- Remind pupils of earlier work on the Sun as a light source and ask questions to elicit pupils' knowledge about stars. Ensure that they understand how stars are different from planets, and that the Sun is a star.
- Invite pupils to think of questions to answer about the stars,
eg
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Where are the stars?
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Why do we only see other stars at night?
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How did sailors and desert travellers use stars to navigate?
- Present evidence,
eg from time-lapse photography images, to show how the stars appear to move across the night sky. Remind pupils of work carried out at key stage 2 concerning the apparent movement of the Sun in the sky, and help them to use this idea to explain the apparent movement of stars. Relate the movement of the Earth round the Sun to the changes in visible stars during the year,
eg with a model planetarium.
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- explain that we can see the Sun and other stars because they are light sources
- explain that we only see the stars at night because the Sun is much nearer to us and appears brighter
- use the idea of the Earth's rotation to explain the apparent movement of the stars in the night sky
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