Science Methods II - Earth Science

Lifecycles of stars The life of any star is a constant battle against the force of gravity, which tries to pull the star in on itself. Against this unremitting force, stars deploy a variety of countervailing strategies. Some of these strategies allow stars to stave off collapse temporarily and some strategies allow them to stave it off forever. But nothing can protect the largest stars from eventual collapse into a black hole, the ultimate victory of gravity over matter. The birth of stars - All stars begin as diffuse clouds of dust in deep space. Matter is gathered by more thickly somewhere in the cloud and the force of gravity exerted by the clump pulls in neighboring materials. The clump increases in mass and gravitational attraction and more material is pulled in. The cloud starts to collapse around the original concentration of matter. How long will a star live? - This depends on how much hydrogen it has and how fast it is consumed. The larger the star, the shorter it...

The Origins of the Earth How did the Earth form? The universe originated 13.7 billion years ago when all of the matter in the universe was concentrated into a small mass and exploded, known as the Big Bang. At first the universe was too hot for anything to evolve, but over time it spun and created the Sun. The development of the Sun sent dust, debris, rocky particles, and gases that joined together and hardened. This as a result formed the planets including Earth. Misconceptions/Confrontations to the Science: Cultural and/or religious ideas How would we teach this to future classes? Many video simulations Pop water balloon over water, swirl water?

Teaching for Conceptual Change: Confronting Children’s Experience By: Elizabeth Davis During this article I appreciated that it addressed the thought process of the teacher, because I was thinking the same things the entire time I was reading. I think the idea is solid, but how long do you let students lead out their thoughts and ideas and what does that look like, etc? I really liked how then she provided two options for students to work with. I do wonder though, is the point for it to hopefully be clear which is “right,” or no? I wonder if few students are always on the “wrong” side then it is obvious and discouraging. I wonder if it would be smart to try and create four options? Then have students use those groups to find ways to defend their claims? This makes it less obvious which aligns most with the ‘correct’ idea. I would also have students write down their letter ahead of time by themselves, then have them hold it up and go to their corner in the room. Otherwise, I thin...

Introductory Quiz – Earth Science 1.        How the phases of the moon occur? -           The moon gets larger and smaller. It goes in stages from full moon to smaller and smaller, and then it begins to look like a crescent shape until very small. Then, it begins the stages of getting back to a full moon. 2.        What causes the seasons? -           The rotating of planets. 3.        What causes a lunar eclipse? -           The weather. Misconceptions Die Hard By: Joseph Stepans, Ronald E. Beiswenger, and Steven Dyche                 The question about if teachers are not teaching the terminology enough or if teachers are to terminology heavy is the one that sticks out ...