Assessing and Addressing Misconceptions, Part 2: Forces that
Shape the Earth One of the major professional development
courses the STEM Pipeline offers is “Assessing and Addressing
Misconceptions, Part 2: Forces that Shape the Earth”. This
project is designed to improve science education in grades three
to eight by delving deeply into science concepts about which
students and adults often have strongly held misconceptions. A
team of four experts from the Central MA STEM Pipeline Network
(higher education, professional development organizations and
K-12) created a seven day, 3-credit course for teachers. The
courses focuses on MCAS Learning Standards identified as
problematic for students that are also embedded are aligned with
known common earth science misconceptions. Those specific
conceptual areas are the foundation for the course. With a
foundation of formative assessment usage from part 1 of the
course, this year teachers will learn and practice the Science
Curriculum Topic Study as a means to enhance le