Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

Re: [Phys-l] Teaching elementary astronomy topics





I suggest that teaching a student about "direct" and
"indirect" insolation perhaps confuses the student
unnecessarily. Talking about the seasonal variation in
duration of insolation is probably easier to sell, and it is
more important at most latitudes than angle of incidence of
insolation.


Since the seasonal variation has to do with how long the sun is up each
day and how directly it shines on your part of the world, I think it is
better to teach both. I haven't taught astronomy in a decade but I used
to hold a cardboard cutout of the state in which my school is located in
front of a screen illuminated by an overhead projector. I'd tilt the
cutout at angles corresponding to the orientation of the surface of the
state relative to a line from the sun to the state, and the size of the
shadow on the screen was indicative of the solar power being received by
the state at local noon.