Modelling the Seasons
From GeoMod
What I have tried to do is utilize the modelling class to create a learning tool that can be interactive. my programming isn't the greatest, but having fun in learning is a better way to learn. According to the National Council on learning, the best way to teach people is to figure out what they already know, then show them why their answer is correct, or incorrect. The season modelling attempts this. First, it begins with a specific question about why they think the earth has seasons. They get the choice tilt or distance. This is where the images from python come into play. I have taken code from webpages.ursinus.edu/lriley/courses/cie1/animations/venus.html and adapted his code for the visual revolution of the sun. In addition, I utilize Dr. Urbano's code on tilt for the visual representation of tilt. Then, the site takes them through a series of question and answer sessions, that allow each person to understand why, his or her theory on seasons is true or not.
I am not the greatest programmer in the world, but what I did do was to use Front Page, if you have Front Page, the viewing of my project seems to work better than just following the link, to develop the website. Microsoft Front Page is an html editor that is pretty easy to use, you just have to rememeber to save each individual page, because it you do not, well you lose everything! And that sucks!
Anyway, within the website you are guided through some of the steps by Dr. Urbano himself, check it out.
This is the basic first lesson in the Geography 1010 lab. That was the basis for my project. Since geography is low on intro students and a lot of these students are not doing so well, I decided that they might respond better to interactive introductions than actually having to work in the manual. Well, I shouldn't say that I thought this, Dr. urbano kind of guided the thought because of inspirations from his models and his lecture classes staring at him like zombies.
Anyway, that is what my project is, so if you have any questions that I can answer, lemme know.
The roughed out draft of the project strated with a pen and paper. After deciding on a project I mapped out the direction I wanted to take with this project.
First, I wanted to identify the theories on seasons. This was done through communication with other students as well as an internet search on what people thought was the reason for the seasons. After identifying the theories on why the seasons occurred, there was a couple that believed the season occurred because of rotation, revolution, distance of the earth from the sun, and several "I don't know." I chose to use only two reasons because the primary held belief was that distance was the most common answer. From there, I knew in what direction I was wanting to go.
The second object was in which direction I wanted to go with this. I knew that I wanted it to be interactive, but how. Dr. Urbano loaned me some reports from the National Council on Learning, which I read and it suggested that the best way to learn was to disprove previous beliefs and concepts. This was an effective way for teaching, because it showed people why their theories are wrong, and identified the weaknesses in their theories. Then after they were proved wrong, you show them the correct answer, and why it is correct.
So to begin, I decided on utilizing python for the image base. I adapted the code from the above listed program to just identify the earth and sun. This will show revolution of the earth circling the sun. the hard part was because the orbit is not circular but is elliptical I had to edit the code to make it more realisitic. I ended up looking for the formulas on wikipedia for how the earth's orbit is defined. Turns out that is an incredibly difficult mathematical equation. Dr. Urbano even stated, now you're doing rocket science! I frowned. Anyway, I decided that was too difficult for my limited mathematical skills. From there i took the line self.earth.change(pos =\
(self.earth_sun*cos(2*pi/self.earth_year*self.t),
self.earth_sun*sin(2*pi/self.earth_year*self.t)*0.5,
0),
sun = self.sun.pos-self.earth.pos)
where I took the movement along the y axis and exagerrated it by 0.5. This formed an elliptical shape. The orbilt needed to elliptical to demonstrate how distance from the sun does not affect seasons. Becasue of January 3, the earth is closest to the sun for the northern Hemisphere, approximately 91 million miles away. Shown here
After the user sees the animation of the earth revolving around the sun, the guiding character through the activity asks the question, on January 3, what season are we having? This prompts the next page, with images, of spring, winter, summer and fall. The correct answer is winter, but if you select any wrong answers the guide will yell at you and tell you to do it again.
Eventually the right answer will be selected, the the user is shown that the earth which is experiencing winter when we are closest to the sun, cannot be affected by the distance. The webpage says, So how can we be experincing winter if the earth is closest to the sun when it is the coldest, We can't, so therefore distance doesn't affect it. The program then takes you back out to another page which states, Let's try it again. Then reasks the question. Why do seasons occur?
If the correct answer is chosen, it then says right, with an explanation why. A model was built to show that the suns rays hit at an angle, because the earth is tilted and it is a sphere the insolation is not distributed evenly, this uneven distribution is what causes the season. The next image shows a close up view of a cylinder, representing the insolation, hitting the sphere, and the cylinder shows
This image was created by a sphere which represents the earth, cylinder, and an arrow. All of which the knowledge of how to do this came directly from the programming class. the program was simply from visual import * scene.autoscale=1 earth=sphere(color=color.blue, radius=2.5,pos=(10,-1,0))
- sun=sphere(pos=(-5,0,0),radius=5, color=color.yellow)
pointer = arrow(pos=(8,6,0), axis=(0,-5,0), shaftwidth=0.5, color=color.red) ray = cylinder(pos=(7,0,0), axis=(2,0,0), radius=0.75)
this represents the image.
The program representing the rotation of the earth is represented by python also. This image was taken from Urbano's collection of images. I used this image because it details rotation magnificently.
Enventually, the program will end with a congratualtions now you know the reason for the seasons.
The main reason for the project was to develop an interactive tool for teaching earth sun relations and the reason for the seasons.
For more information on the code please see the code part of my web address
