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Helping Students Use Crosscutting Concepts to Guide Sensemaking of Anchoring Phenomena

The Science Teacher—July/August 2024 (Volume 91, Issue 4)

By Nicole Vick, Michael Novak, Dan Voss, Brian Reiser, Joseph Kremer, Whitney Mills, Jamie Noll, Dawn Novak, Ann Rivet

Crosscutting concepts (CCCs) are designed to help students make sense of phenomena across multiple scientific disciplines (National Research Council 2012). Since they are applicable to explaining so many different phenomena, they have the potential to be accessible, extensible, and generative for sensemaking. We suggest that explicitly using CCCs during the can serve as a resource for students to help them begin to make sense of phenomena without in-depth content knowledge (Krajcik & Reiser 2021). But how could we get students to use CCCs productively, when they have not yet begun to dig into the phenomena enough to develop the deep disciplinary knowledge necessary to explain it? We explore an instructional approach that scaffolds students' use of CCCs and helps students use them to make sense of and ask productive questions about an anchoring phenomenon. We describe how CCCs play a role in working with anchoring phenomena to guide sensemaking in a unit, and present evidence from 32 classrooms that illustrates how students use CCCs as part of their sensemaking to develop productive investigative questions. These data were used to revise lessons through incorporation of scaffolds to support students' use of CCCs as part of their sensemaking around the anchoring phenomena.
Crosscutting concepts (CCCs) are designed to help students make sense of phenomena across multiple scientific disciplines (National Research Council 2012). Since they are applicable to explaining so many different phenomena, they have the potential to be accessible, extensible, and generative for sensemaking. We suggest that explicitly using CCCs during the can serve as a resource for students to help them begin to make sense of phenomena without in-depth content knowledge (Krajcik & Reiser 2021).
Crosscutting concepts (CCCs) are designed to help students make sense of phenomena across multiple scientific disciplines (National Research Council 2012). Since they are applicable to explaining so many different phenomena, they have the potential to be accessible, extensible, and generative for sensemaking. We suggest that explicitly using CCCs during the can serve as a resource for students to help them begin to make sense of phenomena without in-depth content knowledge (Krajcik & Reiser 2021).
 

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Archive: FA24: Developing a Competitive Application for the Shell Science Lab Regional Challenge, November 4, 2024

The Shell Science Lab Regional Challenge Competition recognizes exceptional and innovative science educators for their exemplary approaches to science lab instruction utilizing limited school and laboratory resources. The competition also raises awareness and exposure of the outstanding work being done in the science education field in targeted areas near Shell assets.  See the list of Shell assets below:

The Shell Science Lab Regional Challenge Competition recognizes exceptional and innovative science educators for their exemplary approaches to science lab instruction utilizing limited school and laboratory resources. The competition also raises awareness and exposure of the outstanding work being done in the science education field in targeted areas near Shell assets.  See the list of Shell assets below:

The Shell Science Lab Regional Challenge Competition recognizes exceptional and innovative science educators for their exemplary approaches to science lab instruction utilizing limited school and laboratory resources. The competition also raises awareness and exposure of the outstanding work being done in the science education field in targeted areas near Shell assets.  See the list of Shell assets below:

The Shell Science Lab Regional Challenge Competition recognizes exceptional and innovative science educators for their exemplary approaches to science lab instruction utilizing limited school and laboratory resources. The competition also raises awareness and exposure of the outstanding work being done in the science education field in targeted areas near Shell assets.  See the list of Shell assets below:

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