Interactive and Integrative Lesson Plan The Sun

(Date)

I. Objectives

Cognitive : Describe the sun as the center of the solar system. Tell that the sun is also a star and is born as stars are born. Identify the parts of the sun. Describe each part of the sun.

Psychomotor : Draw and label the structure of the sun.Affective : Recognize that in life everything has both beginning and end.

II. Integration

A. Values: Recognizing one’s limitations and good versus evil.B. Makabayan: War and peace

III. Subject Matter

A.Unit : Solar SystemTopic : The sunReference : iTextbook 5, Science and Health 5, Jessie A. Villegas, pages 292-295Materials : pictures of the sun

B. Concepts/Related Ideas 

1. Named after Sol, the Roman sun god, the sun is the nearest star to planet Earth. It is only about 150 million kilometers away, and it takes only 8 minutes and 20 seconds for sunlight to reach our world.

2. It is enormous in size; at least 1.3 million planets the size of earth could fit into it. Its diameter of about 1.4 million kilometers is a 100 times that of earth’s.  And yet it is only a medium-size star. Many other stars are much, much bigger.

3. Like all stars, it is composed mostly of the two lightest elements, hydrogen and helium. That is why it is one-fourth times less dense than earth, though it is 330,000 times as heavy. Hydrogen is the fuel of the sun; it burns and fuses together to form helium. This burning of hydrogen is not an ordinary combustion; it is a nuclear reaction called fusion ... a process that produces a great deal of heat and light, a small fraction of which reaches the earth.

4. Birth of the Sun.  Scientists believe that the sun began as an immense cloud of gas and dust, which are made up of all kinds of chemicals. As gravity pulled all the gases and dusts together, tighter and tighter, the center formed into the shape of a gigantic ball with a temperature so hot that a nuclear fusion occurred. With this fusion reaction, which began about 4.6 billion years ago, our sun entered its main sequence. This is how all stars are born.

5. Death of the Sun.  All stars have a life span. Giant stars burn at rapid rate; so, they have a shorter life span. The smallest stars burn at a much slower rate and are estimated to burn for a million, million years. Our sun, which is a yellow dwarf, is believed to continue its main sequence for another 5 billion years, until most of its hydrogen is consumed. Prior to this, the sun will greatly expand and explode into a supernova. Then it will start shrinking until it burns the last of its fuel. It will gradually cool off and implode upon itself because gravity will be the only force in it. The gravity will be so great that not even light can escape from it. The sun becomes a black hole ... the fate of all stars.

6. The sun’s internal structure is made up of a core, a radiative zone, and a convective zone. The core, which is the solar reactor, is where hydrogen is fused to form helium. It is the source of the sun’s energy. It is the energy that continually expands the sun and balances its pull of gravity.

7. The sun’s atmosphere is composed of the photosphere, chromosphere, and the corona. The photosphere is a bright layer of visible light. It is the apparent surface of the sun and the part that we see. The chromosphere is a dense layer of colored gases above the photosphere. Solar prominences, or clouds of glowing gases, occasionally shoot rapidly into and beyond the chromosphere up to million kilometers high. The outermost layer is the corona, a vast cloud of very hot gases. It is the halo of white light that can be seen around the sun during a total eclipse.

8. Another phenomenon associated with the sun’s structure is the solar wind. It consists of particles emitted from the sun at supersonic speed of 1 million kilometers per hour. When solar winds encounter Earth’s magnetosphere, they can produce magnetic storms and polar auroras, which interfere with radio and telephone communications. Auroras are colored lights seen in the night sky near Earth’s north and south poles.

C. Process Skills

Observing, identifying, describing, inferring

IV. Procedure

A.Preparatory ActivitiesGreetingsChecking of attendanceChecking of assignments

B. Review

1. What are the distinctive characteristics of the outer planets?2. Why was Neptune the farthest planet from 1979 to 1999?

C. Motivation

The sky is filled with millions of stars that glitter and twinkle on a clear night. What star is never visible at night?

D. Presentation

Named after Sol, the Roman sun god, the sun is the nearest star to planet Earth. It is only about 150 million kilometers away, and it takes only 8 minutes and 20 seconds for sunlight to reach our world.

It is enormous in size; at least 1.3 million planets the size of Earth could fit into it. Its diameter of about 1.4 million kilometers is a 100 times that of Earth’s.  And yet it is only a medium-size star. Many other stars are much, much bigger.

Like all stars, it is composed mostly of the two lightest elements, hydrogen and helium. That is why it is one-fourth times less dense than Earth, though it is 330,000 times as heavy. Hydrogen is the fuel of the sun; it burns and fuses together to form helium. This burning of hydrogen is not an ordinary combustion; it is a nuclear reaction called fusion ... a process that produces a great deal of heat and light, a small fraction of which reaches Earth.

E. Concept Formation

1. (Show video clip of the sun)2. Like all stars, scientists believe that the sun began as an immense cloud of gas and dust, known as nebula. What

happened as gravity pulled all the gases and dusts together, tighter and tighter? 3. According to scientists, when did our sun enter its main sequence? 4. All stars have a life span. Giant stars burn at rapid rate; so, they have a shorter life span. The smallest stars burn

at a much slower rate and are estimated to burn for a million, million years. What kind of star is our sun?5. When and how will our sun, like all stars, end its main sequence? 6. The sun’s internal structure is made up of a core, a radiative zone, and a convective zone. What is taking place

at the core?7. The sun’s atmosphere is composed of the photosphere, chromosphere, and the corona. Describe the

photosphere.8. What is the chromosphere? 9. What are the clouds of glowing gases that occasionally shoot rapidly into and beyond the chromosphere up to

million kilometers high? 10. What is the halo of white light that can be seen around the sun during a total eclipse?11. Another phenomenon associated with the sun’s structure is the solar wind. What does solar wind consist of?12. What happens when solar winds encounter the earth’s magnetosphere? 13. What are auroras?

F. Enhancement Activities/Evaluation

What is your ScIQ? pages 293 and 295

G. Generalizations

How did the sun begin and how will it end?What are the parts of the sun? Describe each.

H. Application/Integration

The sun is the source of all our energies, from which all life depends. No wonder it was named after the Sol, the Roman sun god. Yet, despite its size and power, it is not infinite. Like all matter, it will also end to meet its fate. What does this remind us?

Einstein discovered the secret of the sun's energy in his celebrated formula, e = mc 2. Unfortunately, the same formula is used to produce weapons of mass destruction...a perfect example of how something good can be used for something evil.

I. Assignment

1. Draw and label the internal structure of the sun.2. What are sunspots?3. Give the importance of the sun.