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Models of the Solar System: Earth, Sun and Moon video
The Earth-Sun-Moon system is one of the classic misconception minefields in primary and KS3 science. Almost every pupil arrives with intuitions about day and night, seasons, and moon phases — and a surprising fraction of those intuitions are wrong. Physical models are the most reliable way to fix them.
About this video
The persistent misconceptions are well documented: pupils commonly explain the seasons by Earth's changing distance from the Sun (rather than axial tilt), and phases of the Moon by the Earth's shadow falling on it (rather than the Moon's position relative to Sun and Earth). These misconceptions survive teacher explanation with remarkable resilience. What tends to shift them is a physical model pupils manipulate themselves — a lamp for the Sun, a small ball for the Moon, and the pupil's own head as Earth.
The teaching sequence that lands well tends to run: predict → model → observe → explain. Ask pupils to draw or predict the Moon's phases first (capturing what they think is happening). Then have them physically hold up a ball and rotate around a lamp, watching the "phases" appear on the ball as its lit face turns toward and away from them. Then ask them to redraw. The gap between the two drawings is the learning.
For seasons, a globe tilted on its axis and moved around a lamp beats every textbook diagram. Pupils see for themselves that when the northern hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun it receives more direct light and longer days — and that's summer, not the other way around.
Common misconceptions worth surfacing
- Seasons are caused by Earth's distance from the Sun (they're caused by axial tilt).
- Moon phases are the Earth's shadow on the Moon (they're the phases of the Moon's own lit face as it orbits us).
- The Moon is only visible at night (it's often visible in daylight).
- The Moon doesn't rotate (it does — but it rotates in step with its orbit, so we always see the same face).
Discussion prompts
- What misconception about the Earth-Moon-Sun system is most persistent in your classes, and what have you tried to shift it?
- How do you use physical models without falling into the trap of "pupils just play with balls"?
- Where does this topic connect to the rest of your KS3 science curriculum — geography, forces, day length?
Try this in your classroom
- Run a whole-class Moon-phases model: darken the room, one lamp as the Sun, each pupil holding a ball at arm's length as the Moon. They rotate slowly on the spot and watch the phases play out.
- Take pupils outside on a day when the Moon is visible and get them to sketch where it is relative to the Sun. Do the same over several days and compare.
- Ask pupils to explain the seasons to a younger pupil in writing. Mark for the quality of the explanation, especially whether they mention axial tilt correctly.