TIP #12 - Crosscutting Concepts
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Sizing Up Scale and Proportion: Understanding the Very Big
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Trillion-dollar budgets, microscopic viruses, geological time frames. Understanding the very big and the very small can be challenging even for adults. So how do you make the too big, or too small, visible—and understandable—to students who might have trouble understanding the difference between driving to the next state versus driving across the country? The key: tangible connections and repeated exposure.
While any instruction on scale, proportion and quantity must begin with the traditional bigger vs. smaller, hotter vs. colder, younger vs. older, it must quickly progress to include the very big, the very small, the very old, the very slow, etc., so students begin, at a young age, to get comfortable with the notion that scale and quantity span a tremendous range.
To do this, students need bridges connecting quantities they can see and touch to the more nebulous concepts they are learning. For example, it’s hard to understand that air is full of tiny gas particles we can’t see, but it’s easier to understand that air is more than “nothing” when you see the wind blowing leaves around. Additionally, students need to think about—and use—these connections over and over again. This helps them to get comfortable with quantities and concepts they cannot see or fully understand.
Tangible
The first step is to make real connections between different quantities. These can take the form of going from something students can see and feel—like a sugar cube—to something a bit smaller yet still visible—a pile of sugar—to something too small to see—individual sugar particles (molecules) dissolved in water. This type of investigation helps students “see” something that is too small to see. Working backwards along the quantity scale (e.g., evaporating the water so that you have sugar grains again), will help students make even deeper connections between the “seen” and “unseen.”
Repetition
While students can’t see the dissolved sugar particles described in the dissolution demonstration above, it gives them experience, and a bridge, connecting matter they can see with matter that is too small to be seen. On its own, this example is not nearly enough for students to understand the existence of the small sugar particles. However, when coupled with other examples of things too small to see, they will begin to gain an appreciation for that end of the size spectrum. Repeated exposure to an idea is a requirement for developing a deep understanding of any concept, but it is especially important for students as they try to understand the meaning behind quantities they cannot measure directly.
While any instruction on scale, proportion and quantity must begin with the traditional bigger vs. smaller, hotter vs. colder, younger vs. older, it must quickly progress to include the very big, the very small, the very old, the very slow, etc., so students begin, at a young age, to get comfortable with the notion that scale and quantity span a tremendous range.
To do this, students need bridges connecting quantities they can see and touch to the more nebulous concepts they are learning. For example, it’s hard to understand that air is full of tiny gas particles we can’t see, but it’s easier to understand that air is more than “nothing” when you see the wind blowing leaves around. Additionally, students need to think about—and use—these connections over and over again. This helps them to get comfortable with quantities and concepts they cannot see or fully understand.
Tangible
The first step is to make real connections between different quantities. These can take the form of going from something students can see and feel—like a sugar cube—to something a bit smaller yet still visible—a pile of sugar—to something too small to see—individual sugar particles (molecules) dissolved in water. This type of investigation helps students “see” something that is too small to see. Working backwards along the quantity scale (e.g., evaporating the water so that you have sugar grains again), will help students make even deeper connections between the “seen” and “unseen.”
Repetition
While students can’t see the dissolved sugar particles described in the dissolution demonstration above, it gives them experience, and a bridge, connecting matter they can see with matter that is too small to be seen. On its own, this example is not nearly enough for students to understand the existence of the small sugar particles. However, when coupled with other examples of things too small to see, they will begin to gain an appreciation for that end of the size spectrum. Repeated exposure to an idea is a requirement for developing a deep understanding of any concept, but it is especially important for students as they try to understand the meaning behind quantities they cannot measure directly.
The CreositySpace approach
CreositySpace units contain the traditional instruction around scale, proportion, and quantity. Students are constantly measuring and comparing (analyzing) concepts such as speed, size, distance, and more. Many units take this instruction to the next level through the type of bridge building and repetition described above.
A number of unit examples are outlined below.
A number of unit examples are outlined below.
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Contagion Crushers: In this unit students grow microbes that they have collected from surfaces around the room. Initial the microbes are too small to see but over the course of a week the microbes grow to a size that is clearly visible to the human eye.
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Grade three unit sequencing: Contagion Crushers and Water Watchers
In our Grade 3 sequencing students have multiple opportunities to increase their familiarity with microscopic organisms. They are first introduced to microorganism when they grow and study microbes in Contagion Crushers. They are given a second opportunity to study microbes when they discuss different types of water contamination--and the resulting purification requirements--in Water Watchers. |
Technology Historical Timelines
Every CreositySpace unit contains a Technology Historical Timeline which helps students develop an appreciation for the timescale associated with human civilization.
Every CreositySpace unit contains a Technology Historical Timeline which helps students develop an appreciation for the timescale associated with human civilization.
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Click here to learn more about our K-5 science units and supplemental curricula.