Mystery Class Reminder: February 15, 2002 Today's Report Includes: Can You See It? More Tips from the Pros Important: Did You Make Your Own Graph? Reasons for Seasons: Exploring the Astronomy of Spring Who Knows What Time It Is?: Discussion of CQ #1 This Week's Sunrise/Sunset Times Coming in the Future Reports Can You See It? Here's what you've been waiting for! We've got the second set of sunrise/sunset data for the Mystery Classes around the world! Remember this information was recorded on Monday, February 11, 2002, the same day you collected your second set of hometown sunrise/sunset data. Important: Did You Make Your Own Graph? This year the vertical axis of the Mystery Class graph will need to extend from 24 hours at the top all the way down to 0 hours at the bottom (instead of 4). If you made you own graph, make sure that the vertical axis extends to 0 hours at the bottom. (The PDF and Word web versions already show this full graph and can serve as the example. The "Make Your Own Graph" instructions have been updated to show how to extend the graph using an additional half sheet of graph paper.) Mystery Class Graph 2002 ( PDF or Word): PDF Word As you plot this week's data on your graph, ask yourself the following questions. Can you determine: 1) Where is photoperiod changing the most quickly? 2) In which places is it increasing? In which places is it decreasing? 3) What might these things tell you about the location of each site? More Tips from the Pros If you haven't already read her insights, Nebraska teacher Gayle Kloewer has some suggestions to help students get the most out of graphing in this Teacher Tip: Teacher Tip: Mystery Class/Graphing Photoperiod Reasons for Seasons: Exploring the Astronomy of Spring As you begin to notice changes in your graph, now is a good time to explore why we have seasons and changing day length. Many people have misconceptions about this. The real reason for seasons lies in the fact that the Earth is tilted on its axis. The tilt of the Earth affects the length of days and also the amount of direct sunlight received during the seasons. Take a look at the lesson below called Reasons for Seasons: Reasons for Seasons Who Knows What Time It Is?: Discussion of CQ #1 Last week we asked about the meaning of two expressions that most people use everyday, but probably never stop to think about: "What do the initials 'A.M.' and 'P.M.' stand for anyway?" We had many correct answers from students in Maine, Connecticut, New Jersey, Georgia, Indiana, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and other locations too. Several answers took us for a quick Latin lesson on the meaning of these expressions: Carol Berlin's Grade 3 class, Framingham, MA: "AM Means Ante Meridien. It is from Latin, as is PM which means Post Meridien. Ante means before, Post means past, and Meridien means midday, or noon." Mrs. Reynolds, Mod 6 SS, 7th Grade, Upper Merion Area Middle School: "The initials 'A.M.' and 'P.M.' are the abbreviations for the time periods of twelve midnight to twelve noon and then from noon to midnight. 'A.M.' stands for Ante Meridiem, which means 'The time from midnight to noon' and 'P.M.' stands for Post Meridiem, which means 'The time from noon to midnight'. Both words come from the Latin language." Mrs Lodge's Class from Hebron, CT: "[We've] been anxiously awaiting the Mystery Class Project. We used our classroom dictionaries and found that the letters "A.M." stand for ante meridiem, the time from midnight to noon, and the letters "P.M." stand for post meridiem, the time from noon to midnight." And 6th Grader Amanda from Locust School wrote that "PM means Post Meridiem and that means being after noon. AM means Ante Meridiem and that means being before noon." Our thanks and congratulations to all the students who answered CQ #1. Nice job everyone! This Week's Sunrise/Sunset Times Remember, the secret Mystery sites recorded their times last Monday, the same day you collected your own local sunrise/sunset data. Journey North Mystery Class Sunrise/Sunset Data Data For: Monday, February 11, 2002 MYSTERY CLASS SUNRISE SUNSET #1 08:53 17:49 #2 00:00* 00:00* #3 06:54 18:23 #4 06:07 18:38 #5 06:45 18:25 #6 07:27 17:58 #7 06:39 17:46 #8 08:32 16:47 #9 06:24 17:56 #10 07:07 19:24 * Journey North Mystery Class #2 reported 00:00 for their times again and said "still no sunset yet--have fun finding us!"" Note: Military time is usually expressed without any punctuation. We have used a ":" between the hours and minutes for clarity.) Coming in the Future Reports Eggstraordinary Experiments: March 1 The Longitude Clues: March 15 Clues from your Mystery Friends: March 22 & 29, April 5, 12, & 19 Answers Due: April 26 The Next Mystery Class Update Will be Posted: February 22, 2002 Copyright 2002 Journey North. All Rights Reserved. Please send all questions, comments, and suggestions to our feedback form