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  • Ice Water

    Lesson Plan |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about temperature in the context of phases of matter. The probe is designed to find out if students recognize that the temperature of a substance does…

  • Warming Water

    Lesson Plan |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about thermal energy. The probe is designed to find out whether students think cold things can have energy.

  • Standing On One Foot

    Lesson Plan |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about weight and pressure. The probe is designed to determine whether students think their weight changes when the force exerted per unit area (pressure…

  • Is It a Model?

    Lesson Plan |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about models. The probe is designed to find out whether students recognize that models can take a variety of forms besides physical replicas.

  • Biological Evolution

    Lesson Plan |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about biological evolution. The probe is designed to find out if students distinguish the theory of biological evolution from ideas about the origin of…

  • Chicken Eggs

    Lesson Plan |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about food, transformation of matter, growth and development, conservation of mass, and systems. The concepts underlying this probe are complex. It is…

  • Adaptation

    Lesson Plan |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about biological adaptation. The probe is designed to find out if students think animals intentionally adapt to a change in their environment.

  • 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.”

  • Catching a Cold

    Lesson Plan |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about infectious disease. The probe is designed to find out whether students use the germ theory to explain what causes an infectious disease like the…

  • Digestive System

    Lesson Plan |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about the digestive system. The probe is designed to find out whether students realize a main function of the digestive system is to break food down into…

  • Global Warming

    Lesson Plan |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about global warming. The probe is designed to find out what students think contributes to global warming.

  • Where Does Oil Come From?

    Lesson Plan |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about an important fossil fuel used by humans. The probe is designed to reveal how students trace oil back to its original source of material.

  • Where Would It Fall?

    Lesson Plan |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about the distribution of land, oceans, freshwater, and ice. The probe is designed to find out whether students realize that most of the Earth is covered…

  • Moonlight

    Lesson Plan |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about light and the Moon. The probe is designed to find out what students think is the source of a full Moon’s light.

  • Lunar Eclipse

    Lesson Plan |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about eclipses. The probe is designed to find out what students think causes a lunar eclipse.

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