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Lesson Plan
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about light and shadows. The probe is designed to find out students’ ideas about how shadows change throughout the day. ...
By Page Keeley
Lesson Plan
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about seasons. The probe can be used to determine whether students recognize the effect of the Earth’s tilt on its axis and the resulting intensity of sunlight as the reason for se...
By Page Keeley
Lesson Plan
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about precipitation. The probe is designed to determine whether students understand what causes the water in clouds to fall as rain. ...
By Page Keeley
Lesson Plan
Where Did the Water Come From?
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about condensation. The probe is designed to determine whether students recognize that condensation comes from the water vapor in the air. ...
By Page Keeley
Lesson Plan
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about an everyday object in the sky: clouds. The probe is designed to determine whether students recognize that clouds are made up of tiny droplets of water or tiny ice crystals. ...
By Page Keeley
Lesson Plan
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about the cycling of matter. The probe can be used to determine whether students recognize that once-living matter breaks down and cycles through ecosystems without subtracting or ad...
By Page Keeley
Lesson Plan
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about decay and decomposers. The probe can be used to determine whether students recognize the need for a biological agent to break down once-living material as it uses it for energy...
By Page Keeley
Lesson Plan
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about respiration. The probe is designed to find out whether students recognize respiration as a process that all living things use in order to obtain energy or whether they have a r...
By Page Keeley
Lesson Plan
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about growth. The probe can be used to determine whether students recognize that growth occurs as a result of cell division, which increases the number of body cells. ...
By Page Keeley
Lesson Plan
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about the size of cells. The probe can be used to determine whether students recognize how small a cell is relative to other things. ...
By Page Keeley
Lesson Plan
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about life cycles. The probe can be used to determine whether students recognize that although life cycles vary in length and developmental stages, all multicellular organisms go thr...
By Page Keeley
Lesson Plan
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about hypotheses. The probe is designed to find out if students understand what a hypothesis is, when it is used, and how it is developed. ...
By Page Keeley
Lesson Plan
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about scientific investigations. The probe is designed to find out if students recognize that scientists investigate the natural world in a variety of ways depending on the question ...
By Page Keeley
Lesson Plan
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about the nature of science. The probe is designed to find out if students distinguish scientific theories from the common use of the word theory and if they understand how theories ...
By Page Keeley
Lesson Plan
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about falling objects. The probe is designed to find out if students think the weight or mass of an object affects how fast it falls. ...
By Page Keeley
Lesson Plan
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about circular motion. The probe is designed to determine whether students recognize that an object will move in a straight line unless acted upon by an outside force. ...
By Page Keeley
Lesson Plan
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about forces. The probe is designed to find out whether students recognize that balanced forces act on a stationary object. ...
By Page Keeley
Lesson Plan
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about complete circuits involving lightbulbs. The probe reveals whether students recognize the pathway of electricity in a complete circuit, including its path through a lightbulb, i...
By Page Keeley
Lesson Plan
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about reflection of light. The probe can be used to examine how students use ideas about light to explain how we see objects in a mirror. ...
By Page Keeley
Lesson Plan
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about conservation of matter. The probe is designed to reveal whether students recognize that the mass of a warm gas in a closed system is the same after it has been cooled, even tho...
By Page Keeley
Lesson Plan
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about the mass of a gas. The probe is designed to reveal whether students recognize that an uninflated balloon will increase in mass when inflated with a gas, even though the balloon...
By Page Keeley
Lesson Plan
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about thermal expansion. The probe is designed to find out whether students attribute expansion of the space between molecules to the rise of the liquid in a thermometer. ...
By Page Keeley
Lesson Plan
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about solids. The probe is designed to reveal the macroscopic and/or microscopic properties students use to decide whether a material is a solid. ...
By Page Keeley
Lesson Plan
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about the properties of atoms. The probe is designed to determine whether students can distinguish between the microscopic properties of an atom and the macroscopic properties of a s...
By Page Keeley
Lesson Plan
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about when objects can be seen in the sky. The probe is designed to reveal whether students consider light and distance in determining what they can see in the sky at different times...
By Page Keeley
Lesson Plan
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about the relative position of common objects seen in the night sky. The probe is designed to find out if students recognize how far away the stars are in relation to Earth and the M...
By Page Keeley
Lesson Plan
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about the day/night cycle. The probe is designed to determine whether students recognize that Earth’s rotation explains why it is dark at night and light during the day. ...
By Page Keeley
Lesson Plan
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about mountain formation. The probe is designed to determine whether students recognize that some mountains are formed from the uplift of Earth’s crust over a long period of time a...
By Page Keeley
Lesson Plan
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about an Earth material, rocks. The probe is designed to determine whether students can distinguish between humanmade, “rocklike” materials and geologically formed rock materials...
By Page Keeley
Lesson Plan
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about rocks. The probe is designed to determine whether students recognize that rock is not a term for size and that rocks can come in many sizes and shapes. ...
By Page Keeley
Lesson Plan
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about adaptation. The probe is designed to reveal whether students think individuals intentionally change their physical characteristics or behaviors in response to an environmental ...
By Page Keeley
Lesson Plan
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about cell size. The probe is designed to reveal whether students think animal cell size is determined by the size of the animal. ...
By Page Keeley
Lesson Plan
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about heredity. The probe is designed to reveal how students think organisms inherit observable traits. ...
By Page Keeley
Lesson Plan
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about the transformation of matter. The probe is designed to reveal whether students recognize that most of the matter that makes up the wood of a tree can be traced back to carbon d...
By Page Keeley
Lesson Plan
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about plant growth. The probe is designed to find out whether students recognize that plants use their stored food to grow in the absence of light. ...
By Page Keeley
Lesson Plan
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about seeds. The probe is designed to find out what students think most seeds need to germinate. ...
By Page Keeley
Lesson Plan
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about the concept of a plant. The probe is designed to find out how students determine whether a living thing is considered to be a plant. ...
By Page Keeley
Lesson Plan
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about temperature change in a system. The probe is designed to find out whether students recognize that heat moves from the warm water to the cool water until they both reach the sam...
By Page Keeley
Lesson Plan
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about transfer of energy. The probe is designed to determine whether students recognize that heat flows from warmer objects or areas to cooler ones. ...
By Page Keeley
Lesson Plan
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about chemical bonds. The probe is designed to find out how students interpret molecular models. ...
By Page Keeley