GROW · Science · Week 7B · Do
Moon Phases: Model and Explain
🧭
Science mission
Lunar Studio: use a model to make the phases appear on command.
Lunar Studio: use a model to make the phases appear on command.
Visual model: use it to predict and explain — not as decoration.
Aut1·W7 — Describe the movement of the Moon around the Earth.
🎯 Learning objective: I can use a physical model to demonstrate Moon phases and distinguish phases from eclipses.
✅ Success criteria
- I can use the model safely.
- I can identify new, quarter and full positions.
- I can explain what the model shows and how an eclipse is different.
ArrivalStarterI DoWe DoI Do 2We Do 2Independent evidenceExit + one Lundy close
v3 40-minute route · derived from current GROW lesson Science_Teesside/Grow/SCI_G_W7_The_Moon.html at main SHA 93d570041f4c · repository originals untouched.
🛡 SPACE
🗣 VOICE
👂 AUDIENCE
⚙ INFLUENCE
Space → Voice → Audience → Influence runs through the lesson; it is not an extra activity at the end.
⏱ 3 min
Arrival
Staff influence opener — SAY, don’t record: “Last lesson your evidence showed ___. Today we are starting by remembering ___.”
Retrieve the previous lesson: W7A — reflected sunlight, the Moon orbiting Earth, and phases caused by our changing view of the illuminated half.
Not here last lesson? Everything you need is in the box above — read it, then answer.
◆ Supported — three retrieval questions and one lead-in
R1 Last lesson
Point to the Full Moon picture.
Non-reading route: point to it, say it, or show it. An adult can write down your exact words. Next step up: Standard — Last lesson you explained why the Moon seems to change shape. What is really changing?
R2 Week 6
Point to the Sun in the model.
Non-reading route: point to it, say it, or show it. An adult can write down your exact words. Next step up: Standard — Week 6: what keeps the planets travelling around the Sun?
R3 Week 4
Point to something that turns.
Non-reading route: point to it, say it, or show it. An adult can write down your exact words. Next step up: Standard — Week 4: what does a mechanism change about a force?
Lead-in Into today
We make the phases with a ball and a lamp. Point to the lamp.
Non-reading route: point to it, say it, or show it. An adult can write down your exact words. Next step up: Standard — Today you make the phases appear on command. What will the lamp stand for?
▲ Standard — three retrieval questions and one lead-in
R1 Last lesson
Last lesson you explained why the Moon seems to change shape. What is really changing?
Non-reading route: point to it, say it, or show it. An adult can write down your exact words. Next step up: Stretch — Last lesson: explain why the lit half of the Moon stays the same even though our view does not.
R2 Week 6
Week 6: what keeps the planets travelling around the Sun?
Non-reading route: point to it, say it, or show it. An adult can write down your exact words. Next step up: Stretch — Week 6: explain why an orbit needs motion and gravity acting together.
R3 Week 4
Week 4: what does a mechanism change about a force?
Non-reading route: point to it, say it, or show it. An adult can write down your exact words. Next step up: Stretch — Week 4: explain what a model of a mechanism can show and what it hides.
Lead-in Into today
Today you make the phases appear on command. What will the lamp stand for?
Non-reading route: point to it, say it, or show it. An adult can write down your exact words. Next step up: Stretch — A phase and an eclipse look related but are not the same. What must your model separate?
★ Stretch — three retrieval questions and one lead-in
R1 Last lesson
Last lesson: explain why the lit half of the Moon stays the same even though our view does not.
Non-reading route: point to it, say it, or show it. An adult can write down your exact words. Next step up: Supported — Point to the Full Moon picture.
R2 Week 6
Week 6: explain why an orbit needs motion and gravity acting together.
Non-reading route: point to it, say it, or show it. An adult can write down your exact words. Next step up: Supported — Point to the Sun in the model.
R3 Week 4
Week 4: explain what a model of a mechanism can show and what it hides.
Non-reading route: point to it, say it, or show it. An adult can write down your exact words. Next step up: Supported — Point to something that turns.
Lead-in Into today
A phase and an eclipse look related but are not the same. What must your model separate?
Non-reading route: point to it, say it, or show it. An adult can write down your exact words. Next step up: Supported — We make the phases with a ball and a lamp. Point to the lamp.
Rule: Arrival retrieves three times and then leads in. R1 is last lesson, R2 is the previous week, R3 is older material, and the lead-in opens today without teaching today’s concept.
