Florida is "The Sunshine State"...or is it?
My first year teaching, I asked my students to bring in samples of rocks from the ground here in Jacksonville to observe and classify. I was surprised when most students returned to school the next day empty-handed, and a few brought in landscape rocks. Growing up outside Florida, I did not realize the earth here is mostly made of sand!
A similar experience occurred recently, nearly twelve years later. Students have been learning about Earth's movement, specifically observing how its revolution around the sun allows us to observe different parts of the sky as the seasons change. I thought it would be fun to have students observe constellations on the weekends twice each month, starting in Fall when the temperature and humidity start to decrease, resulting in fewer clouds and a clearer view of the night sky. Some of my students expressed worry over not being able to complete the assignment, due to it being too cloudy, even this time of year. This led me to wonder, if Florida is "The Sunshine State", does it really have more sunny days than the other forty-nine states?
Scientists analyze other scientists' data to help them answer their questions (or think of new questions), so I thought I would start there.
The results were surprising!
So, why do you think Florida is called "The Sunshine State"?
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