JoinAll Elementary resources
Book Chapter
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about how astronomers investigate the composition of stars. The probe is designed to see if students recognize that the colors from the light given off by a star (its spectrum) revea...
Book Chapter
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about relative distance. The probe is designed to find out if students can apply the same scale used to represent the difference in sizes between the Earth and Sun to also repre...
Book Chapter
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about eclipse phenomena. The probe is designed to determine if students have a mental model of the Earth-Sun-Moon system that allows them to figure out why we see more eclipses of th...
Book Chapter
How Long Is a Day on the Moon?
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about the day-night cycle on the Moon. The probe is designed to find out if students can coordinate two concepts: the Moon turns once on its axis each month, and half of the Moon ...
Book Chapter
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about Earth’s gravity. The probe is designed to find out how students think gravity acts inside the Earth. ...
NSTA Press Book
Uncovering Student Ideas in Astronomy: 45 New Formative Assessment Probes
What do your students know—or think they know—about what causes night and day, why days are shorter in winter, and how to tell a planet from a star? Find out with this book on astronomy, the latest in NSTA’s popular Uncovering Student Ideas in ...
By Page Keeley, Cary Sneider
NSTA Press Book
Connecting With Nature: A Naturalist's Perspective
One of my earliest memories is of a warm day, a field with many grasshoppers, a shallow creek with cold water, and the joy of a day in the hills with my parents. My dad had gone fishing and I was free to wander about nearby. It was summer in the Gray...
By Robert Stebbins
NSTA Press Book
Learning and Teaching Scientific Inquiry: Research and Applications
Science teacher educators, curriculum specialists, professional development facilitators, and K–8 teachers are bound to increase their understanding and confidence when teaching inquiry after a careful reading of this definitive volume. Advancing a...
By James Jadrich, Crystal Bruxvoort
Book Chapter
Making Thinking Visible: A Method to Encourage Science Writing in Upper Elementary Grades
Writing, in conjunction with other activities such as reading and hands-on experiences, contributes to greater critical thinking, thoughtful consideration of ideas, and better concept learning. This chapter discusses a comprehensive approach toward s...
NSTA Press Book
Humans perceive the world by constructing mental models—telling a story, interpreting a map, reading a book. Every way we interact with the world involves mental models, whether creating new ones or building on existing models with the introduction...
By Steven W. Gilbert