Ways to show the Science
🗣 Say it☝ Point / select
✍ Write / draw🧪 Practical / model
A pause or different route changes access, not the learning goal.
🛡 SPACE
🗣 VOICE
👂 AUDIENCE
⚙ INFLUENCE
Influence is made visible here: retrieve what the previous lesson actually showed before adding new Science.
⏱ 3 min
Starter👀 Notice❓ Wonder🎯 Predict🗣 Explain
🔍 Bridge into today
Predict what the observer will see when the Moon is between Earth and the Sun in our model. Commit before the light/ball moves.
🎯 Commit to a prediction
Before we model it: what makes a phase?
Choose one. Say it, point to it, or press it.
Nothing here is right or wrong yet. Nothing is marked, scored or stored. A prediction still counts when it turns out differently. That is what makes the test worth running.
Frame 1 / 4
PREDICT THE VIEW
Predict → notice → explain. Pause whenever a pupil idea needs receiving.
Frame 2 / 4
MOVE THE MOON
Predict → notice → explain. Pause whenever a pupil idea needs receiving.
Frame 3 / 4
MATCH THE PHASE
Predict → notice → explain. Pause whenever a pupil idea needs receiving.
Frame 4 / 4
EXPLAIN + EVALUATE
Predict → notice → explain. Pause whenever a pupil idea needs receiving.
Low prior knowledge is expected. Notice, choose, predict or ask a question. The scientific explanation comes next.
Ways to show the Science
🗣 Say it☝ Point / select
✍ Write / draw🧪 Practical / model
A pause or different route changes access, not the learning goal.
🛡 SPACE
🗣 VOICE
👂 AUDIENCE
⚙ INFLUENCE
Voice first: low-entry prediction or noticing before today’s explanation is taught.
⏱ 4 min
I Do
🧠 Watch the thinking, not just the finished answer.
Teacher-controlled model: reveal the invisible Science as you narrate.
✔ What this model helps us seeIt lets you produce each phase on demand and see the positions that cause it.
✘ What this model does not showIt leaves out the tilt of the Moon's orbit and the real distances, which is why eclipses are rare rather than monthly.
Run one slow model cycle. Pause at new, quarter and full positions.
At every stop, name what stays the same: sunlight direction and the illuminated half.
Name what changes: the observer’s view.
🛡 SPACE
🗣 VOICE
👂 AUDIENCE
⚙ INFLUENCE
Space first: the model makes invisible thinking visible while support staff observe access and readiness.
⏱ 4 min
We Do
Commit before reveal: During a normal full Moon, is Earth’s shadow causing the phase?
Choose an answer. A first attempt is information, not a score.
Ways to show the Science
🗣 Say it☝ Point / select
✍ Write / draw🧪 Practical / model
A pause or different route changes access, not the learning goal.
🛡 SPACE
🗣 VOICE
👂 AUDIENCE
⚙ INFLUENCE
Voice → Audience → Influence: everyone commits; the response decides re-model, recheck, adapt access or move on.
⏱ 3 min
I Do
🧠 Watch the thinking, not just the finished answer.
Model how to sketch the observer view beside the physical Moon position.
Add a separate eclipse position only after the ordinary phase sequence is secure.
State a model limitation: classroom sizes and distances are not realistic.
🛡 SPACE
🗣 VOICE
👂 AUDIENCE
⚙ INFLUENCE
Space first: the model makes invisible thinking visible while support staff observe access and readiness.
⏱ 4 min
We Do
Explore together: Phase wheel
🌙 Phase explorer
Choose a phase. Connect Moon position, sunlight direction and the view from Earth.
SUNLIGHT →→→
What the observer sees
Half the Moon is illuminated; the visible fraction changes with viewing geometry.
🌑 Phase or Eclipse Lab
The phase explorer above shows the phases. This lab is about telling them apart from eclipses, which look related and are not.
Step 1 · Predict, before you test
What makes a Moon phase?
Choose one. Say it, point to it, or press it. Nothing here is right or wrong yet.
Step 2 · Test each one
Press one to see what it does.
Frozen results — these stay on the page
Nothing tested yet.
Step 3 · Explain
SCIENCE GLITCH: “A Full Moon should give an eclipse every month.”
Use your frozen list as the evidence. Decide, then say why.
Every step is a button, and each option carries a shape and a word as well as its colour. Say it, point to it or have an adult press it — the route does not change the Science.
