Mississippi Science ESS.3.2
The Standard
- ESS.3
- Students will develop an understanding of Earth’s systems and cycles.
Enrichment: Use an engineering design process to explore the concepts of passive solar architecture to design a structure that best utilizes solar incidence. *
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 design a building that uses sunlight for warmth while limiting unwanted heat. They test how window placement and shading work at different sun angles, then revise their design.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can place a window and size an overhang to admit low winter sunlight and shade high summer sunlight. They use test results to explain a design change.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think the sun hits a building at the same angle all year. They may assume bigger windows always improve a design, even when those windows cause summer overheating.
How to Assess It
- Ask students to sketch a window and overhang for a Northern Hemisphere building that admits winter sun but blocks summer sun. Have them name one way to test the design.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Build a cardboard room with a window and overhang, shine a flashlight from high and low angles, and adjust the shade.
Show Northern Hemisphere sun-angle sketches and ask, 'How can one overhang block summer sun but admit winter sun?'
Give pairs window, wall, and overhang cutouts; call out high or low sun angles and have them arrange the pieces.
Use a compass and local sun-path chart to inspect classroom windows, then sketch a shade that blocks summer sun and admits winter sun.
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Printable ESS.3.2 Worksheet
A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to ESS.3.2, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.
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