ANCHORING PHENOMENA AS A WAY OF INTRODUCING EARTH SCIENCE STANDARDS IN A PHYSICS CLASSROOM

We piloted two units from the OpenSciEd (https://www.openscied.org/) physics curriculum which incorporates both Earth Science and Physical Science Next Generation Science Standards during the 2021 - 2022 academic year. These units, which use anchoring phenomena as a driver for student learning, use real-world case studies that call upon students to refine models of understanding throughout the unit. Students engaged in phenomenon-driven units throughout the rest of the academic year, but with a focus on Physical Science standards. Throughout the OSE piloted units, we sought quantitative and qualitative evidence of an increase in student engagement with the targeted standards, but with particular interest in the Earth Science standards. Quantitative data suggest that students showed appreciable growth from a "needs improvement" level of understanding to "meets expectations," according to standards-based grading, with students showing particularly deep understandings of energy transfer through different Earth systems. The qualitative data showed that students deepened their lines of questioning from low-level facts-seeking questions to high-level process-centered questions. Students have also said that they felt more deeply engaged and were filled with wonder about our world as a result of the units. Additionally, students said that they enjoyed connecting the work we completed in class to environmental racism, climate change, and engineering solutions to help resolve associated challenges. However, students did not connect their learning in physics to earth science knowledge, and many did not feel satisfied with their understanding of earth science concepts. Next year, we will introduce additional pilot units that will more heavily focus on Earth Science standards, as we continue to seek to offer all students the opportunity to access all three domains of the NGSS.