Mississippi Science E.7.9C.2
The Standard
- E.7.9C
- Students will demonstrate an understanding that the seasons are the direct result of the Earth's tilt and the intensity of sunlight on the Earth's hemispheres.
Investigate how variations of sunlight intensity experienced by each hemisphere (to include the equator and poles) create the four seasons.
2026 Mississippi College- and Career-Readiness Standards for Science · Earth’s Systems and Cycles
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students use a tilted globe and lamp to see how sunlight changes during the year at the equator, poles, and each hemisphere. They explain why the hemispheres have opposite seasons and why seasonal changes differ by latitude.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can show why the Northern Hemisphere gets more direct sunlight in June while the Southern Hemisphere gets less. They can explain why the equator changes less through the year and why a pole can have months of daylight or darkness.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may say summer happens when Earth is closer to the Sun, or that both hemispheres have summer at the same time. Some think the equator has the same seasonal swing as the poles, or that the poles stay dark all year.
How to Assess It
- Draw Earth in June with the North Pole tilted toward the Sun. Ask students to label each hemisphere’s season, mark the pole with continuous daylight, and explain why the equator changes less.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Compare light on equator and both pole stickers as a tilted globe circles a lamp, its axis always pointed at one wall.
Write two sentences explaining why July is summer in New York but winter in Buenos Aires, using Earth's tilt and sunlight angle.
Deal four diagrams of Earth's orbit; partners label each hemisphere's season, then check where the poles have 24-hour daylight.
Compare June and December daylight records for Tromsø and Quito on timeanddate.com, then explain why the numbers differ.
Keep exploring
Related Standards
- E.5.8B.3
Develop and use models to explain the factors (e.g., tilt, revolution, and angle of sunlight) that result in Earth's seasonal changes.
- E.K.8A.1
Construct an explanation of the pattern of the Earth's seasonal changes in the environment using evidence from observations.
- E.7.9C
Students will demonstrate an understanding that the seasons are the direct result of the Earth's tilt and the intensity of sunlight on the Earth's hemispheres.
- E.7.9C.1
Construct models and diagrams to illustrate how the tilt of Earth's axis results in differences in intensity of sunlight on the Earth's hemispheres throughout t...
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