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  • A Long Recovery Road for Norrie

    Case Study |

  • Why Do We All Have to Stay Home?

    Lesson Plan |

  • What’s New in NSTA Journals for 2023 and 2024?

    Blog Post |

  • Caribou Conservation Conundrum

    Case Study |

  • Science Notebooks in Student-Centered Classrooms: Module 4: Assessing Student Notebooks

    Professional Learning Course Module |

    In this module, you will experience ways to use science notebooks for formative assessment. You will gain a deeper understanding of the disadvantages of grading notebook entries. You will have an opportunity to apply…

  • Is It a Rock? (Version 2)

    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…

  • Is It “Fitter”?

    Lesson Plan |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about natural selection. The probe is designed to find out how students interpret the commonly used phrase “survival of the fittest.”

  • What’s the Problem?

    Lesson Plan |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ initial response to an ill-defined problematic situation. The probe is designed to reveal whether students recognize that in a problem situation, there is…

  • Is It an Engineering Problem?

    Lesson Plan |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about how to approach a problem. The probe is designed to gain insight into how students think about an engineering design process (EDP) and the kinds of…

  • Pizza Problem

    Lesson Plan |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about researching a problem. The probe is designed to determine the extent to which students are aware of the need to learn as much as possible about how…

  • Brainstorming

    Lesson Plan |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about brainstorming. The probe is designed to determine the extent to which students understand the norms of good teamwork during the brainstorming…

  • Is It Affordable?

    Lesson Plan |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about trade-offs. The probe is designed to find out whether students recognize that trade-offs involve sacrificing one or more things in favor of another…

  • Picking the Best Solution

    Lesson Plan |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to provide practice in using a decision matrix. The probe is designed to see if students are able to interpret a decision matrix and to help you determine difficulties they may…

  • Testing for Success

    Lesson Plan |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ initial ideas and attitudes about the procedure that should be followed when testing models to determine if a design solves the problem. The probe is designed…

  • How does something start moving?

    Lesson Plan |

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