Study Guides

Unit Summary

This unit covers the movement of the Earth, moon, and planets, describing them as spherical bodies. It explains Earth's rotation, causing day and night, and the sun's apparent movement. Emphasis is on recording complex data, presenting findings, and evaluating scientific evidence.

Lesson Summary

You can use the idea of the Moon's movement to begin to explain why the Moon appears to change shape.

Key Notes

• The Moon moves around the Earth. It takes approximately 28 days for the Moon to complete its orbit of the Earth.
• As the Moon orbits the Earth, the same side of the Moon is always facing us.
• We see the Moon because light from the Sun shines on the Moon and this light is reflected to Earth.
• The Moon appears to change shape depending on the amount we see from Earth being lit by the Sun.

Vocabulary To Learn

• Moon: Our Moon is an object that travels around planet Earth.
• reflect: To reflect light is when light hits a surface and bounces off in another direction.
• orbit: Orbit is when something travels around a star, planet or moon.
• satellite: The Moon is a satellite because it moves around the Earth.
• observations: When we make observations we look closely at something and use other senses too.

Common Mistakes To Avoid

• Pupils will think that the Moon actually does change shape, or that it becomes covered with clouds.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

More Lessons In This Unit

• How we see the Moon from Earth Study Guide
• More about the Sun (non-statutory) Study Guide
• Observing the Moon Study Guide
• Scientific theories from the past (non-statutory) Study Guide
• The movement of the planets around the Sun Study Guide
• The planets in our solar system (non-statutory) Study Guide
• The relative sizes of the Earth, Sun and Moon (non-statutory) Study Guide
• The shape of Earth Study Guide
• The shape of objects in space Study Guide
• Why the Sun appears to move across the sky Study Guide
• Why we have day and night Study Guide