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Book Chapter
What If You Could Remove All the Atoms?
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about the particle model of matter. The probe is designed to find out if students recognize that there is empty space between the atoms that make up an object and that the atoms are ...
Book Chapter
Do They Have Weight and Take Up Space?
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about extensive properties. It is designed to determine whether students recognize that weight (or mass) and volume are extensive properties of the three familiar states of matter. T...
Book Chapter
What Does “Conservation of Matter” Mean?
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about the phrase conservation of matter. It is designed to find out how students interpret the word conservation in the context of matter. The probe is best used with grades 5–12. ...
Book Chapter
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about the conservation of matter. The probe is designed to find out if students conserve matter when salt is dissolved in water. It is best used with students in grades 3–12, with ...
Book Chapter
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about density. The probe is designed to find out whether students recognize a change in the mass-volume ratio when the volume changes and the mass stays the same. It is best used wit...
Book Chapter
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about density. It is designed to find out whether students have commonly held ideas about mass, volume, shape, and other properties that interfere with their conceptual understanding...
Book Chapter
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about mass. It is designed to find out if students understand the difference between mass and other properties. The probe is best used with students in grades 6–12, and can be used...
Book Chapter
Do They Have the Same Properties?
This assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about microscopic and macroscopic properties of matter and is designed to find out if students attribute the same properties of a substance to the particles that make up the substance. The probe is...
Book Chapter
This assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about characteristic properties of matter. It is designed to find out if students recognize some properties can be used to identify a substance. The probe is best used with students in grades 6–1...
Book Chapter
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about elements and compounds. It is designed to find out how students classify a common substance, water. The probe is best used with students in grades 5–12, preferably after they...
Book Chapter
Graphite is the material in a pencil tip, and diamonds are precious jewels. They are both made of carbon. This assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about two seemingly different substances that are composed of the same element. It is desig...
Book Chapter
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about neutral atoms. The probe is designed to reveal how students think about the relationship between fundamental particles inside the nucleus of an atom. It is best used with stude...
Book Chapter
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about substances. The probe is designed to determine whether students distinguish between the everyday use of the word substance and how chemists use the word to refer to matter with...
Book Chapter
When matter changes, sometimes a new substance is formed. The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about chemical change. The probe is designed to find out how students determine whether a new substance with a different che...
Book Chapter
What Is the Result of a Chemical Change?
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about chemical change. The probe is designed to find out whether students recognize that substances change chemically as a result of a chemical reaction. It is best used with student...