Science Literacy Standards
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Sample Lesson - Evaluate

Purpose

The purpose of this phase is to provide alternatives for summative assessments to measure whether students (individuals and/or teams) have achieved the intended learning outcomes and to assign grades. If the results of this assessment reveal significant student misconceptions and/or conceptual “holes,” the teacher can decide to reteach portions of the lessons or to incorporate these same concepts and skills into the next mini-unit.

  1. Measurements and Mathematics Mania
    Challenge students to measure the circumference and diameter of a variety of circular or spherical objects around the classroom (coins, cans, clocks, etc.,) and to calculate the value of the circumference divided by the diameter (C/d = p). They should repeatedly find that regardless of the size of the object, this ratio is always about equal to 3 (or pi = 3.14…). This pattern is one of many mathematical realities that underlie our physical universe that can be revealed through careful metric measurements and calculations (Note: Pythagorean Theorem for right triangles: a2 + b2 = c2 is another example). Alternatively, optical illusions available from a wide variety of Internet sites can be used as  “FUNdaMENTAL tests” of students’ abilities to make accurate, precise metric measurements.
  1. Scientific Literacy + ELA Literacy = Synergy
    Ask students to write a poem, paragraph or mini-play (dialogue between the Moon—Earth—Sun) that summarizes what they have learned in this series of lessons. Terms to include in their writing include: circumference, diameter, model, and scale.
  1. Public Performances
    Teams of students can prepare presentations on what they have learned for audiences of parents and/or younger students at their school. Such “performances” could include physical models, reading, and explanations of select portions of trade books, and so on.
  1. Testing Texts
    Student teams can examine a variety of science textbooks (including those from higher grade levels), trade books, and Internet sites to see how many (if any) depict the Earth—Moon scale correctly. This idea can be extended to include the idea that ~30 Earth diameters separate the Earth from the Moon. Given that both the relative size and separation distance for the Earth—Moon system could be correctly represented on a two-page diagonal, invite students to write letters to the publishers to ask them why they use visuals that underestimate (or “lie about”) how “far out” science really is!
  1. Paper and Pencil Tests
    Provide students with the numeric values of the equatorial diameters of other planets in our solar system and challenge them to: (a) list the planets in order from smallest to largest; (b) determine how many Earths could line up across the diameter of the biggest planet, Jupiter (142,800 km/12,756 km = 11/1); and (c) develop another scale model.

 

LESSON LINKS TO THE NEXT GENERATION SCIENCE STANDARDS

Scientific and Engineering Practices

(Cognitive, social, and physical practices and skills to “do inquiry” in science and problem-solving in engineering)

Asking Questions (for science)
The questions that the teacher asks are important not only for their ability to focus and scaffold student learning, but also for the models they provide to help students learn to develop their own questions. A portion of the black/white board can be devoted to student questions and/or a question box can be prominently displayed for student use throughout the year as means of encouraging student writing as a tool to frame questions.

Developing and Using Models
This 5E mini-unit should be one of many that feature the use of models as tools for scientific visualization and understanding.

Analyzing and Interpreting Data
This 5E mini-unit provides opportunities for students to both generate their own empirical data and use and critically evaluate visual images and/or data provided by the teacher or other “authoritative” sources.

Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking
Science lessons provide an ideal context for students to learn mathematical skills and metric measurement related concepts in a real-world context. This mini-unit overlaps with expectations found in the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics.

Engaging in Argument from Evidence
The Think—Write (individual) and Pair—Share (whole class) strategies coupled with the gathering of empirical evidence serve as two of many strategies to encourage arguing from evidence. It is important to teach students that ‘arguments’ in science are a cooperative venture to mutually arrive at the best answers by challenging and being challenged by peers.

Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information
The combination of gathering data directly via measurements and indirectly from text and Internet-based sources and the subsequent manipulation and communication of such data to an audience of peers is a key practice of both scientists and science students.

Crosscutting Concepts
(Concepts that cut across major disciplinary core ideas in science)

Patterns; Scale, Proportion, and Quantity; Systems and System Models
Scale is the primary focus for this 5E mini-unit. Science covers the range of study from the infinitesimally small (i.e., atoms and subatomic particles) to the incomprehensibly large (i.e., the universe).

Disciplinary Core Ideas: Earth and Space Sciences
ESS 1: Earth’s Place in the Universe
This 5E mini-unit is designed as a first level introduction to the idea of scale as applied to astronomical bodies.

 

REFERENCES

This 5E lesson has been developed from various sources including especially Activity13: 5E(z) Steps to Earth-Moon Scaling: Measurements and Magnitudes Matter (pp.231-258) in O’Brien. Thomas (2011). Even More Brain-Powered Science Teaching and Learning with Discrepant Events. Arlington, VA: NSTA Press. For free sample chapter downloads for each of the three books in this series (for grades 5-12), go to http://www.nsta.org/publications/press/brainpowered.aspx.

Note: The free sample chapter for the third book is a complete 5E life science mini-unit.