Shadow Sticks
COLLECTION
PRIMARY ELEMENTARY | SCIENCE
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
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
Focus
- 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.
Recommended Resources
Educators
- Shadow Stick Project Web Site http://sunship.currentsky.com/2005/stick.html