Animated Phases of the Moon

Incorporating an interdisciplinary approach by connecting the science topic of "phases of the moon" taught in third grade with the subject of animation through coding in Scratch. Instead of teaching these subjects in isolation. The integration of them allows students to apply their knowledge of the moon phases in a creative way through coding and animation. This approach encourages a holistic understanding of concepts and provides students with a more engaging and practical learning experience.

Students will experience great excitement in the beginning of this project which they will need (as young 3rd and 4th graders) to carry them through the long design phase. We always discuss process and planning at several stages of this project.

• Chromebooks or ipads
• Scratch.com Accounts
• Beginners knowledge of Scratch
• Scratch vocabulary, workplane, sprite, background, costumes

Introduce the xy coordinate plane. Ensure that students fully comprehend how xy coordinates work, using examples. Ask students, "Where is (30,20), where is (-120, 0), etc... to assess knowledge.

Delete cat sprite, add background (stars is the name of the background I use), add ball sprite

For this step, I have the students set up the phases of the phone in the "Costumes" tab. I have students do this at one time. I use the labeling system that pre-populates ball-a, ball- b, etc, but have had students label uses the names (new, gibbous, crescent, etc.). If students request or you want to use the phase names I recommend that you make sure that they are in order.

Change all colors so that they are the same.

Directions for all balls b-e

• select the ball on the left
• select the ball on the workplane
• click the Fill button at the top
• Make sure the circle is selected at the top of the menu notated with a star in the image above
• Use the slider to change the color on the left to Color: 17, Saturation: 40, Brightness: 100
• Click on the second color and change them to Color: 10, Saturation: 100, Brightness: 100

In order to create the phases of the moon, I have the students add dark black circles to carve out the moon's shadows.

• Firstly, add an additional circle by clicking on the circle button noted by an orange arrow in the first photo
• Change the color of the circle to black by clicking on the "fill" button and dragging the Brightness slider to 0
• MAKE SURE you click on the arrow so that you aren't adding another circle
• Once the arrow is selected you can move your new black or shadow into place creating all of the phases

Do this for all except one, the Full Moon

TIP: If you want to create a New Moon, have the shadow circle be slightly smaller than the moon and place as evenly overtop as possible creating a halo effect.

This is where you can get creative. I have chosen that ball 3 (the full moon) will switch costumes a (0,0). Which means dividing the right quadrant into three rather than two so the final crescent has time to be seen. With this reduction in distance I modified the timing as well.

This is as far as I take my third graders. They are always so excited but mentally exhausted and really want to see the product.

The following year, I open with this exercise with my 4th graders, and allow us to talk about enhancement versus improvement. Changing the y axis to mimic the moon's orbit. I will also have them adjust the timings for this too.