Describing the Sun’s Rotation with Online Sunspot Images: An Inquiry-Based Teaching Activity

Our aim in this study is to make use of the SOHO online images to create an activity for middle school students that will present them with the knowledge that the Sun rotates around itself. The activity is based on scientific inquiry and encompasses the steps of reviewing available images, making inferences, supporting these inferences with models, and testing the inferences. In the activity we conducted in two class hours with students of the ages 11–12, we observed that students were able to use the available images to arrive at the knowledge that the Sun does indeed rotate around itself. In this context, we believe the activity can serve as an alternative in situations where direct observation of the sun with a telescope is not possible and can be beneficial in middle school.