1) Star, Sun and Sky Stories: Using Mythology to Explain Our Universe
Astronomy Lessons
1) Star, Sun and Sky Stories: Using Mythology to explain our universe.
2) Hello Sun: Examination of the Sun’s movement through the sky.
3) You Light Up My Life: Discover what are shadows.
4) Me and My Shadow: Experiment with the length of shadows and the
height of the light source.
5) Night and Day: Exploration of the how and why of darkness and light.
6) Guess My Shape: Learn the geometry behind the sizes and distances between the Sun and Moon.
7) Phases of the Moon: Each student will create the phases of the moon.
8) Where did the Moon Go? The story behind Eclipses and who’s in the way of whom.
9) Sundials/This is a Stickup:
10) Theater of the Seasons: Dramatize the changes of the seasons.
11) Seasonal Cultural Celebrations: Research the cultural significance of the Winter Solstice for various cultures around the Globe.
Daily Classroom Routines
- Daily temperature recording including: high, low and at one designated time.
- Daily charting of Sunrise and sunset.
Star, Sun and Sky Stories:
Using Mythology to Explain the Universe
Purpose: Human cultures have attempted to make sense of our Universe and its varied phenomenon since men and women have been able to talk and draw. The primary source for many of these stories is within a culture’s mythology and folktales. Over the last couple thousand years science has replaced traditional mythology’s attempts to answer, explain and debate the happening in our Universe. As you begin to explore the universe with your students you will read explanations from traditional mythology and then guide your students to create their own myths. Later in this unit your students will discover the scientific facts but when it comes to reading and writing mythology there’s no right or wrong answers but only varied fantastic literature. This lesson begins within the imaginative world of Scandinavian and Native American mythology and their explanations for astronomical activities.
Teacher Background:
The myths and legends of the ancient Scandinavians survive better than those of any other Germanic people. This is largely thanks to the Icelanders, who, not long after they were converted to Christianity, developed the most extensive vernacular literature of any medieval society. At first, their writings were largely concerned with Christian religious materials, but in time they became interested in writing about their own culture and history as well.
The most famous medieval Icelandic writer was Snorri Sturluson (1179-1241). He wrote a number of books, including one best known as the Prose Edda, which contains a great deal of Scandinavian mythological material. Snorri was a great poet as well as a great writer, and he preferred an old-fashioned kind of poetry that made much use of the pre-Christian Scandinavian mythological material. During Snorri's times, however, the Christian Church strongly discouraged anything that was connected with the heathen past. Partially because of this, the kind of poetry Snorri liked was becoming unpopular and was being replaced by new styles of poetry.
Snorri wrote the Prose Edda as an instruction manual on how to write the kind of old-fashioned poetry he liked. He included lots of the old myths and stories so that people would know how to use them in the poetry. As a Christian himself, Snorri did not want to present the myths as if he believed them. So he started the Prose Edda with a story of his own about a king of Sweden called Gylfi who disguised himself as a traveler called Gangleri and went on a journey to visit the Æsir and gain knowledge from them. The Æsir were the old Scandinavian gods, but Christian Snorri described them simply as very powerful men. When Gylfi/Gangleri found the Æsir, he asked them many questions about the creation of the world and the beings who lived in it. The Æsir responded with many myths and stories. Snorri writes that the Æsir were trying to trick Gylfi/Gangleri into believing these stories--in this way he can write all about the old heathen myths without getting into trouble with the Christian Church. This is why the first section of the Prose Edda is called "The Deluding of Gylfi" (or, in Old Norse, Gylfaginning).
Snorri explains the mythological material by having Gylfi/Gangleri ask a question of the Æsir, and having one of the Æsir answer with a long story or some other mythological information. The Æsir whom Gylfi/Gangleri asks his questions of are called High One, Just-as-High, and Third.
It is difficult to tell how genuine the myths Snorri wrote about are. By the time Snorri was writing, Icelander had been Christian for over two hundred years and many of the old stories may have been forgotten or changed. Snorri probably tried to piece many bits and pieces of myths together as best he could. Snorri, however, was very learned in Biblical and classical (Greek and Roman) studies and this knowledge may have affect the way he rebuilt the myths. He may even have made some things up! Because of this, we need to keep in mind, when reading his material, that the myths we are reading may not be exactly the same as the myths told by pre-Christian Scandinavians.
