Actually if this is what your students believe then there is no misconception at all. You must have an exceptionally well educated class. Your students are correct in that the sun DOES NOT rise exactly in the east, nor exactly in the west (except at very specific locations at very specific times of the year). The reason for this is the Earth's tilt (the same thing that is responsible for the seasons). The Earth is tilted at about 23.5 degrees relative to the planetary plane. In other words, if you line up all the planets (and sun) from left to right and with the north and south poles pointing straight up and straight down respectively (like in those elementary school posters of the planets), and draw a straight line connecting them all, the earth (and equator are tilted at an angle of 23.5 degrees from that line. This concept in MUCH better illustrated with a good 3d picture of the Earth and solar system, but short of that, consider this ridiculously simple ascii illustration: ......../ ....../* ..../ <----------SUN ../ / ......../ ....../ ..../ <----------SUN ../* / Let the "*" represent a person's fixed location on Earth at two times throughout the day (exactly 12 hours apart). The Earth rotates along this slanted line (representing 23.5 degrees, even though it looks like 45) over the course of 1 day. This slanted line also represents the celestial equator. The straight line from the sun represents two important things: The most direct light/heat energy from the sun, and ALSO the plane along which the earth rotates around the sun on a yearly basis. If you take this slanted earth, and rotate it HORIZONTALLY along the sun's orbital plane, you will notice that the sun strikes directly at different points on the earth RELATIVE to the person standing at that fixed position at different times throughout the year. The most extreme points of the suns location relative to the Earth (and the point in the center of these variations) correspond to solstices and equinoxes. I hope this has been a satisfactory explanation. You've challenged my ability to explain without a visual aid. I STRONGLY suggest you use one when explaining to your students. It may very well be the difference between understanding, and a hopelessly endless set of glazed-over eyes!