Opposite-season detectives
20 minutes · Paper · Pencil · Earth seasons knowledge card
Your investigation
- Draw Earth in two places on opposite sides of an imaginary orbit. Keep its tilted axis pointing in the same direction on both drawings.
- Label the northern hemisphere tilted toward the Sun in one position and away in the other.
- Make a two-column chart for Sweden and Australia, adding summer or winter at each position.
- Write a sentence explaining why distance alone cannot explain opposite seasons.
Think, draw, explain
When Sweden has summer, which season does Australia have?
What changes the amount of sunlight reaching a hemisphere?
Grown-up guide & possible answers
- Australia generally has winter when Sweden has summer, because they lie in opposite hemispheres.
- Axial tilt changes sunlight angle and daylight duration. The two hemispheres are essentially the same distance from the Sun at the same time.