Unit 08 · Astronomy & Earth in Space
The year closes by pulling back from the planet to its place in space. This unit covers the Earth–Moon–Sun system and the two things it explains that almost everyone gets wrong — why we have seasons (the tilt of Earth's axis, not its distance from the Sun) and why the Moon shows phases (its position relative to the Sun, not Earth's shadow). From there it builds outward to the structure of the solar system and the staggering scale that separates the planets. Mastery means you can model the system and explain seasons and phases from geometry, not from a guess.
| Criterion | Not yet | Approaching | Mastered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seasons | Thinks seasons come from Earth being closer to the Sun. | Mentions tilt but still ties warmth to distance from the Sun. | Explains seasons from the tilt of Earth's axis and the changing angle and length of sunlight. |
| Moon phases | Thinks Moon phases are Earth's shadow falling on the Moon. | Says phases come from the Moon's position but confuses them with eclipses. | Explains phases from the Moon's position relative to Earth and Sun, and distinguishes them from eclipses. |
| The Earth–Moon–Sun system | Cannot relate day, year, and the motions that produce them. | Names rotation and revolution but mixes up what each causes. | Connects Earth's rotation and revolution and the Moon's orbit to day, year, phases, and tides. |
| The solar system & scale | Pictures the planets as close together and similar in size. | Orders the planets but has no sense of the distances between them. | Describes the structure of the solar system and reasons about its scale in real distances and sizes. |
| Lab technique (scale / phase modeling) | Cannot build a scale model or a working model of phases or seasons. | Builds a model but the scale or the geometry is off. | Builds a scale model of the solar system or a Moon-phase/seasons model and defends its geometry. |
| Integration (cross-domain) | Treats the science as isolated facts; makes no cross-domain connection. | Names a link to history, reading, or writing but cannot defend why it matters. | Connects the unit to its anchor across History · Reading · Writing (plus chosen electives) and defends why the connection matters. |
“Seasons aren’t about distance — Earth is actually closest to the Sun in January. It’s the axial tilt that changes how directly the sunlight hits. Copernicus put the Sun at the center, Galileo saw moons orbiting Jupiter through his telescope, and Kepler worked out that the orbits were ellipses — that’s how we went from guessing to geometry.”
“It’s summer when Earth gets closer to the Sun, and the Moon’s phases are just Earth’s shadow moving across it.”
You demonstrate this unit by building a scale model of the solar system and modeling Moon phases and seasons, explaining the geometry aloud, not on a multiple-choice test. A criterion counts as mastered only when your model works and you can justify the astronomy behind it. Mastery is demonstrated, not awarded.
A 5-page clipboard packet — unit overview, key terms, the mastery rubric, anchor examples, and a score sheet you can print and grade against.