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Recent Reviews by Melissa
Sizing Up the Solar System
Thu, Feb 18, 2016 12:54 AM
Addressing Misconceptions
This article illustrates the need to introduce students to the process of developing a model and the importance of scale. Many students have the misconception that the planets a equidistantly spaced and this article provides an effective approach to clearing up this misconception and giving students a better understanding of models and how they are used in science. For teachers who are beginning a unit on the solar system, I think this article is a wonderful resource! It leads you through uncovering misconceptions and how to correct them through a series of tasks which involve making different models and discussion about them and their differences. I particularly liked the task at the end which has students create a model that is to scale using conversions in the metric system. Another great feature is the list of internet resources at the end of the article that can be used along with the activities. Although the article is intended for upper-elementary grades, the ideas could be modified for younger students as well. One option would be to apply the basic principles in this article to another type of model.
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