Thoughts on WorldWatcher and Planetary Forcaster
Mar 5th, 2009 by Steffanie Reid
What are several challenges students have with understanding earth science?
Earth science has a very broad scope, encompassing everything from weather patterns, to ocean currents etc. I believe students face a number of challenges when addressing this broad topic:
· It is difficult for them to envision the vast amount of spaces involved when discussing the distance of the earth from the sun, etc.
· They have spent their life being told various stories about why the things they see around themselves happen the way they do. The large number of misconceptions about earth science topics means we may be likely telling them something in contrast to what they’ve always been told by people they respect (parents, etc.) who may also have been misinformed
· Relationships that students have learned from life experience may not translate exactly to earth science. For example. they know that the closer you stand to a fire, the warmer it is. They’ve been told that the sun is a large ball of fire. It is then logical to conclude that the sun is closer to us in summer when it’s warm, and farther away in winter when it’s cold.
· In the case of things such as the sun, clouds, weather patterns, etc. these are all “theoretical” to students. They aren’t things that they can touch or explore with their hands. It is difficult to have students imagine that the world is rotating, when they can’t see it immediately for themselves.
In what ways would you teach the Planetary Forecaster curriculum- differently or the same?
This curriculum is planned out very careful to encompass 27 class periods. Designed as a suitable curriculum for 7th grade students in the state of Illinois, Edelson et al. (2002) suggested that it could be taught to anywhere from a 6th to 8th grade class. As a secondary school teacher, I can only critique this based on my secondary science experience. To me, 27 class periods = 27 days of science 8 class. If you consider a typical 8 block school system, where students have science class every 2nd day that would mean that it would take nearly 11 weeks of classes to work through this curriculum. That is a substantial chunk of the school year. While I definitely see benefits in this curriculum, to utilize effectively in a high school setting I would definitely need to accelerate the rate in which it is taught!