Research

Cheek, Kim A. “Washed Away!” Science and Children 50, no. 8 (April/May 2013): 52–56. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43176420.

Summary:  In this article, the author provides examples of instructional strategies that can be used to teach students that weather plays a large role in changing the Earth's surface. Students can see examples of these changes every day. Because these changes often happen very slowly and on a large scale, models allow students to see how these changes take place. Students can start by recording examples of water changes on the earth in their everyday environment. They can take pictures of these examples of illustrating them in their science journals. These examples can be used to generate questions that can be tested. As a class, students can use soil and water to model these processes and find answers to their questions. Students must understand that models have limitations and are different than the natural process of erosion.