Spaceships

Lesson Plan | June 2021

This probe is designed to elicit students’ ideas about changing the direction of motion in the absence of air. Many students will have seen movies or television shows in which spaceships turn by banking or using wing…

Force and Motion Ideas

Lesson Plan | June 2021

The purpose of this assessment probe is to comprehensively elicit students’ ideas about the relationship between force and motion. The list of possible answers includes several distracters that are based on learning…

Is the Sun a Star?

Lesson Plan | July 2021

The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about the Sun and stars. The probe is designed to uncover students’ ideas about the nature of stars and their recognition that the Sun is an average star…

From the Field: Events and Opportunities, March 23, 2021

Reports Article | March 2021

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…

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…

STEM-ify Me: It’s Elementary! Designing Butterfly Wings

Journal Article | June 2018