Concept Support Materials

Each learning cycle’s Concept Enhancer is a one- to three-page student reading that contains references to observations students should have made and connections between concepts and phenomena that students should have observed in the exploration and concept development activities. Other relevant examples are also provided and discussed. The Concept Enhancer is carefully written to help facilitate the transition students must make from the observations they have made and the patterns and relationships they have discovered in the exploration activity to the development of the desired concept in the concept development activity.

Conceptual Practice exercises provide students with opportunities to use their newly acquired knowledge and skills to analyze additional situations. These exercises give students practice in answering questions and solving problems that are conceptual in nature.

The Concept Enhancer and Conceptual Practice immediately follow the exploration and concept development activities but come prior to the application activity.