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  • NSTA Press® Sample Chapters

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    NSTA Press® Sample Chapters Looking for Science Activities? NSTA Press publishes science activities for teachers of kindergarten through college on a wide range of topics. We've posted sample chapters and activities from our books for free download so you can look inside. Be sure to search our online bookstore for…

  • Uncovering Student Ideas in Physical Science, Volume 1: 45 New Force and Motion Assessment Probes

    NSTA Press Book |

    Nationally known science educator Page Keeley—principal author of the hugely popular, four-volume NSTA Press series Uncovering Students Ideas in Science—has teamed up with physicist and science educator Rand Harrington…

  • Uncovering Student Ideas in Physical Science, Volume 2: 39 New Electricity and Magnetism Formative Assessment Probes

    NSTA Press Book |

    If you and your students can’t get enough of a good thing, Volume 2 of Uncovering Student Ideas in Physical Science is just what you need. The book offers 39 new formative assessment probes, this time with a focus on…

  • What Happens When You Bring a Balloon Near Wall

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    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.

  • Equal and Opposite

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    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about pairs of forces that fit Newton’s third law. The probe is specifically designed to reveal whether students can identify third law force pairs as…

  • Talking About Forces

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    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit beginning ideas about forces. The probe is designed to reveal whether students generally identify forces as pushes and pulls.

  • Does It Have to Touch?

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    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit beginning ideas about types of forces. The probe is designed to reveal whether students recognize that forces can act both in direct contact with an object and at a…

  • Apple in a Plane

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    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about force related to the interaction between inanimate objects. The probe is designed to determine which forces students think act on an object at rest…

  • Spaceships

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    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

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    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…

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