BSCS SCIENCE TRACKS: CONNECTING SCIENCE AND LITERACY: INVESTIGATING OBJECTS IN THE SKY STUDENT GUIDE

EARTH & SPACE SCIENCE-In this module, students explore and describe the position, appearance, and motion (or apparent motion) of objects in the sky, specifically the Moon, the Sun and the stars. They use their shadows to determine the changing position of the Sun in the daytime sky and use direct observations to describe the changing position of the Moon during the day and at night and of the stars in the nighttime sky. Students also observe that the Moon appears to change its shape every day in a repeating pattern that takes approximately one month.

BSCS Science Tracks includes a comprehensive Student Guide and resource book at every level, 1-5. The Student Guide is not a "read-about-science" book; rather, it serves as a guide to help students learn to do the following things.

• Conduct scientific inquiries within a collaborative team and on their own
• Become more responsible for their own learning
• Manage the hands-on activities themselves
• Structure collaborative learning tasks
• Develop science and technology concepts and skills
• Reflect on their learning and assess their own conceptual and skill development
• Conduct independent inquiries related to questions or topics of personal interest
• Develop skills for reading in the content areas
• Follow and interpret directions

In addition, the Student Guides reinforce components of basic literacy, including shared reading and writing, guided reading and writing, continuous assessment, skills instruction, reading procedural text, listening and speaking skills, journal writing, record keeping, hints and reminders, reading and writing in a social context, and reading and writing in a content area.