CMIS Evaluation Technology Focus

Winter Solstice in the southern hemisphere - June 21st

Use the occasion of the winter solstice to explore some interactive multimedia resources explaining the Earth’s changing seasons.

If you are unable to view the embedded YouTube video ‘What causes Earth’s Seasons?’ you may be able to access the same content via TeacherTube.

This interactive flash resource Earth in Motion: Seasons from the Adler Planetarium provides a simple audio and video explanation of the earth’s movements.

Reasons for the Seasons This applet has been designed to help students visualize the reasons for the seasons.

Seasons Interactive Everyone knows that it’s warmer in the summer than in winter, but why is that? With this interactive you can examine the main factors which affect temperature: the position of the Earth in its orbit around the Sun, the tilt of the earth’s axis of rotation and the path of the Sun in the sky over the course of day.

TLF Learning Object on the Seasons
Control the motion of the Earth in its orbit around the Sun. Work out how the Earths orbit and the tilt of its axis determine seasons in the different hemispheres. Work out how the Earths orbit and the tilt of its axis determine day length in the different hemispheres. Examine the heating effect of the Sun. Compare seasons at different locations on the Earth. For example, work out that when it is summer in China, it is winter in Australia. This learning object is a combination of four objects in the same series.

Teachers and students using the DET K-10 Syllabus Unit Battle Fronts [Portal Login Required] about the Vietnam War will find the Australian Screen Vietnam War collection a bonus for bringing the conflict to life.

In the Education section a special collection of clips and teachers’ notes has been developed through the auspices of Curriculum Corporation and The Learning Federation. These are designed to allow students and teachers to take full advantage of the materials on the site. The clips have been selected for educational merit and any considered potentially controversial carry cautions. The Australian Screen website is packed with an amazing collection of downloadable film MP4 film clips for use in the classroom.

Clever use of a TAG Cloud makes keyword searching a breeze.