Final Project

The final project for this unit consists of the following: learners choose a pattern created by the movement of the Earth and a way to represent it through a graphical display of data. Learners then create a folktale that explains the phenomenon including an understanding of why this mattered to our ancestors. See the final project planning sheet for details and rubric.

You have the option of a short synthesis activity before introducing the final project. Below are two options.

Synthesis activity option 1 (10 minutes):

Write the following on the board: Pattern → cause → meaning for people

And have students work in pairs to complete the following sentence frames.

One pattern we studied is…

This pattern happens because the Earth…

For people long ago, this pattern mattered because…

Synthesis activity option 2 (20 minutes):

This activity is a combination of a mindmap and a hexagonal thinking routine that forces students to make connections between related concepts.

• Each pair chooses a key term or concept from the unit (rotation, seasonal stars, pattern, shadows, etc) and places it in the middle of a page in a bubble.
• Learners then must write 3-4 related key terms or concepts around it and explain the connection.

For example, if the middle bubble says ‘rotation’ and an outer bubble says ‘shadow,’ learners must explain that the rotation of the Earth creates the appearance of the sun moving in the sky, which affects the length and direction of shadows. This happens because the distance and direction of light from an object will change a shadow’s length and direction. If a third bubble says ‘pattern,’ students must explain that because the Earth’s rotation repeats every 24 hours, shadows change direction and length in the same way every 24 hours.