In another post I talked about having students organize their new knowledge around frameworks of interest. A corollary of that is for them to find examples of what they are learning about, or when actual examples are not possible, to find symbolic examples of, what they are learning about.
The properties of water and of transport are rife with possibility for this idea. Water is a huge part of all of our lives and some of its properties are visible if students are paying attention. Challenge them to find examples of water and oil mixtures / water and soap mixtures and how that is relevant to life and membranes and transport. Also challenge them to find examples of how water behaves in the world that helps them understand osmosis, capillary action or diffusion.
Futhermore, transport presents many opportunities for comparison.
Challenge students to pick one of the following and compare it to some aspect of one of the forms of transport and explain their comparison. They can also choose their own example, be it an example of actual transportation of something, or an example of items mixing/ moving amongst each other, or some other comparison that they can explain to a form of transport.
Possible comparisons:
-automobile traffic situations:
highway ramps / parking lots / gated communities
-hallways at school with classrooms on either side:
time between classes / time during classes / opening and closing of doors
– sports:
the ball representing a certain molecule or ion / the players representing different molecules or ions / the entire field as a human body / track and field events where runners change lanes
– How humans transport themselves
It is very important that the student explain their comparison as it is in the comparison – the thought – that they will make new connections… hopefully connections that are of interest because they created them.