#Phenomena vs phenomenon plus#

There could potentially be many different lines of inquiry about the same phenomenon.The practice of asking questions or identifying problems becomes a critical part of trying to figure something out.

#Phenomena vs phenomenon plus#

It is the phenomenon plus the student-generated questions about the phenomenon that guides the learning and teaching. Therefore, the focus is not just on the phenomenon itself.

The point of using phenomena to drive instruction is to help students engage in practices to develop the knowledge necessary to explain or predict the phenomena.

HOW DO WE USE PHENOMENA TO DRIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING? As students are working toward being able to explain phenomena, three-dimensional formative assessment becomes more easily embedded and coherent throughout instruction.

Phenomena-centered classrooms also give students and teachers a context in which to monitor ongoing progress toward understanding all three dimensions.

Students explain phenomena by developing and applying the Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs) and Crosscutting Concepts (CCCs) through use of the Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs).

Learning to explain phenomena and solve problems is the central reason students engage in the three dimensions of the Science GSE.

The Science Georgia Standards of Excellence (GSE) focus on helping students use science to make sense of phenomena in the natural and designed world, and use engineering to solve problems.

HOW ARE PHENOMENA RELATED TO THE GSE AND THREE-DIMENSIONAL LEARNING?

Focusing investigations on compelling phenomena can help sustain students’ science learning. They get interested in and identify with science as a way of understanding and improving real world contexts. Students who come to see how science ideas can help explain and model phenomena related to compelling real world situations learn to appreciate the social relevance of science.Explaining phenomena and designing solutions to problems allow students to build general science ideas in the context of their application to understanding phenomena in the real world, leading to deeper and more transferable knowledge.For example, instead of simply learning about the topics of photosynthesis and mitosis, students are engaged in building evidence-based explanatory ideas that help them figure out how a tree grows.

By centering science education on phenomena that students are motivated to explain, the focus of learning shifts from learning about a topic to figuring out why or how something happens.In contrast, students might not understand the importance of learning science ideas that teachers and curriculum designers know are important but that are unconnected from phenomena. Students are able to identify an answer to 'why do I need to learn this?' before they even know what the “this” is. Anchoring learning in explaining phenomena supports student agency for wanting to build science and engineering knowledge.Despite their centrality in science and engineering, phenomena have traditionally been a missing piece in science education, which too often has focused on teaching general knowledge that students can have difficulty applying to real world contexts.In this way, phenomena are the context for the work of both the scientist and the engineer.Engineering involves designing solutions to problems that arise from phenomena, and using explanations of phenomena to design solutions.The goal of building knowledge in science is to develop general ideas, based on evidence, that can explain and predict phenomena. Natural phenomena are observable events that occur in the universe and that we can use our science knowledge to explain or predict. WHAT ARE PHENOMENA IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING? What's the big deal about phenomena? Using Phenomena in GSE-Designed Lessons & Units