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  • Arguing About a Chemical Change

    Journal Article |

    Use a sample ACT writing prompt in an explore-before-explain instructional sequence to a 9th-grade physical science class to promote student learning and demonstrate that mass is conserved in a chemical reaction

  • Arguing About a Chemical Change

    Journal Article |

  • The Rusty Nails

    Lesson Plan |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about a common phenomenon—rusting. The probe is designed to find out what students think happens to the mass of iron nails after a chemical change.

  • Seedlings in a Jar

    Lesson Plan |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about conservation of matter in a closed system after a transformation of matter from seed to seedling has taken place. The probe is designed to reveal…

  • Ice Cubes in a Bag

    Lesson Plan |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about conservation of matter (or mass). The probe is designed to reveal whether students think matter (or mass) is conserved during a change in state.

  • Lemonade

    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 think matter is conserved when a substance is dissolved in a liquid.

  • Wet Jeans

    Lesson Plan |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about the water cycle. The probe is designed to reveal whether students recognize that water goes into the air around us after it evaporates.

  • Is It Melting?

    Lesson Plan |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about the physical process of melting. The probe is designed to find out if students recognize melting as a change in state from solid to liquid that…

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