The Moon keeps one face toward us — so is it spinning, or frozen still?
Open for the projector Present it step by step
Classroom mode
A question for the whole room
One story to open. A room full of ideas to test.
Ready in three steps
- Open the story.Read and try the first pages together.
- Pause for a prediction.At the story’s question, read its choices aloud. Invite a vote and ask, “What makes you think that?”
- Run it. Watch. Wonder.Choose the class’s prediction, run the experiment, and compare what happened with your guesses.
Different guesses are welcome. The experiment gives everyone something to rethink.
Something to put on paper
A one-page prediction and observation sheet. No answers included.
After the experiment: discussion notes
Talk about what happened
- Predict first: if the Moon never spun at all, would we see one side forever, or every side over a month? Why?
- Predict first: which has to match for one face to stay locked, the Moon's spin speed or its orbit speed, or both together?
- The lock isn't perfect, we see about 59% of the Moon, not 50%. What kind of wobble could let us peek a little past the edge?
Where it shows up in real life
- The 'man in the Moon' or 'rabbit in the Moon' pattern, always in the same place every night
- Walking around a chair while keeping your face toward it, you spin once without noticing
- The first photos of the Moon's far side, which no one on Earth had ever seen until a spacecraft flew behind it
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