HS - ESS1.A (A) - The Sun - FINAL (WND 3/13/2014)

Module: The Sun

DCI: ESS1.A (A) The star called the sun is changing and will burn out over a lifespan of approximately 10 billion years.

PE: HS-ESS1-1 Develop a model based on evidence to illustrate the life span of the sun and the role of nuclear fusion in the sun’s core to release energy in the form of radiation.

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on the energy transfer mechanisms that allow energy from nuclear fusion in the sun’s core to reach Earth. Examples of evidence for the model include observations of the masses and lifetimes of other stars, as well as the ways that the sun’s radiation varies due to sudden solar flares (“space weather”), the 11-year sunspot cycle, and non-cyclic variations over centuries.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include details of the atomic and sub-atomic processes involved with the sun’s nuclear fusion.]

The ideas in this standard are: 

- our star, the sun, is changing 

- the sun will burn out over a lifespan of approximately 10 billion years

We can definitely use information about the masses and lifetimes of other stars as a means of comparison to our own sun. This will be one kind of evidence we can use to support the ideas about the sun's lifespan.  

The energy transfer mechanism they refer to is radiation of energy from the sun to the Earth.  We can ask students to maybe fill in a missing part of a diagram showing heat moving from the sun to the Earth, or we can ask how the energy originates. 

The 11 year Sunspot cycle provides evidence for periods of activity and inactivity of the Sun- and can be used to tell us that the sun is changing.  We can ask a good question about this.