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  • Is It Made of Molecules?

    Lesson Plan |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about molecules. The probe is designed to uncover whether students recognize that objects, materials, and substances of both a biological and physical…

  • What Makes Them Tick? Middle School Data Science Explorations of Ticks and Lyme Disease

    Journal Article |

  • Mountaintop Fossil

    Lesson Plan |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about mountain formation. The probe is designed to determine whether students recognize that some mountains are formed from the uplift of Earth’s crust…

  • Mountaintop Fossil

    Lesson Plan |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about mountain formation. The probe is designed to determine whether students recognize that some mountains are formed from the uplift of Earth’s crust…

  • Magnets in Water

    Lesson Plan |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about magnetism. The probe is specifically designed to determine whether students believe air is necessary for magnets to work.

  • Cookie Jar Alarms

    Journal Article |

    This column describes creating a classroom culture for engineering.

  • What’s Inside Our Solar System?

    Lesson Plan |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about the solar system. The probe is designed to find out if students can distinguish between objects in the solar system and objects outside of the…

  • Will It Form a New Substance?

    Lesson Plan |

    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…

  • Rotting Apple

    Lesson Plan |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about decay and decomposers. The probe can be used to determine whether students recognize the need for a biological agent to break down once-living…

  • 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.

  • Needs of Seeds

    Lesson Plan |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about seeds. The probe is designed to find out what students think most seeds need to germinate.

  • Iron Bar

    Lesson Plan |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about atoms. The probe is specifically designed to determine whether students can use the idea of atoms to explain why a metal expands when heated.…

  • Thermometer

    Lesson Plan |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about thermal expansion. The probe is designed to find out whether students attribute expansion of the space between molecules to the rise of the liquid…

  • Beach Sand

    Lesson Plan |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about beach formation. It is designed to reveal whether students use concepts of weathering, erosion, and deposition to explain how a beach made up of…

  • 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…

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