Seasons (Black & White ver.)

2008

based on the premise that science literacy should be approached not as a collection of isolated abilities and bits of information, but as a rich network of mutually supporting ideas and skills that must develop over time. The left side of the Weather and Climate map in Atlas 2 (AAAS, 2007) presents a progression of understanding of seasons that is based on a rigorous analysis of the logic of the disciplines and a careful examination of relevant research on student learning. This paper describes the progression of understanding of the reasons for seasons and the rationale for the decisions it reflects. Introduction (Domain and Target) In its characterization of the knowledge, skills, and habits of mind that constitute adult science literacy, Science for All Americans (AAAS, 1989) recommended that all high school graduates would understand the following story about seasons: The motion of the earth and its position with regard to the sun and the moon have

All cultures have seasons, an understanding of the cycles of the year, especially the growing, gathering and hunting periods, and the predominantly hot or cold, wet or dry times of the year that are related to those periods, and indeed make them possible. Yet the number and nature of the seasons and their physiological and psychological affects varies widely across cultures. The seasons play an important role in organizing a sense of time, of the progression of the year, of the cycle of the year, and of the years. Their role has also changed over time, especially from Paleolithic hunter-gather societies to Neolithic agricultural ones, and then to modern industrialised ones. The seasons have a history. The term 'season' has a history deriving, as McClatchy (13) points out, from the Latin for 'sowing' and so referring only to spring, and to agricultural societies. The names for the seasons also have a history as it was not until the sixteenth century that their names were stabilised in English, French and German (see Enkvist 90 and 157).

Science Scope, 2012

A lthough inquiry is more engaging and results in more meaningful learning (Minner, Levy, and Century 2010) than traditional science classroom instruction, actually involving students in the process is difficult. Furthermore, many students have misconceptions about Earth's seasons, which are supported by students' prior knowledge of heat sources. We provide an example of how to engage students in inquiry about the Earth's seasons and show how to use students' thinking, temperature data, and careful observation to create opportunities for inquiry investigations that target student misconceptions about seasons.

Research in Science Education, 2007

Flourishing in today's global society requires citizens that are both intelligent consumers and producers of scientific understanding. Indeed, the modern world is facing ever-more complex problems that require innovative ways of thinking about, around, and with science. As numerous educational stakeholders have suggested, such skills and abilities are not innate and must, therefore, be taught (e.g.,

Journal of Education and Learning, 2015

The purpose of this study is to determine the mental models of elementary school students on seasons and to analyze how these models change in terms of grade levels. The study was conducted with 294 students (5 th , 6 th , 7 th and 8 th graders) studying in an elementary school of Turkey's Black Sea Region. Qualitative and quantitative data collection methods were used in the study. The students first were asked 3 open ended questions (one of them was a drawing) in order to determine their mental models on seasons. Following this, the students took an achievement test on seasons that consisted of 4 multiple questions. Quantitative data were analyzed by SPSS 20.0 while the qualitative data were analyzed by the researchers by using content analysis technique. The results of the study showed that the students construct the formation of seasons in various ways in their minds. However, differently from the literature, the presence of some new mental models was found. For a full understanding of the seasons, the necessity of a set of pre-learnings has been recommended. It will be useful to design basic activities based on hands-on and learning by doing which will enable the most effective learning and to put this in the textbooks in the most suitable way. Additionally tangible physical-scale hands-on models, 3D simulation modeling and planetarium environment should be used in students' education about formation of seasons.

International Journal of Climatology, 2002

Within the last decade the study of phenology has taken on a new legitimacy in the area of climate change research. A growing literature reveals that a change in the timing of natural events is occurring in a wide range of locations and affecting a wide range of species. Changes in spring have been those most commonly reported, with the emphasis on an advance in spring linked to an increase in temperature. Detection of change in autumn is hampered by a smaller pool of available data, events that are harder to define (such as leaf coloration), and various influencing environmental factors triggering autumnal phases. Despite this, the general pattern may be towards a delay in autumn. Plant, animal and abiotic responses, especially in spring, are quite similar. Thus, it would appear that winter is being squeezed at both ends, and this effect, of increasing the growing season, should become more pronounced in the face of predicted global warming.

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The task in learning science is not just to acquire specific facts, nor even to refine a complex mental model. In addition, one must learn the practices and the discourse of science. We focus here on a particular content domain in a study of the teaching of a unit on seasonal change to fourth-graders in an urban, multiethnic school. We see different ways of talking science, which have implications both for how students learn and for how they are perceived. We examine these discourses in light of a similar examination of the school text these students read and discussed.

Journal of Public Health Policy, 2006

Seasonality, a systematic periodic occurrence of events over the course of a year, is a well-known phenomenon in life and health sciences. Understanding seasonal fluctuations in diseases patterns presents us with a major challenge. To develop efficient strategies for disease prevention and control, we need to grasp the main determinants of temporal variations and their interactions. This paper will introduce the notion of seasonality by outlining several of its factors, using as illustrations respiratory and enteric water-or food-borne infections.