6.1 Light & Matter

Prep Work

Make Charts

• Driving Question Board

• Ideas for Investigations

Materials

Lesson 1 Teacher’s Guide

Student Notebooks

Computer & Projector/TV

Chart Paper & Markers

Sticky Notes & Markers

Lesson Slides

6 Min

WRITE QUESTIONS FOR THE DRIVING QUESTION BOARD

Students individually generate questions about the phenomenon in preparation for building the DQB. Sample Student Ideas

24 min

DEVELOP A DRIVING QUESTION BOARD

Share questions to build the DQB about what is causing the phenomenon observed in this lesson.

12 min

DEVELOP IDEAS FOR FUTURE INVESTIGATION

Students use the DQB to develop a list of investigations we could conduct to answer our questions and explain the one-way mirror phenomenon.

Sample Student Ideas

3 min

DECIDE WHERE TO GO NEXT

Students predict what would happen if we switch the light to the other room in the box model.

Pre-Assessment

Driving Question Board

What to look/listen for:

All questions should be accepted at this time, but pay close attention to the types of questions your students ask.

Open-ended questions require a full and meaningful answer and are productive questions to prompt investigation and conversation. How and why questions are examples of this type. Students may also ask open-ended questions that are more similar to ideas for investigations (e.g., What happens if ... ?). When we pursue these investigations later in the unit, students will discover new aspects of the phenomenon to be explained, motivating a need to pose new explanatory questions (how or why) about the phenomenon. Close-ended questions require a yes or no response or a simple, one-word answer. Sometimes close-ended questions are productive for prompting us to do an investigation (e.g., If you turned the lights off in both rooms, will both sides be able to see through?), but they do not lead to fruitful conversation.

What to do:

If important parts of the mirror-window model have few or no questions posted on the DQB, prompt students to generate more questions in this space so they can investigate each important part or interaction.

After the DQB is built, count the number of questions (on your own, not with students) that are close-ended versus open-ended. If your students ask mostly close-ended questions, have them use the Asking Questions Tool: Open/Closed Questions when adding new questions to the DQB in later lessons. If your students asked mostly open-ended questions, shift their focus to refining their questions into testable ones using the Asking Questions Tool: Testable Questions. These tools are located in OpenSciEd Teacher Tools & Resources.