Since Gylfaginning is very long, only sections about the Sun, Moon, and seasons are translated below. Explanatory notes are included to explain the material more fully.
(taken from http://hea-www.harvard.edu/ECT/carl_edda.html)
Cherokee mythology
(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
The Cherokee are a tribe of Native Americans who live in the southeastern United States. Recent archeological discoveries by archaeologist/ethnologist Dr. Tim Jones of the University of Arizona place the Cherokee on the Ozark Plateau immediately after their invasion from South America, from whence they moved to occupy large parts of the the southeastern and eastern United States from what is now southern Pennsylvania south to what is now Florida.
The Cherokee venerated the horned serpent Sint Holo, who appeared to extremely intelligent and resourceful male youths, as well as Tsul 'Kalu, a god of the hunt and Oonawieh Unggi ("the oldest wind"), a wind god. The Ani Yuntikwalaski were people of thunder and lightning; they caused fires in trees (usually hollow sycamore). Asgaya Gigagei was a thunderstorm spirit, also called Asagaya Gigaei.
Maidu History
Our ancestors lived along the various streams and tributaries of the Feather River in the area that is now Butte County, California. First contact with Euro-Americans in the 1830s brought diseases that killed many of our people. The results of the gold rush of 1849 were devastating to the native peoples. The US Congress secreted away the 18 Treaties made with the California Tribes. The miners and settlers coming into the area led to predation on the native's traditional food sources resulting in starvation. The new State of California passed many discriminatory laws which allowed raids by slave traders; legal indenture; a policy of deportation to reservations; and finally, extermination of those that would not be corralled and herded to the
Round Valley Reservation, in 1863.
(taken from
Introduction:
Why do we have light and darkness? How do explain the different shapes or phases of the moon? For centuries people have told and written mythological explanations to explain our universe. These imaginative stories contain gods, goddesses, animals, ancestors, heroes and villains who played a part in shaping the world’s conditions. While scientifically inaccurate the imagination, values and beliefs of a culture can shine through in these ancient stories. The lesson will introduce the students to two myths (Icelandic and Native American) and allow them to write their own myths about the sky, sun, moon and stars.
The Activity:
Ask the students if they were a king or queen and many of the people in their kingdom asked them “where light and darkness came from?” or “why the winter was so cold?” where would they go to find out the answer? Imagine you are living three thousand years ago and there were no astronomers or other scientists to scientifically explain the movement of the sun, moon or earth? Who would you go to in order to answer your people’s questions?
Describe to your students that you are going to read a myth about gods and a king in Sweden. Explain that the story is over a thousand years old and was told as a story of how the gods or “Big Men” explain where the Sun came from and why it gets so cold in winter. Ask them to list any myths they have heard before. Question the students about whether the myths explain how or why something happened. Ask your students, “What makes a myth a myth?” Listen to their responses and then explain that most often when people use the word myth they are describing an ancient or very old tale. Myths were often only passed on through spoken words long ago and later written down. Many myths have several different versions.
Use a map of the world to display where Iceland is related to your classroom. Ask why it would be important for the people of Iceland to have a story or answer for “Why it is so cold in Winter?” And “Where does the Sun come from?” Read the story to the class and if possible provide each student with their own copy. Discuss other comprehension related topics: Why did the king have to change his name before visiting the “big men”? Would you have changed your name? Where does the myth explain that the sun came from? Did anything they did or said make you laugh or smile? Why is summer’s father named “Agreeable” and Winter’s dad called “Cold-Wind”? Can you explain how the myth describes the reason for night and day? When finished ask them to describe the myth’s characters, location, action, and plot (CLAP).
Have students talk with their table group for three/five minutes about questions they may have asked adults about the world around them especially in respect to the sky, moon, sun and earth. For example, "What are the stars?”, “Where do the stars go at night?”, “Why does the moon change shape?” "What does the sun do at night?" Spend some time discussing the students' own personal experiences or their experiences with younger children asking them such questions. After table discussion ask students to share their questions. Explain that for as long as humans could talk or communicate they have asked these questions and tried to seek answers. Stories such as the myth of Gangleri were created to answer these questions. These ancient stories were used to explain and describe how and why things are the way they are in the universe. Explain to your students they will be writing their own myths. Have your students make a list of five different topics or questions they would like to write a myth about concentrating on topics connected to the sun, moon, stars and earth.
