In sixth grade, students understand that Earth gets visible light from the Sun, but students may also believe the Earth gets heat from the Sun. This last part is incorrect because the Sun is too far from the Earth to heat it directly. So, how does the Sun heat the Earth? When light strikes an object, it can be reflected or absorbed. Absorbed light usually increases the energy in an object, which causes the object to heat up. This article talks about the solar energy learning cycle (Exploration, Term Introduction, and Concept Application) developed by the author to help his sixth-grade students understand this concept. This learning cycle also facilitates technology integration and provides students opportunities to construct and generate experiments with scientifically testable questions. The learning cycle takes six 50-minute periods. By participating in this project, not only do students learn that light is absorbed or reflected, they also gain experience in conducting investigations. (Contains 1 figure and 4 resources.)