Moon in Action

Correlations to National Science Education Standards

Grades K–4
Science as Inquiry – Content Standard A
Understandings About Scientific Inquiry

Scientists use different kinds of investigations depending on the questions they are trying to answer. Types of investigations include describing objects.

Light, Heat, Electricity, and Magnetism

Light travels in a straight line until it strikes an object. Light can be reflected by a mirror, refracted by a lens, or absorbed by the object.

Earth and Space Science – Content Standard D
Objects in the Sky

The sun, moon, stars, clouds, birds, and airplanes all have properties, locations, and movements that can be observed and described.

Changes in the Earth and Sky

Objects in the sky have patterns of movement. The sun, for example, appears to move across the sky in the same way every day, but its path changes slowly over the seasons. The moon moves across the sky on a daily basis much like the sun. The observable shape of the moon changes from day to day in a cycle that lasts about a month.

Science and Technology – Content Standard E
Understandings About Science and Technology

Tools help scientists make better observations, measurements, and equipment for investigations. They help scientists see, measure, and do things that they could not otherwise see, measure, and do.

Science as Inquiry – Content Standard A
Understandings About Scientific Inquiry

Different kinds of questions suggest different kinds of scientific investigations. Some investigations involve observing and describing objects; some involve collecting specimens; some involve seeking more information; some involve discovery of new objects.
Current scientific knowledge and understanding guide scientific investigations.
Technology used to gather data enhances accuracy and allows scientists to analyze and quantify results of investigations.

Physical Science - Content Standard B
Earth in the Solar System

The earth is the third planet from the sun in a system that includes the moon, the sun, eight other planets and their moons, and smaller objects, such as asteroids and comets. The sun, an average star, is the central and largest body in the solar system.
Most objects in the solar system are in regular and predictable motion. Those motions explain such phenomena as the day, the year, phases of the moon, and eclipses.

Last updated
August 30, 2010