Day Two:
Ask your students to remember yesterday’s myth, Gangleri: A King’s Search for Answers, and its characters. Tell them that today they will be listening to two creation myths from Native American groups, one from the Cherokee of North Carolina and another from the Maidu of California. The myths today have animals as main characters but are not fables because they don’t teach a lesson but explain how and why things are as they are. Read the myths, “Stealing the Sun” and “Rock House”. Before reading Stealing the Sun describe the animals’ problem: They have no light and it’s dark all the time. The animals know that there is light on the other side of the world. How can they get the light that is half way around the world? What are some of the sources of light? (thunder, fire). Ask additional comprehension questions especially focusing on the attributes of the characters. After each myth, discuss four elements of the story: character, location, action, and plot (CLAP).
Remind the students that their characters are extremely important to the making of the stories. Usually mythic characters are supernatural or have superpowers and they may have lived long ago. More important is the topic or question you want to write about and research. Go through Jane Yolen’s myth writing workshop with your students at If you don’t have computer access for your students to follow her lessons on line then print a copy for yourself and incorporate her writing process sequence into your instruction. The Scholastic site offers a list of objectives and goals and a scoring rubric.
Be sure to have several groups reading of your students’ myths so they can listen to the variety of topics and imaginative explanations about our surrounding world.
GYLFAGINNING (The Deluding of Gylfi)
The Storybook Adaptation
Gangleri: A King's Search for Answers
by Tania Ruiz
Based on a translation from the Prose Edda
A very very long time ago, there was a king named Gylfi. Gylfi was a king of Sweden, and he lived among his people there happily for many years. The Swedish people trusted their king and expected him to know answers to all questions. But Gylfi soon found that the questions his people asked of him were becoming too diificult for him to answer himself. The people wanted to know where the Sun came from, why it got so cold in the winter, and what will happen to the world in the future. Gylfi did not know the answers to these questions, and felt he could not be a good king for his people until he knew all things. Isn't it sad that Gylfi should feel this way?
So, one night, Gylfi secretly left his home in his kingdom and went on a long journey. He was going to see the gods called the Aesir. Gylfi said to himself as he walked, "They would know the answers. They will help me to be a better king." Gylfi was a bit worried about going to see the Aesir. He was afraid that if they found out he, a king, did not know so many things, they would punish him or take away his kingdom. So, Gylfi decided to call himself Gangleri instead. He trekked on with his new name, practicing all of the questions he would ask the Aesir. Soon he reached the hall of the gods.
Three Aesir greeted him when he arrived, and he told them his new name, but not his real name. Their names were High-One, Just-as-High, and Third. "We greet you, Gangleri. You have traveled far to see us. What is it that you need from us?" High-One said.
Gylfi was very excited, these Aesir seemed rather friendly, and blurted right out, "I would like to know how the world began!"
The Aesir looked at him strangely, and then Just-as-High told Gangleri of the three mighty brothers, Odinn, Vili, and Ve: "It was once that the universe was cold, all ice and snow, and the ruler of this place was an enormous giant named Ymir. Ymir was also the universe, do you understand?"
Gylfi frowned for bit. He thought maybe he understood, but was not sure. High-One raised an eyebrow and grinned, saying, "You are still confused. The whole universe was a cold giant named Ymir. Because he was the universe, he ruled it, see?"
Gylfi's frown flatted until he smiled, "Yes, I see. Yes..."
Third sniggered a bit. Gylfi heard this, and blushed. It is not very nice to make fun of people who do not understand.
Just-as-High continued, "There was only ice to eat, so a giant cow fed Ymir milk all day to keep him alive."
Gylfi interrupted, "What did that poor cow eat, if there was only ice?"
Third smirked, and whispered something to Just-as-High. Gylfi was more nervous than ever, and began to wring his hands a little. It was a good question, really.
High-One cleared his throat and said, "Well she licked the ice, see?"
Gylfi nodded with furrowed brow. His hands were all sweaty.
Just-as-High began again, this time speaking in a very slow way, "She found people in the ice when she licked it."
Just-as-High stopped, looked at Gylfi. Gylfi motioned for Just-as-High to continue. He completely understood that a cow could like people free from ice. Why just the other day...he began to think to himself, but Just-as-High went on, "The grandchildren of these people were three boys named Odinn, Vili, and Ve. They were so very powerful that we, as gods you know, decided that these boys should rule over the universe."