where in the world is our mystery class?
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Where in the World is our Mystery Class?. Cheryl Lykowski Lourdes College-EDU 613 March, 2006. Mystery Class Background. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Where in the World is our Mystery Class?
Cheryl LykowskiLourdes College-
EDU 613March, 2006
Mystery Class Background
The Mystery Class investigation is an 11-week hunt in which students try to find
the location of 10 secret "Mystery Classes" hiding around the globe. The
changing amount of sunlight at each site is the central clue, followed by longitude clues and verbal clues. Students take an
exciting journey from knowing only sunrise and sunset times, to discovering
exact locations of the 10 Mystery Classes.
Mystery Class Objective
In a global game of hide and seek, you will track changing
daylight at ten secret sites around the world. This
investigation demonstrates that, as spring sweeps across the Northern Hemisphere, day length changes everywhere on earth. You will see that these dramatic seasonal changes in
sunlight affect the entire web of life.
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Mystery Class supports:
• Scientific observations• Data collection• Student-directed inquiry• Scientific procedures
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Mystery Class Table of Contents
Sunlight and the Seasons
Tracking Photoperiod
Calculating Photoperiod
Latitude & Longitude
Longitude Clues
Interdisciplinary Clues
Sunlight and the Seasons
Exploring the Sun's Role in the Living Systems
You have learned that sunlight makes plants grow, some animals eat plants, and predators eat other animals. However, did you know that these food chains and webs change with the seasons? For example, during spring in the Northern Hemisphere, lengthening and strengthening sunlight and rising temperatures boost plant photosynthesis, which increases the amount of food they produce.
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Sunlight and the SeasonsExploring the Sun's Role in the Living Systems
Make a list of five changes you think the sun will bring about as
winter wraps up and spring springs forth in our community. Think of both physical changes
(e.g., temperatures) and biological changes (e.g., plant growth). What kinds of impact does each physical
change (e.g., ice melting, more daylight hours, temperatures
warming) have on living things — particularly on their ability to
make or get food?
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Sunlight and the SeasonsExploring the Sun's Role in the Living Systems
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Sunlight and the SeasonsExploring the Sun's Role in the Living Systems
Click on the movie below to view a short video clip on sunlight and the seasons.
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Tracking Photoperiod
Beginning next Monday, check your local newspaper and retrieve your town's sunrise and sunset times for that date. Then be sure to record these times for your hometown on a Mystery Class Datasheet. Just four days later, on Friday, Journey North will post the first sunrise/sunset data for ten secret Mystery Classes. Be sure to record this Sunrise/Sunset data on the Mystery Class Datasheets too.In the weeks that follow, continue to record your own local sunrise/sunset data every Monday, and the secret Mystery Classes' sunrise/sunset data every Friday, and be sure to graph photoperiod changes too.
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Tracking Photoperiod
Mystery Class Data Sheet
DATE Sunrise Sunset Photoperiod
Jan. 30
Feb. 6
Feb. 13
Feb. 20
You will be given a data sheet like the one above to keep track of your Mystery Class’ photoperiod every week for the next eleven
weeks.
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Tracking Photoperiod
Once a week for eleven weeks, you will receive sunrise and sunset times for all ten secret mystery sites. After figuring
the photoperiod for your Mystery Class, you will be expected to graph your results on the large wall graph.
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Tracking Photoperiod
Click on the movie below to view a short video clip on tracking
and graphing weekly photoperiod clues.
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Calculating PhotoperiodSunrise and sunset occur because the Earth is spinning on its axis. During
Mystery Class, you will receive sunrise and sunset times from around the world.
A global view of Earth's 24-hour cycle can be hard to visualize. Below is a view
of the 24-hour clock or military time.
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Calculating Photoperiod
• If the sunrise is at 6:14 a.m. and the sunset is at 9: 36 p.m., you would divide the photoperiod into two parts: the amount of time before noon and the amount of time after noon.
• You might work it through like this: from sunrise (6:14) to 6:30 is 16 minutes, from 6:30 to noon is 5 hours and 30 minutes, so from sunrise to noon is 5 hours and 46 minutes.
• From noon to sunset is 9 hours and 36 minutes so the total would be 14 hours and 82 minutes.
. Since you know that there are only 60 minutes in
an hour, it becomes 15 hours and 22 minutes.
Here are two ways in which you can calculate the photoperiod of a location from sunrise and sunset
data.
1st way:
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Calculating Photoperiod
Convert sunrise and sunset numbers to a 24-hour clock and subtract sunrise from sunset.
2nd way:
sunset 9:36
sunrise 6:14
photoperiod
convert to 24 hour clock
sunset 21:36
sunrise -6:14
15:22
photoperiod 15 hours and 22 minutes
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Calculating Photoperiod
Now you try it!
Sunrise 6:24 am Sunset 7:44 pm
Step 1: Determine the sunset on the 24-hour clock.
Sunset 19:44 pm
Step 2: Subtract the sunrise from the sunset.
19:44
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Calculating Photoperiod
19:44 -6:2413:2013 hours/20 minutes
How did you do?
