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  • A Layered Approach to Scientific Models

    Journal Article |

  • Talking About Forces

    Lesson Plan |

    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?

    Lesson Plan |

    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

    Lesson Plan |

    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

    Lesson Plan |

    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

    Lesson Plan |

    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…

  • Is the Sun a Star?

    Lesson Plan |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about the Sun and stars. The probe is designed to uncover students’ ideas about the nature of stars and their recognition that the Sun is an average star…

  • The Building Blocks of Language

    Journal Article |

  • 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…

  • Mass, Volume, and Density

    Lesson Plan |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about density. The probe is designed to find out whether students have commonly held ideas about mass, volume, shape, and other properties that interfere…

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