Documenting Initial Ideas with Diagnostic Question

Diagnostic quesetionnaire asks students to record their current knowledge about the sun and moon by answering these questions:

1. Why does it get dark at night?
2. Why is it cold in the winter and hot in the summer?
3. Why does the moon seem to have different shapes at dinfferent times?
4. How would you define a “scientific explanation”?
5. How would you define “inquiry approaches to learning and teaching”?

or

Diagnostic questionnaire asks student to record their current knowledge about light:

How can you see the basketball? How can your classmates on the other side of the room see the basketball?

Explain with words and a sketch.

light-how_we_see_objects_dq.doc

(or both, depending upon the weather and time)