Team 4

1
Team 4 Alaska

• Alyeska Central School
• A K-12 correspondence school of the Department of
  Education, serving students from Barrow to
  Ketchikan

2
Where Is the Sunlight?

• Alaska receives as many hours of sunlight over
  the course of a year as any other place on earth,
  such as Huntsville, Alabama.
• So, why will it be so much hotter there this
  summer than in Alaska?
• Students will develop a model solution to this
  question.

3
Where Is the Sunlight?

• The inverse square law models a number of
  phenomena
• Gravitational force between two bodies over
  distance
• Magnetic force between two magnets over distance
• Light intensity over distance

4
Where Is the Sunlight?

• We want students to explore the relationship
  between the area on which light shines (directly
  proportional to distance from source), and its
  intensity (inversely proportional to distance
  from source).

5
Where Is the Sunlight?

• Tools we will use include the following
• CBL and photocell for measuring light intensity
• Excel spreadsheet to model mathematical
  relationships
• ACS Online!, our web based learning environment,
  for delivery of instruction and communication

6
Where Is the Sunlight?

• To focus the project toward Alaskan issues,
  students will consider the curvature of the Earth
  and the ensuing differential of light intensity
  at varying latitudes

7
Where Is the Sunlight?

• Example Activities 
• Compare area covered with distances from light
  source.
• Area covered by light ? distance2 from source

8
Where Is the Sunlight?

• Compare light intensity with distance and
  latitude.
• Intensity ? k/d2

9
Where Is the Sunlight?

• National Science Standards
• Science as Inquiry
• Math tools and models
• Clear, defensible reports
• Earth and Space Content Standard D
• Energy in the Earth system

10
Where Is the Sunlight?

• National Math Standards
• Data Analysis and Probability
• Select and use appropriate statistical methods to
  analyze data
• Develop and evaluate inferences and predictions
  that are based on data
• Formulate questions that can be addressed with
  data and collect, organize, and display relevant
  data to answer them

11
Where Is the Sunlight?
12
Where Is the Sunlight?

• Proposed by
• Margaret MacKinnon
• Cecilia Miller
• Ernie Selig
• Jon Paden