What Causes an Eclipse
Interactive worksheet with auto-grading, instant feedback, and printable PDF.
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What Causes an Eclipse preview and details
About this worksheet
Show students the chain of cause and effect behind eclipses with this graphic organizer for NGSS MS-ESS1-1 and grades 6-8. Working through connected steps, students lay out the facts that never change, the cause, and the two effects, building a clear model of how alignments produce solar and lunar eclipses.
The organizer guides students from the Moon's monthly orbit and the need for a straight-line alignment, to the idea that the object in the middle casts its shadow on the object behind it, to the two outcomes: a solar eclipse at New Moon and a lunar eclipse at Full Moon. A final step targets the keystone, why a tilted orbit means we do not get an eclipse every month.
A complete answer key is included, and the sheet prints cleanly in black and white. Use it as guided notes or an interactive notebook page within the full eclipses unit for a connected teach, practice, and assess sequence.
- Step-by-step cause-and-effect structure
- Answer key included
- Aligned to NGSS MS-ESS1-1, grades 6-8
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