Talk move: “What changed? What stayed the same? What does that make you think?”
Ways to show the Science
🗣 Say it☝ Point / select
✍ Write / draw🧪 Practical / model
A pause or different route changes access, not the learning goal.
🛡 SPACE
🗣 VOICE
👂 AUDIENCE
⚙ INFLUENCE
Voice → Audience → Influence: everyone commits; the response decides re-model, recheck, adapt access or move on.
⏱ 15 min
Independent
✏️ Your independent product / decision
Work in pairs or in a group set by your teacher. Run the torch-and-ball model. Stop at four positions. Sketch or choose what the observer sees. Then build or label a phase wheel. Mark the sunlight direction on it.
🧪 PRACTICAL READY · HANDS-ON WHERE IT HELPS LEARNING
EquipmentTorches/lamps, foam balls, phase-wheel sheets/cards, pencils and split pins/clips if building wheels.
Safety / sensoryNo torch at faces; movement space clear; seated/director route always available; dimming optional.
Evidence targetPhase wheel/model record + sunlight direction + learner explanation and model limitation.
15 minutes. Supported / Standard / Stretch are routes, not identities. Pupils can move when the core is secure.
◆ Use the four-position wheel. The sunlight arrow is printed for you. Match what the observer sees.
An adult can hold the torch if needed. The pupil moves the Moon to each position. The pupil then chooses the matching view.
Fade it: remove the first prompt that is no longer needed; do not keep a scaffold because it was used once.
▲ Build and label the wheel. Then explain why the shape we see changes.
Reasoning frame: light source → Moon position → visible part → phase. Work along the arrows in order.
Fade it: remove the first prompt that is no longer needed; do not keep a scaffold because it was used once.
★ Compare a phase with an eclipse. Then evaluate one limit of the physical model.
Name one geometrical feature the model shows well. Then name one scale feature it does not show.
Fade it: remove the first prompt that is no longer needed; do not keep a scaffold because it was used once.
Evidence can look different:
Phase wheel/model record + explanationPhoto of model only when paired with pupil’s own reasoningScribed model explanationApproved digital phase annotation
A photo on its own is not proof. Add what the pupil decided, explained, found or judged.
1 · Pupil decisionPrediction, choice, plan or question.
2 · Observable ScienceAction, model, product, result or re-attempt.
3 · Pupil meaningExplanation, evaluation or next step.
Ways to show the Science
🗣 Say it☝ Point / select
✍ Write / draw🧪 Practical / model
A pause or different route changes access, not the learning goal.
🛡 SPACE
🗣 VOICE
👂 AUDIENCE
⚙ INFLUENCE
The pupil authors a product/decision; adult support fades and evidence shows thinking, not attendance.
📖 WORD HELP
phasethe shape of the Moon we can see
eclipseone object blocking light to another
modelsomething built to stand for the real thing
Use the scientific word first. Ask for help only when you need it. TA fade route: model the word. Then prompt for it. Then wait for it. Drop a step as soon as the pupil no longer needs it.
⏱ 4 min
Exit
◆ Supported
How long does the Moon take to orbit Earth, roughly?
▲ Standard
Use the model to explain one Moon phase.
★ Stretch
Explain why an eclipse is different from the normal phase cycle and name one model limitation.
🔁 GROW Lundy close — ONE line only.
1) Pupil answers the Science question. 2) Adult genuinely receives it and gives one next step. 3) Pupil writes: “Next I will ______.”
No adult signature, initial or second receipt mark. If nothing needs changing, the next step can be transfer to a new example or greater independence.
✍ GROW written close — the pupil writes this line
“What I said, and what it changed:”
No adult initial is required. The adult is audience for this line, not verifier. There is no signature, initial, tick or receipt mark. The line closes when it is written and received.
If writing is hard: say it, and an adult writes down your exact words. Or point to what changed and say it aloud. Or draw it and give it one spoken caption. Or record it in the school’s own workflow. The line always stays. The route changes how you answer, not the Science.
Ways to show the Science
🗣 Say it☝ Point / select
✍ Write / draw🧪 Practical / model
A pause or different route changes access, not the learning goal.
🛡 SPACE
🗣 VOICE
👂 AUDIENCE
⚙ INFLUENCE
Adult genuinely receives the exit response, gives one next step, and the pupil writes one closure line. No signature.