Why do you think the sky looks different?

Write down the Big Idea for the unit.

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What Questions do you still have?

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Think about how we can design the investigation.

Write out the:

Question

Independent Variable (the thing we are testing)

Controls (things that will stay the same)

How will we collect data

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Investigation #1 Shadow Experiment

What do you think?

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Question: Why does our shadow change throughout the day?

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Think about it for awhile and share your ideas with your classmates.

What do you think?

Some people think that clouds bend the light and change how the shadow look.

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Other people think that shadows change because the sun changes its position in the sky.

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Which idea do you support? Or do you have any other ideas?

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Idea 1 - The “Clouds Bend the Light” idea

Idea 2 -The “Sun changes position” idea

Talk to your classmates about what you know right now.

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Listen to other ideas and think about how they might work or not work.

Now it is time to write down your thoughts

• It is fine if you are not sure right now.
• It will require more work to learn the right answer.
• Just think about what you know and be open to learning more
• Write down your ideas in your thinking log.

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It’s time to do some research!

• When scientists initially make a discovery they can’t proclaim “This proves that every else is wrong and I am right!”

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• Other scientists have to examine their methods and think about variables they tested or didn’t test for.

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• Even if all that checks out other scientists need to replicate their work over, and over, and over again!

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*Adapted from National Science Teachers Association (https://www.nsta.org/about/positions/natureofscience.aspx)

We know how light changes shadows because of the change in position of the sun in the sky. Now let’s learn about why they move like they do.

What do you think?

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Question:Do all objects fall at the same speed?

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Think about it for awhile and share your ideas with your classmates.

What do you think?

Some people think that heavy objects fall faster than light objects.

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Other people think that heavy and light objects fall at the same speed.

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Which idea do you support? Or do you have any other ideas?

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Idea 1 - The “Heavy objects fall faster” idea

Idea 2 - The “All objects fall at the same speed” idea.

Now it is time to write down your thoughts

• It is fine if you are not sure right now.
• It will require more work to learn the right answer.
• Just think about what you know and be open to learning more
• Write down your ideas in your thinking log.

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It’s time to do some research!

• Although no single universal step-by-step scientific method captures the complexity of doing science, a number of shared values and perspectives characterize a scientific approach to understanding nature.
• Among these are a demand for reasonable claims supported by evidence that can be measured and tested repeatedly.
• When a new idea starts to gain evidence the old idea must be tested against the new idea to see which one has stronger evidence.

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*Adapted from National Science Teachers Association (https://www.nsta.org/about/positions/natureofscience.aspx)

Write about your Model