Encourage students to take photographs of sunsets. The photographs should be taken every day for a week and at the same time of day. The students should be warned, before taking the photographs, of the dangers of looking directly at the Sun. Once all the photographs have been taken, compare them in class. This should not be done in a competitive or overly critical way.
Show photographs of sunsets from around the world via books and DVDs. Ask the students why they think the sunsets can look so different -- even when they are sometimes a relatively short distance from each other. Also, ask students to write down their theories on why sunsets are structured differently in different locations and have different colors. The class should then be shown how these differences occur. A good method for displaying this would be with the use of time lapse photography.
Instruct the students to paint sunsets. This becomes a combined art and science project. Bring in three vivid photographs of sunsets and let each student decide which sunset they prefer to paint. By painting a sunset, students will study a sunset more closely than they normally would. For the second part of this project, discuss the details of a sunset from a scientific perspective, using the photographs and paintings as a prompt.
Start a discussion with the students about a sunset and a sunrise. Set the class a task of writing down what time, on the day the task is given, they think the Sun will set and rise in various American cities. Illustrate why there is a visual difference between a sunset and sunrise. The discussion should also embrace the sky at night, and explain to the class why stars appear after the sunset.