We developed our Learning Progression-based Modules (LPMs) by contextualizing "student ideas" in two learning progressions so they are explicitly connected to six anchoring phenomena incorporated in two Integrated Science "content" courses for preservice elementary teachers at Alma College. Both courses meet twice a week for 90 minutes each time, and have a separate three-hour laboratory section.
The two learning progressions we used to develop our LPMs are:
Force and Motion (Alonzo & Steedle, 2009), focusing on students' understandings of the relationship between force and motion, including changes in motion (physics-focused)
Carbon: Transformations in Matter and Energy (CarbonTIME), focusing on students' understandings of changes in matter and energy (biology- and chemistry-focused)
LPMs are all structured to include:
LPM 1: Comparing common student ideas to those represented on initial explanatory models. Which ideas are included? In what ways?
LPM 2: Evaluating common student ideas with respect to evidence. Which student ideas should be included in a final explanatory model? In what ways are the student ideas reasonable?
LPM 4: Identifying changes in thinking by comparing initial and final models (also with respect to student ideas). In what ways has your thinking changed over the course of the unit? Which student ideas are represented in your models?
The anchoring phenomena in the introductory course, Integrated Science 201/101 (same course--number changed), are:
(Physics, force and motion) Video of a tossed ball (vertical). Why does the ball follow its path?
(Biology, tracing matter) CarbonTIME Plants. How do plants grow, move, and function?
(Chemistry, tracing energy) (under development)
The anchoring phenomena in the second-semester course, Integrated Science 301, are:
(Biology, tracing energy) Open Sci Ed Unit 7.3: Metabolic Reactions. How do things inside our bodies work together to make us feel the way we do?
(Chemistry, tracing energy) Gummy Bear Fireball video. What happens to the gummy bear?
(Physics, force and motion) Honda video (motion of cogs). What explains the motion of the cogs?