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Latitude & Longitude
Did you know that every location on earth has a global address that everyone can understand, no matter what language they might speak? Or how remote the place might be?
A global address is given as two numbers called coordinates. The two numbers are a location's latitude number and its longitude number.
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Latitude & Longitude
Think about having imaginary horizontal "hula hoops" around the earth,
with the biggest hoop around the equator, and
then progressively smaller ones stacked above and
below it to reach the North and South Poles
Latitude
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Latitude & Longitude
Visualize hula hoops cut in half, vertically positioned with one
end at the North Pole and the other at the
South Pole.
Longitude
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Longitude CluesThese images of Earth taken from space show the
location of sun's light changes from one hour to the next as Earth rotates on its axis. The time is shown as "UT,"
or Universal Time; this is also known as "GMT," or
Greenwich Mean Time. Images courtesy of Living Earth (Click for larger image.)
03:55
GMT04:55 GMT 05:55
GMT06:55 GMTWhat do you notice?
What does it "tell" you? How are sunrise and longitude related in the photos above? What season is it in the northern hemisphere? Explain how you know. Find out what scientists say.
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Longitude Clues
On the spring equinox, sunrise data given in Greenwich Mean Time reveals the approximate longitude of each secret site. With longitude
uncovered, the search for secret sites is narrowing.
Click on the movie clip below to view a short video on longitude.
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Longitude Clues
There are certain clues that can help you estimate Longitude when used in connection with the
SPRING EQUINOX. These are called The Longitude Clues.
Only on the Equinox (spring or fall) do these clues work. As your graph will show, on the Equinox everyone on earth has about the same amount of daylight. At all other times of year, either the Northern Hemisphere or Southern Hemisphere has more daylight due to the tilt of the Earth's axis. But on the Equinox, neither of the poles of the Earth is tilted toward or away from the sun. Because of this fact, using the Longitude Clues, you will be able to estimate approximate LONGITUDE by knowing the time of sunrise at the Mystery Class on the Equinox when you are given that sunrise time in Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). Table
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Longitude CluesMystery Class GMT Worksheet
Estimating Approximate Longitude using GMT Sunrise Timeson the Vernal Equinox
Step # 1 Fill in the GMT sunrise time and date for the Mystery Class. This is the time it is in Greenwich, England when the sun rises at the Mystery Location. Put in Box A.
BOX A_______time______date
Step # 2 Fill in the time that the sun rises in Greenwich, England on March 20, the spring Equinox. This year that sunrise time is 06:03 A.M.Put in Box B.
BOX B
06:03 A.M. (3/20)
Step # 3 Figure out how many hours and minutes there are between the time in Box A and the time in Box B. Put answer in Box C. This is the difference in time between sunrise at Greenwich and sunrise at the Mystery Location. (CAUTION!!! This may not be a simple subtraction or addition equation. Remember that hours and minutes are not in decimal form. Be sure to think
about your answer!) Put in Box C.
BOX C
_______hours______minutes
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Longitude CluesMystery Class GMT Worksheet Estimating Approximate Longitude
using GMT Sunrise Times on the Vernal Equinox (con’t.)
Step # 4 For the next step you'll need to convert hours to minutes. Multiply each hour in Box C by 60, add the remaining minutes from Box C. Put the answer in Box D.
BOX D
________minutes
Step # 5 Almost done! You now know how many minutes the earth spins between the time the sun rises at the Mystery Class location and the time it rises at Greenwich. Since the earth spins 1 degree longitude every 4 minutes, you must next divide by 4 to get the number of approximate longitude degrees away from Greenwich. Divide the number of minutes given in Box D by 4. Put the answer in Box E.
BOX E
________degree
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Longitude CluesMystery Class GMT Worksheet Estimating Approximate Longitude using GMT
Sunrise Times on the Vernal Equinox (con’t.)
Step # 6 Eastern or Western Hemisphere?To determine the site's longitude you need to know if it is in the Eastern or Western Hemisphere (i.e East or West of Greenwich, which is 0 degrees).
• If the sunrise time in Box A is later than the sunrise time in Box B, the Mystery Class is west of Greenwich (Western Hemisphere).
• If the sunrise time in Box A is earlier than the sunrise time in Box B, the Mystery Class is east of Greenwich (Eastern Hemisphere).
BOX F
East or West?
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Interdisciplinary Clues After the spring equinox,
weekly informational clues about the history, geography, culture and other aspects of a location are provided, leading
students progressively closer to unlocking the secret locations.
Click on the picture below to watch a short video clip on
using interdisciplinary clues.
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Mystery Class ResourcesFollowing is a list of resources to aid you in your journey of finding your Mystery
Class.
Sunrise/Sunset Tables:Locations Worldwide Locations in U.S.Only
Photoperiod(Journey North Mystery
Class)
Check out the following books in our class library.
LONGITUDE, by Dava Sobel THE LONGITUDE PRIZE, by Joan Dash ON THE SAME DAY IN MARCH, by Marilyn Singer
You can also use atlases, maps, encyclopedias, and the internet.
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