Will It Form a New Substance?

Lesson Plan | June 2021

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 chemical makeup is formed when…

Model of Air Inside a Jar

Lesson Plan | July 2021

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 air is made up of particles that are widely spaced with…

Mass, Volume, and Density

Lesson Plan | June 2021

The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about density. The probe is designed to find out whether students have commonly held ideas about mass, volume, shape, and other properties that interfere…

The War Over Water Continues

Journal Article | September 2019

Debates over water allocation help students understand Earth systems.

Shadow Size

Lesson Plan | June 2021

The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit children’s ideas about how light interacts with an object to form a shadow. The probe is designed to reveal children’s ideas about the size of a shadow in relation to…

Winter Fun Without Wet Mittens

Journal Article | September 2019

The SDM Finger

Journal Article | October 2019

Exploring makerspaces, engineering, and more

Integrating Crosscutting Concepts into Science Instruction

Journal Article | September 2020

What Happens When You Bring a Balloon Near Wall

Lesson Plan | June 2021

The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about electrical interactions. The probe is designed to find out how students visually represent electrical interactions.