Mystery
Class Update: February 27, 2004
Today's
Report Includes:
- Locations In Line after the Fourth Time?
- Leading Up to the Longitude Clues
- Teacher Tips: Getting Ready for Longitude Clues
- Earth from Space! Visualizing Sunrise and Sunset
- Try This! Eggstraordinary Equinox Experiment
- This Week's Sunrise/Sunset Times
- Note to Teachers: Plan Ahead and Mark Your Calendars
Locations in Line after the Fourth Time?
The
fourth set of sunrise/sunset data has arrived, once again, right on time.
Are you now able to put the locations in a line of the farthest north? The farthest south? The closest to the equator? Where is your hometown in that order? Good luck from the ten secret sites!
Leading Up to the Longitude Clues
Getting the sunrise/sunset times each week from your ten secret friends has been great, but aren't you ready for a few more clues to help your quest? We thought so! So, in two weeks, you'll start to receive a little more help. On March 12, we'll provide the first set of LONGITUDE clues, which will give you everything you need to estimate the approximate longitude of the Mystery sites.
Teacher Tips: Getting Ready for Longitude Clues
Three Mystery Class veterans suggest that some advance preparation for the Longitude Clues is time well spent. Thank you for sharing!:
Teacher Tip #1: Washington, D.C. teacher Kathleen Isaacs recommends two books to get students orientated to longitude before the clues arrive:
Teacher Tip #2: Texas teacher Jo Leland has her students practice on the Longitude Clues for some previous year's Mystery Classes, and suggests that students mark a "longitude place marker" on their maps:
Teacher Tip #3: Florida Teacher Allison Bailey shares tips for "Rappin'"your way to understanding Longitude
Earth from Space! Visualizing Sunrise and Sunset
Have you ever wondered how a sunrise and sunset occur each day? Before we post the Longitude Clues, it is helpful to visualize how this happens. Sunrise and sunset happen because the Earth's rotation brings an area of Earth into the light of the sun in the morning and then out of it in the evening each day. To help you visualize this, take a look at Earth from space:
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Does the Sun Really Rise and Set? |
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Try This! Eggstraordinary Equinox Experiment
The upcoming Longitude Clues will coincide with the Vernal Equinox, March 20, a day when Astronomers (and our calendars) tell us it's Spring! On the Equinox, the amounts of day and night are of roughly equal length--approximately 12 hours each. There's a "balance" of light and dark at almost all locations on Earth.
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Some
people believe that there is another kind of "balance"
on the Equinoxes, a special kind of force that will make a raw egg
balance on its own end! |
Do you think this is true? Is there some sort of cosmic "balance" that makes eggs stand on their own on the Equinoxes, but not on other days? Is there a scientific way for you to test this?
Try this "Eggstraordinary" experiment before, during and after the Equinox!
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.
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Link to This Week's Sunrise/Sunset Data
Note to Teachers: Plan Ahead and Mark Your Calendars
Here's the 2004 Mystery Class Schedule so you know what to expect from Journey North. Please be sure to plan ahead.
| February 6- April 16: | Each Friday, Sunrise/Sunset Times are posted for the ten Mystery Sites. |
| March 12: | The "Longitude Clue" is posted. |
| March 19, 26, April 2, 9 & 16: | Interdisciplinary clues from the Mystery Sites are posted each week. (Please Note--out of fairness to all participants, we will only post the clues on their scheduled dates.) |
| April 23: Deadline for Your Answers! | No
late entries will be accepted (out of fairness to all participants,
no exceptions.) |
| April 30: | Mystery Sites Revealed! |
| May 7: | Meet Your Mystery Friends! |
The Next Mystery Class Update Will Be Posted on March 5, 2004
Copyright
2004 Journey North. All Rights Reserved.
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