The autumnal equinox occurs today in the northern hemisphere. If you’re looking for some resources for teaching about the equinox and the change of seasons, I have a small collection of resources for you.

On National Geographic’s Education page there is a hands-on lesson that is worth noting. This hands-on activity is designed to help students understand the changes in intensity and duration of sunlight on their part of the world throughout the year. The activity requires use of foam balls (or similar) and flashlights that students position to mimic the changes in that amount of sunlight that reaches different parts of the world at different times throughout the year.

Mechanism Of The Seasons is a video that I found on YouTube. The six minute video could be helpful in a flipped classroom environment as it covers the same information that your students will review in the National Geographic materials mentioned above.

Sixty Symbols offers an eleven minute video about equinoxes and solstices. It’s not a video that most kids will find engaging, but I’m including it because in it you can see a demonstration of how you can use the free Stellarium software in your lessons.

This video from NASA explains why the full moon that occurs closest to the autumnal equinox is called the Harvest Moon.

If you would like some resources for teaching about the changing fall foliage, click here for a list that I recently posted.