UtSTA 2024: Out-Of-This-World Science Teaching

This presentation is an introduction to student sensemaking through modeling aligned to SEEd Strand 2.1 Changes in Earth’s Surface. Participants will experience what scientific modeling looks like in practice through the lens of the 2nd grade Earth’s systems unit, “Moncton” from Ambitious Science Teaching. In this unit students are constructing explanations about a puzzling phenomenon, what caused the mountain town of Moncton to flood? Participants will observe what student modeling looked like in a classroom, define what modeling is, and learn strategies to support student scientific modeling and sensemaking.

This presentation is adapted from the Module: Introduction to Sensemaking through Modeling from Advancing Coherent and Equitable Systems of Science Education.