Students explain how Hipparchus, around 130 BC, used a shift in the predicted location of a lunar eclipse to detect a slight shift in the path of the Sun around the sky. They examine the elliptical orbit in which the Earth travels around...

Students use cartesian coordinates (x,y,z) in 3-dimensional space. [Optional: appreciate there exist two ways of defining the z axis, and which of them is used.] They become familiar with the tools and terms used by surveyors.

Students study the basic methods for finding one's position on Earth. Latitude can be deduced from the height above the horizon of the pole star or of the noontime Sun, while longitude requires an accurate clock giving universal time.

Students explain the design, principle and orientation of a sundial, the type with a gnomon pointing towards the pole of the heavens. They construct a model sundial from paper.

Students recognize the daily motion of the Sun across the sky, defining the main directions of east, west, south and north. They see how the first calendars were based on changes in the Sun's noontime elevation, and on locations of...

Students are introduced to the apparent motion of the Sun across the sky and the way it changes in summer and winter.

High schoolers are introduced to the ecliptic, the zodiac and the apparent motions of the Sun, Moon and planets across the sky.

Young scholars are introduced to the sundial, its design and use.

Students explain the observed motion of the planets. The inner ones move back-and-forth across the position of the Sun, while the outer ones usually advance in one direction, but with occasional temporary reversals known as "retrograde...

Students observe the daily motions of the sun and relate them to the functions of a sundial. They determine the locations of sunrises and sunsets and determine how the elevation of the sun effects temperature.

Students are introduced to the celestial sphere, describing its apparent rotation and the special role of the pole star.

Students investigate the celestial sphere and the paths it takes in the solar system.

Students study the constellations fo the Big Dipper and Cassiopeia and their use in finding the Pole Star. They realize that other celestial objects--Sun, Moon and planets--share the rotation (and hence rise and set), even though their...

Students receive an introduction to the sundial, its design and use.

Students examine how the link between the tilt of the Earth's axis to the ecliptic and seasons of the year--length of day, effectiveness of sunlight, polar day and night, and seasons south and north of the equator, as well as near it.

Students study elevation of the Sun above the horizon and the angle of the rays and their heating power.

Students examine how the formal definition of Newton's 3rd law: forces always originate in pairs, equal in magnitude and opposite in direction. They also examine how the informal, qualitative version: Each action has an equal and...

High schoolers explore uniform circular motion, and the relation of its frequency of N revolutions/sec with the peripheral velocity v and with the rotation period T. They examine how uniform circular motion is a type of accelerated motion.

Young scholars learn the concept of frames of reference in physics. They examine how two frames of reference, each moving with respect to the other with a constant velocity v (constant speed, constant direction).

Students learn the basic concepts about airplane flight. They learn the reason jetliner wings are swept back and why jet engines have replaced propellers in high-speed flight.

Students examine how when applying the laws of motion to an object in an accelerating frame, using coordinates defined in such frame, one must always add an "inertial force", representing forces caused by the frame's acceleration.

Ninth graders explore how Aristarchus used the position of the half-full Moon to estimate the distance to the Sun, and how he made a great error, but still figured out that the Sun is much larger than Earth.

Learners explore linear graphs, the parabola and the rectangular hyperbola.

Students explore orbital velocities and how they vary along each orbit, according to Kepler's Second Law.