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Abstract

While scientific vocabulary is important, it can often become problematic for students. Sometimes, those words can become a barrier to participation or act as a gatekeeper to success in the science classroom. Under the Next Generation Science Standards, middle school students are expected to model Earth-Moon-Sun motions to explain Moon phases, eclipses, and seasons (NGSS Lead States, 2013). Using a phenomenography lens, we investigated the ways in which students seeing the Moon in nature and related classroom experiences translate into a mental model of lunar phases and how vocabulary is used to communicate these models. Eighth-grade students from three urban middle school classrooms were assessed for spatial ability and understanding of lunar phases. Girls and boys of both high and low spatial ability were interviewed to explore their Moon phase understanding and causal thinking before and after an astronomy unit. One school employed the school district's astronomy curriculum while the other used the REAL Curriculum. Students engaged in babbling (i.e., inarticulate but somewhat correct descriptions) and gargling (i.e., using many technical terms without evidence of understanding) with much greater frequency in pre-interviews. Students who developed correct vocabulary and used it comfortably in interviews were more likely to also display correct Moon phase conceptions. REAL Curriculum’s project-based approach to teaching astronomy and related vocabulary through hands-on, contextualized projects and activities (e.g., Moon observation journals) produced greater vocabulary gains.

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