Overview

In this course, participants will learn to use scientific inquiry to foster exploration—and ultimately understanding—about the movements of the Earth, moon, and sun, phenomena that have fascinated mankind for thousands of years. Since state and national science standards call for teaching elementary students about day/night cycles, seasons, and the phases of the moon, this workshop helps teachers learn to employ strategies to make this content meaningful and accessible for young students. This course is written from an inquiry standpoint; therefore, participants will work to construct their own knowledge about natural phenomena (through the use of shadow trackers and moon journals) as they learn how to integrate inquiry strategies into classroom instruction. Specific content knowledge, such as learning the reason for day/night cycles, phases of the moon, and the reasons for seasons are integrated into this course. Additionally, participants will learn how to facilitate inquiry-based learning in their classroom, from thinking about why inquiry is important to posing questions that promote discovery. Content-rich articles, video clips, and online resources will form the background of the course; and asynchronous discussion boards will promote participant interaction, communication, and learning. Participants will be expected to complete and submit a Final Product by the end of the course.

Goals and Products

This course will enable participants to:

• Become familiar with their state standards for teaching about day/night cycles, the moon, and observable phenomena
• Identify pedagogical tools (pictures, Know-Learning-Evidence-Wonder [KLEW] Charts) they can use in the classroom to promote inquiry-based learning
• Consider how young students make sense of the world around them and how the inquiry process can help develop new scientific understandings
• Learn what scientific inquiry is, how it is different from pure exploration, and why it is important to build an inquiry-based science classroom
• Use shadow data to understand changes in the apparent path of the sun and learn how changes in shadows throughout the day can reveal information about the location and path of the sun
• Consider the importance of questioning in inquiry-based science and learn to design questions that focus on specific learning goals
• Consider the importance of using precise language during scientific inquiry
• Understand how the rotation of the Earth on its axis affects shadows
• Learn to create moon journals, to use journal entries to identify patterns in the moon’s shape, appearance, and position, and to use science journals in their classrooms
• Understand and make predictions about Earth, moon and sun phenomena, including movement and shapes of shadows, rotation and tilt of Earth and moon on their axes, apparent path of the sun, reasons for eclipses and seasons
• Learn strategies to manage an inquiry-based unit
• Use physical models to explore the moon’s revolution around the Earth and the moon’s rotation on its axis
• Gain strategies for using assessment in inquiry-based classrooms
• Use data and models to explore the reasons for seasons, specifically as it relates to the tilt of the Earth’s axis relative to its orbital plane
• Explore strategies to develop an inquiry-based approach to explore any observable phenomena (including moon phases, day/night cycles, or the reasons for seasons) and to incorporate its use in their teaching

Format and Requirements

This course is divided into six one-week sessions that include readings, an activity, and an online discussion among course participants. Each session is designed to take approximately two to four hours to complete.

The outline for the course is as follows:

Prerequisites

This course is for teachers, technology specialists, curriculum specialists, professional development specialists, or other school personnel. Participants are expected to have regular access to computers. In addition, participants should be proficient with using email, browsing the Internet, and navigating to computer files.

Content and Technology Standards

National Science Education Standards:

Science as Inquiry

CONTENT STANDARD A:

As a result of activities in grades K-4 and grades 5-8, all students should develop:

• Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry
• Understanding about scientific inquiry

UNDERSTANDINGS ABOUT SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY [for K-4]

• Scientific investigations involve asking and answering a question and comparing the answer with what scientists already know about the world. [See Content Standard G (grades K-4)]
• Scientists use different kinds of investigations depending on the questions they are trying to answer. Types of investigations include describing objects, events, and organisms; classifying them; and doing a fair test (experimenting).
• Simple instruments, such as magnifiers, thermometers, and rulers, provide more information than scientists obtain using only their senses. [See Program Standard C]
• Scientists develop explanations using observations (evidence) and what they already know about the world (scientific knowledge). Good explanations are based on evidence from investigations.
• Scientists make the results of their investigations public; they describe the investigations in ways that enable others to repeat the investigations.

UNDERSTANDINGS ABOUT SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY [for 5-8]

• Different kinds of questions suggest different kinds of scientific investigations. Some investigations involve observing and describing objects, organisms, or events; some involve collecting specimens; some involve experiments; some involve seeking more information; some involve discovery of new objects and phenomena; and some involve making models.
• Current scientific knowledge and understanding guide scientific investigations. Different scientific domains employ different methods, core theories, and standards to advance scientific knowledge and understanding.
• Mathematics is important in all aspects of scientific inquiry.
• Technology used to gather data enhances accuracy and allows scientists to analyze and quantify results of investigations.
• Scientific explanations emphasize evidence, have logically consistent arguments, and use scientific principles, models, and theories. The scientific community accepts and uses such explanations until displaced by better scientific ones. When such displacement occurs, science advances.
• Science advances through legitimate skepticism. Asking questions and querying other scientists' explanations is part of scientific inquiry. Scientists evaluate the explanations proposed by other scientists by examining evidence, comparing evidence, identifying faulty reasoning, pointing out statements that go beyond the evidence, and suggesting alternative explanations for the same observations.
• Scientific investigations sometimes result in new ideas and phenomena for study, generate new methods or procedures for an investigation, or develop new technologies to improve the collection of data. All of these results can lead to new investigations.

Earth and Space Science

CONTENT STANDARD D:

As a result of their activities in grades K-4, all students should develop an understanding of:

• Objects in the sky
• Changes in Earth and sky

As a result of their activities in grades 5-8, all students should develop an understanding of:

• Earth in the solar system

OBJECTS IN THE SKY [K-4]

• The sun, moon, stars, clouds, birds, and airplanes all have properties, locations, and movements that can be observed and described.

CHANGES IN THE EARTH AND SKY [K-4]

• Objects in the sky have patterns of movement. The sun, for example, appears to move across the sky in the same way every day, but its path changes slowly over the seasons. The moon moves across the sky on a daily basis much like the sun. The observable shape of the moon changes from day to day in a cycle that lasts about a month.

EARTH IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM [5-8]

• Most objects in the solar system are in regular and predictable motion. Those motions explain such phenomena as the day, the year, phases of the moon, and eclipses.
• The sun is the major source of energy for phenomena on the Earth's surface, such as growth of plants, winds, ocean currents, and the water cycle. Seasons result from variations in the amount of the sun's energy hitting the surface, due to the tilt of the Earth's rotation on its axis and the length of the day.