http://www.teachengineering.org/view_activity.php?url=collection/wpi_/activities/wpi_portable_sundial/portable_sundial.xmlactivitytext/xmlCenter for Engineering Educational Outreach, accuracyclocksundialtimetime keepingtimestandard timedaylight savings timenoonsunrisesunsetsundialgnomonsolsticeequinox

Students investigate the accuracy of sundials and the discrepancy that lies between "real time" and "clock time." They track the position of the sun during the course of a relatively short period of time as they make a shadow plot, a horizontal sundial, and a diptych sundial. (The activity may be abridged to include only one or two of the different sundials, instead of all three.)

This activity focuses on the importance of accuracy in time measurements that are used today in a wide variety of instruments such as cell phones, computers and GPS navigation systems to synchronize their functions. Improving precision, be it in component size or digital time measurement, is a design criterion that engineers address everyday. How the sun moves across the sky.The difference between "clock time" and "real time." How to find geographical north.Terminology, such as solstice, equinox, etc.How to make a sundial, what makes it accurate, and what skews the time it tells. 1.5090TeachEngineering.orghttp://www.teachengineering.org/collection/wpi_/activities/wpi_portable_sundial/construction_worksheet.pdfhttp://www.teachengineering.org/collection/wpi_/activities/wpi_portable_sundial/construction_worksheet.dochttp://www.teachengineering.org/collection/wpi_/activities/wpi_portable_sundial/assessment.pdfhttp://www.teachengineering.org/collection/wpi_/activities/wpi_portable_sundial/assessment.dochttp://www.sundials.co.uk/projects.htm#diptychhttp://solar.physics.montana.eduhttp://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~cvm/latlon_find_location.htmlhttp://www.findlatitudeandlongitude.com/http://www.sundials.co.ukS101D432MassachusettsScience1.1 Given a design task, identify appropriate materials (e.g., wood, paper, plastic, aggregates, ceramics, metals, solvents, adhesives) based on specific properties and characteristics (e.g., weight, strength, hardness, and flexibility).68S100E25FMassachusettsScience1.2 Identify and explain appropriate measuring tools, hand tools, and power tools used to hold, lift, carry, fasten, and separate, and explain their safe and proper use.68S1011835MassachusettsScience1.3 Identify and explain the safe and proper use of measuring tools, hand tools, and machines (e.g., band saw, drill press, sanders, hammer, screwdriver, pliers, tape measure, screws, nails, and other mechanical fasteners) needed to construct a prototype of an engineering design.68S1004ED8MassachusettsScience9. Describe lunar and solar eclipses, the observed moon phases, and tides. Relate them to the relative positions of the earth, moon, and sun.68S10198F0MassachusettsScience11. Explain how the tilt of the earth and its revolution around the sun result in an uneven heating of the earth, which in turn causes the seasons.68United StatesCopyright 2012 - Center for Engineering Educational Outreach, Tufts Universityhttp://www.teachengineering.org/policy_ipp.phphttp://www.teachengineering.org/2011-11-047Teacher