Students will launch the investigation by examining sky-pattern clues for day, month, and year, building shared background knowledge with a community science demonstration, and recording first ideas, questions, and evidence-based model sketches in their investigation notebooks.

Students will investigate puzzling sky-time evidence, compare possible explanations, and turn their curiosity into focused investigable questions and testable hypotheses about how the Sun, Moon, and stars connect to day, month, and year.

Students will co-design a fair, manageable plan for gathering evidence about how the Sun, Moon, and seasonal star patterns connect to day, month, and year. They will study strong observation methods, compare possible tools and record formats, test their templates, revise them through peer critique, and complete a readiness checkpoint before beginning full data collection.

Students will build and document evidence-rich models of Sun, Moon, and seasonal star patterns, keep traceable records in their investigation notebooks, test the clarity and accuracy of their methods through peer critique, and complete a mid-phase competency check before moving into final analysis and explanation.

Students will analyze their observation records and source evidence, identify patterns and anomalies in day, month, and year sky cycles, revise a final model or storyboard that explains human timekeeping, and prepare evidence-based explanations with limitations and next questions before the public showcase.

Students will present their completed celestial timekeeping products to an authentic audience, defend their evidence-based explanations of day, month, and year patterns, and reflect on both the strengths and limits of their investigation work.