine how the sun’s movement across the sky could affect the plants that are growing there.

Concepts: Sun Position

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Essential Questions

  • How and why does the sun seem to move across the sky throughout the day
  • How and why do shadows change throughout the day?

Standards Addressed

  • S2E2a. Students will investigate the position of the sun in relation to a fixed object on earth at various times of the day.
  • S2E2b. Students will determine how the shadows change through the day by making a shadow stick or using a sundial.

Explorations

hand pointing to a location on a map

Creating a Sun Map of the Garden
sun shining through clouds

Making Shadow Sticks
hand holding a compass

Telling Direction With No Compass
shadow of a family in the grass

Telling Time With No Clocks