Fall 2009: Homework Week 8

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Fall 2009-Day 16
Instructional Strategy of Homework

Exploring Moon Websites with Friends and Family

Put “moon phases explanation” into Google search and browse among websites that purport to explain the phases of the moon. Choose the one that you like best. Invite a friend or family member to explore the website with you. How well does this website work as a source of information about the phases of the moon: What aspects of the website help your friend/family member to understand the causes of the phases of the moon? What aspects of the website hinder learning? What did you learn about learning and teaching from this experience?

Also check out the navy website you can get to by putting “moon rising and setting times” into Google search. By entering a date and location you can find out what percent of the moon is illuminated as well as when it rises, is high in the sky (transit) and sets.

Attached Files: 2009FPh111Moonpaperrevised.doc (26.5 KB) OregonScienceStandardsexcerpt.doc (39.5 KB)

1. Revise earlier sections of your moon paper as needed. Now put them all together with a beginning and end:

Add a brief introduction that alerts the reader to what’s coming. Include some ideas that people often have about the moon such as that the moon’s changing shapes are due to the moon being in earth’s shadow. This project will examine some of those ideas and develop a model to explain the changing phases.

Assemble the sections that you have already written: Observations Patterns in the Observations Relevant Powerful Ideas about Light and Shadows (that explain how we see the moon, from your explanation that you wrote with Adam today) Explanatory Model for the Phases of the Moon (inferences based on the use of a ball and lamp in class and swinging ball on a string) Questions about the Moon (and answers based on the observations, patterns, and explanatory model) Critique of Information Available on the Internet

Add a concluding section in which you reflect upon changes in your understandings of the phases of the moon, the nature of scientific explanations, and inquiry approaches to learning and teaching. Use your initial and final response to the diagnostic questions about the sun/earth/moon system as evidence for changes in your understandings if they occurred.

Appendices: Chart of Rising, High in the Sky and Setting Times Diagrams of sun and moon as seen on earth by person pointing one arm at the sun and one at the moon; and sun/earth/moon system as seen from above the solar system; for each phase Your initial and final responses to the diagnostic questions

2. Summarize your findings about position vs time graphs. How does the graph look for the following: a. Not moving near the motion detector b. Moving away with a slow constant speed c. Moving away with a fast constant speed d. Moving away speeding up e. Moving away slowing down f. Moving away slowing down, turning around, speeding up moving toward

3. Continue summarizing your findings about position vs time graphs. How does the graph look for the following:

a. Not moving when far away from the motion detector b. Moving toward with a slow constant speed c. Moving toward with a fast constant speed d. Moving toward speeding up e. Moving toward slowing down f. Moving toward slowing down, turning around, speeding up moving away

(If you are unsure of any of these, come to class a few minutes early on Tuesday and test them out with the motion detectors).

4. Reading reflection: Read the attached file with excerpts from the Oregon State Department of Education revised Science Standards, which were adopted on February 20, 2009. How do the highlighted portions suggest schools should build knowledge and skills for kindergarten, second, and fifth grade students in the context of inquiries about the moon? (To see the attached file, click on the submission link below)

5. Would you prefer a general assignment “Write a paper about your explorations of the moon” or the very structured assignment with specified sections that you have worked through and now assembled? What have you lost by being assigned these specified sections? What have you gained?