Science Curriculum Preview Committee Clarification of Learning Results

Curriculum Organizing Questions	What do you see when you look up in the sky? Does it always look the same? Can you note any patterns? How can we tell the difference between planets and stars?
Elaboration	The sun, moon, stars, clouds, birds, and airplanes all have properties, locations, and movements that can be observed and described. NSES D2a. Students should do long-term observations of the day and night sky. Thye should look for patterns and changes. The priority is to get students noticing and describing what the sky looks like to them at different times.
Specific Ideas	Objects in the sky have patterns of movement. NSES D3c. The sun, for example, appears to move across the sky in the same way every day, but its path changes slowly over the seasons. NSES D3c. The moon moves across the sky on a daily basis much like the sun. NSES D3c. The observable shape of the moon changes from day to day in a cycle that lasts about a month. NSES D3c.
Developmental & Instructional Implications	Students' grasp of many of the ideas of the composition and magnitude of the universe has to grow slowly over time. At this level, students should not invest much time in trying to get the scale of distances firmly in mind. Benchmarks p. 62. The ideas "the sun is a star" and "the earth orbits the sun" appear counter-intuitive to elementary-school students and are not likely to be believed or even understood in those grades. Benchmarks p. 335. This concept is not developmentally appropriate for this age level and should be presented at a very basic and introductory level using long term observation.
Examples	Month-long observations of stars, moon and planets can be enhanced by use of photographs to show the variety of size, appearance and motion. Internet has many good resources for this.