Jillian Rose

Sizing Up the Solar System

Thu, Oct 04, 2012 11:58 AM
A place for everything and everything in its plac

This lesson had a good beginning assessment which allowed for various levels of written communication but which would benefit from a pictorial representation as well. The lesson of models and their use in science or anything for that matter, was wonderful. It took something we cannot actually see and gave a practical and easy to follow format to use in establishing a generalized proportioned position of the planets in our solar system. It was done by each student individually using a folding and halving process easy and familiar for all age levels. With the teacher as the demonstrator, I can see this working easily at many age levels. Next, using the mathematics level of the students, a more accurate method of placing the planets on the sentence strip in relative distance from each other and the sun was done. The summary and thought questions used repetitively for the student answers, the old models, the first folded models and the final measured models are good and should show growth in thinking and knowledge as the process unfolds. I especially enjoyed this model as it makes something unseen, tangible.

Thu, Oct 04, 2012 11:55 AM
The eye of the beholder

This assessment question was highly useful for any teacher involving students. The multiple choice facet along with the written element allows for individual differences in education, age and skill level. A drawing section would be additionally supportive for multicultural and English as-a-second- language learners. Information helping to target typical levels of abstract thinking formation helps teachers know what to expect at what age. Additionally, science can be seen as an unfolding field of information rather than a set of set facts as evidenced by the inclusion/exclusion of Pluto as a planet here.