Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

what are your recommendations for how to teach a first grader to conduct research on phases of the moon within one month period ? Is an acceptable hypothesis that the moon will go through x number of phases within 30 days? What are dependent and independent variables needed here in an observational study? Thinking of having student take records, draw observations of shape of moon, etc..any help would be appreciated!! Thanks.

Hi,

I suspect hands on observation by the student will work best. If you live in an area where you can see the moon most days of the month, you might have him/her record where the moon is in the sky at a fixed hour of the day or night for the month, and draw the shape of the lighted area of the moon. On an evening when the moon is visible for several hours it could also be fun to keep track of the position of the moon once an hour (like determine the direction of the moon on a compass, and use protractor and hanging weight on a string to determine how many degrees the moon is above the horizon about every hour). If he records his observations in a notebook for a little more than a month, he should have a very good understanding of the behavior of the moon.

He could also compare his observations to a calendar of the phases of the moon.

This sounds like a good parent-child partnership project to me, as it might be difficult to be done by the student working alone.

You might want to read the Science Buddies Project Guide for help on variables (see the section on Constructing a hypothesis)

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ndex.shtml

This sounds like fun!

Best regards,

Barrett Tomlinson

This sound like a great project!
A good way to record what the moon looks like each night is on a calendar. Here's an example: http://www.abcteach.com/SolarSystem/moonchart.htm
If you type "moon observation chart", you'll find some good resources
Hope this helps

I would advise an older student to take photographs systematically and observe how the location of particular large craters (which can serve as landmarks) near the visible circumference change. We can actually see more than 50% of the moon's surface over time. Two important factors are the earth's daily rotation and inclination of the moon's orbit to the ecliptic (the Wikipedia article on the moon has a good diagram). Put simply, we can see "around the edges" over time as our vantage point changes. A first grader who is able to take good photographs and study what is actually visible might detect these differences and be stimulated to realize that the appearance of the moon is much more complex than the "four phases" story suggests.

Bill Clancey