Quick Bite: Daylight to Darkness: Constructing an Explanation

Why does the amount of daylight the Arctic region gets throughout the year vary so much more than regions at lower latitudes? In groups of 2 (or as a whole class), give students a few minutes to play around with this Seasons Interactive.  They can change the month of the year which will in turn change the position of the earth in its orbit around the sun. Remind your students that the sizes and distances in this simulation are not to scale! Encourage students to switch the Earth's tilt back and forth between 0 and 23.5 degrees. What do you notice? Can you use this simulation to construct an explanation for why the amount of daylight the high Arctic region gets throughout the year changes from 24 hours in the summer to 0 hours in the winter?

Seasons Interactive

Video: Land of the Midnight Sun