Abstract
Although the NGSS has helped teachers conceptualize teaching science in a more integrated way, effectively scaffolding students’ thinking within and across lessons can still be a challenge for any middle school science teacher. To help with this problem, we use a spiral curriculum where relevant prior concepts are revisited to connect them to new concepts. Revisiting concepts is meant to deepen students’ knowledge by scaffolding students’ thinking rather than merely repeating previous content. In our classroom, our light unit comes before our unit on space science. In this article, we demonstrate how we scaffold students’ learning to help students make connections between lessons about light (MS-PS4-2) and gravity (partially addressing MS-ESS1-2). We use these experiences to help students understand the phenomenon of gravitational lensing.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We thank the Iowa Space Grant Consortium for partially funding this work.
ONLINE RESOURCES
Gravitational Lensing Illustration video—https://tinyurl.com/3vet7ejc
SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS
Superhero activity materials—https://doi.org/10.1080/08872376.2023.2290285
Superhero symbols—https://doi.org/10.1080/08872376.2023.2290285
Gravity well activity table—https://doi.org/10.1080/08872376.2023.2290285
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Jesse Wilcox
Jesse Wilcox ([email protected]) is an assistant professor of biology and science education at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls. Dan Chibnall is a STEM librarian and associate professor at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. William Lange is a student at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls. Dori Clausen teaches seventh and eighth grade in Colfax-Mingo Jr./Sr. High School in Colfax, Iowa.