Moon Phases through Movement

Students visualized the moon’s phases by representing the Earth, Sun, and Moon with various objects. In groups of three, students used a flashlight, volleyball and themselves to watch the moon phases in “real time”. One student held the flashlight as “the sun”, one held the volleyball as “the moon” who then rotated around a third student who represented “the earth”. Since the sun does not move, students saw how the shadow on the moon from the sun changed depending on the position of the viewer.