You know that you should be using phenomena in your NGSS classroom. But, how do you really use NGSS phenomena in your classroom. In this blog post, I’ll answer some of your most frequently asked questions. And, I’ll show you how to use phenomena in your classroom.
What are NGSS Phenomena?
NGSS phenomena are things that occur in the natural or design world that spark curiosity. This mimics what we see in real-world science and engineering. In science, phenomena are what cause scientists to ask questions. In engineering, phenomena are problems that require a solution. Essentially, phenomena are what make students care about the information that you are presenting in class.
For example, a phenomenon might include the way that the moon appears to change shape throughout the month. Another phenomenon might be that your local air pollution levels are higher than in the surrounding areas.
Phenomena can be events, things that we observe, and issues that we face. The are videos, graphs, maps, images, and narratives and more.
Types of Phenomena
While phenomena is always used to spark curiosity, they show up in different ways in your planning. The three main types of phenomena are anchoring phenomena, investigative phenomena and everyday phenomena. Below, I’ll explain the differences and give you examples of each.
Anchoring Phenomena
Anchoring phenomena is phenomena that you refer back to throughout a lesson sequence or unit. In a perfect world, students generate questions about this phenomenon. Then, these teachers use these questions to build a lesson sequence. This lesson sequence is called a storyline.
Investigative Phenomena
Investigative phenomena help move your storyline along. They provide a focus for a lesson or short series of lessons. Students use them to answer their questions.
For example, I was a coffee shop and took a picture of their water refill station.
If I were teaching a unit on phase change, this would serve as an excellent investigative phenomenon. I’d have students create models to explain what was happening in this image and plan investigations to confirm what they’d learned.
A good phenomenon is one that causes students to wonder. Or, a good phenomenon will help get students invested in finding a solution. For this reason, I find that phenomena that students encounter in their everyday lives or phenomena that can be found locally make the best phenomena.
Everyday Phenomena
Everyday phenomena are things that students encounter in their everyday lives. They are closely related to what students encounter on a regular basis.
Everyday, or simple phenomena are used in different ways. For example, some everyday phenomena make excellent anchors for a lesson. They just need to be complex enough to explore over a longer period of time. Others might make a good warm up activity to get students talking, but are too simple to be used in the broader lesson.
What makes bad phenomena?
There are two things that make an NGSS phenomenon bad.
- Spoilers. Spoilers explain the phenomenon in too much detail. So, this means that they take away the “wonder”. Spoilers are most often found in the videos. However, text and other forms can also contain spoilers.
- The phenomenon is not engaging. If your students don’t care about phenomena, it won’t cause them to wonder. Above all, your phenomena must be something that your students want to investigate. Your instructional sequences will be lackluster and have limited engagement because students aren’t interested in finding “the answer”.
Where can I find good phenomena?
Phenomena can be found in a wide range of places. For instance, here are a few of my favorite places to look:
- Phenomena Websites: Project Phenomena, NGSSPhenomena.com, the Wonder of Science, and several other sites are dedicated to presenting phenomena.
- Social Media: YouTube, Giphy, and even TikTok make great places to find things that your students will be curious about. (TikTok is great for physics-related content as there are several Rube Goldberg style setups. But, beware, you will have to shift through content that is not school appropriate.)
- Look local: Look for local issues using local news organizations, governmental organizations, and even local Facebook groups.
- Ask the parents and fellow teachers. If you don’t live where you teach, seek help from the people around you. They can be a wealth of information about local issues.
Next Steps
Do you want to learn more about phenomena? Check out these posts:
- Simple Phenomena
- Using Student Questions in your Storylines
- Teaching Science in 3D Podcast: How You Can Incorporate Phenomena
What quetions do you have about NGSS phenomena? Drop them below!
No Comments