Making Waves with the Discovery of Gravitational Waves in Space

Title: Making Waves with the Discovery of Gravitational Waves in Space Article Title: “What’s the Big Deal about Gravitational Waves?” can be accessed at: https://app.discoveryeducation.com/learn/player/6b6b0ca9-2541-4516-b4bf-855dc58aaffb Standards or Learning Objectives addressed: (This article could be used as background information to help students make arguments or design a model about gravity’s role in space.) MS-PS2-4. Construct and present arguments using evidence to support the claim that gravitational interactions are attractive and depend on the masses of interacting objects. MS-ESS1-2. Develop and use a model to describe the role of gravity in the motions within galaxies and the solar system. How did we find this piece of text? I found this article while browsing through selections on the Discovery Education website. I searched for articles for grades 6-8 in the subject of physical science. Unlike the previous article that I found on this website, this piece of text did not have a Lexile score. I was curious about what the Lexile score might be, so I copied and pasted the entire piece of text into the “Free Lexile Analyzer” on the lexile.com website. I was surprised at how easy this website is to use. Within seconds I had the following pieces of data about the piece of text I entered: • Lexile® Measure: 900L - 1000L • Mean Sentence Length: 11.98 • Mean Log Word Frequency: 3.16 • Word Count: 611 From our studies thus far in ED 620, I know that Lexile is just one measure of how to choose a text for your students, so I decided to delve further in and find out more. From the website “Matching Lexile Measures to Grade Ranges”, I found that Lexile scores do NOT correspond to grade levels, but are used as a guide to meet and challenge students where they are. In addition, Lexile scores are just one small piece of judging a piece of text for its appropriateness for a group of students. The Lexile scores give us a range in which 50% of students in that grade level scored on standardized tests. I think that this is why many people wrongly assume Lexile scores can tell us grade levels. When I compared the data for this article to a chart of Lexile scores per grade level, I found that the article could be appropriate for some students in as low as 4th grade, and perhaps up to 9th grade. This demonstrated to me the importance of knowing each individual student as a reader in your class and using appropriate tools to give them texts that can challenge them. My experience reading the text the first time: I was anxious reading this article for the first time. While I took college astronomy and have taught physical science for years, I’m a life scientist at heart. This topic is not something I would choose to read for pleasure. Even reading the first paragraph in which the acronym “LIGO” appears made me nervous – “What is that?” “Am I going to need to know that term later?” As I read along, I was glad that the authors had placed section headers when they changed topics. This helped me to focus my reading and digest what I was learning about in small pieces. I enjoyed the final section of the reading, which had a series of ‘fun facts’ about gravitational waves and other space trivia. I think my students would find this part interesting too – a kilonova? Sounds amazing! Analysis – PAT part 2 This is a piece of informational text designed to introduce the reader to the concept of gravitational waves, how they are measured, and how they are used to analyze objects in the solar system. I think that this article was written specifically for science students by the Discovery Education team. Before reading, my students would need to know that space phenomena are usually measured using electromagnetic waves, such as microwaves and gamma rays. Gravitational waves are not a type of EM wave and are new technology in analysis of space phenomena. Part of the text talks about a collision between two neutron stars 130 million light years away. I can see my students needing assistance defining what a neutron star is, understanding the life cycle of stars, and relating to light years. This piece of text has only one point of view and one argument – that gravitational waves are a new tool being utilized to measure events in space. There are no references to any outside texts or theories, although it might be helpful to provide such information to my students ahead of reading the text. My experience using a guiding comprehension strategy This week, our focus is guiding comprehension strategies. These reading strategies are specifically used to guide students’ thinking while reading, and to help students monitor their own thinking while reading (McLaughlin 86). The reading strategy my partner, Jennifer, chose for me to try with the text this week is gallery images. She chose this strategy for the article because it is an informational text, and the reading does include quite a bit of visualization language in describing gravitational waves. The first step in using gallery images is for the teacher to explain to the students that visualizing is a reading comprehension strategy, and the name of the specific visualizing reading strategy we are using today is called gallery images (McLaughlin 85). In other subjects, you might visualize land forms while studying geography, or imagine small beads to help calculate sums in mathematics. The teacher then does a think-aloud with the students as they read the first section of the text. If I was doing this with my students I would draw two stars colliding far away with waves emitting from them while reading the first paragraph. It’s important to use simple line drawings, and to summarize the visualizations with a few sentences. The next step is to have students continue the exercise on their own. They are paired up with another student and their task is to make at least two more text visualizations while they continue reading the text. They draw their sketches on poster paper and share them with the class. Finally, all the students reflect on using visualizations to help understand texts, and brainstorm ways they could use the strategy in other classes (McLaughlin 85). Since I’m all by myself for this activity, I couldn’t really do partner work or compare my diagrams with anyone else, so I improvised with what I had. I read the next section of the text, which describes what gravitational waves are. The text describes gravitational waves as follows: “They're ripples in space-time; tiny alterations in the fabric of reality itself. Gravitational waves are "not another part of the electromagnetic spectrum; it is a whole new spectrum in itself. It's a completely different way of getting information from things," Cambridge University astrophysicist Anthony Lasenby told Wired. Because they're not part of the electromagnetic spectrum, gravitational waves aren't scattered by cosmic dust, absorbed by objects, or distorted by distance.” (Science Channel 1) As I read the above text, I imagined squiggly lines in space going right through stars and rocket ships without changing. As a summary, I would write: “Gravitational waves are different than EM waves, and can even travel through matter without changing.” References: Buehl, D. (2014) Classroom Strategies for Interactive Learning. (4th ed.). Newark, DE: International Reading Association. Guilford, J., Bustamante, A. J., Mackura, K., Hirsch, S., Lyon, E., & Estrada, K. (2017, January 1). Text Savvy: Planning Rich Reading Experiences That Support Language Development and Science Learning. The Science Teacher, 50-56. McLaughlin, M. (2015) Content Area Reading: Teaching and Learning for College and Career Readiness. University of Pennsylvania. Pearson. (70-87) Metametrics, Inc. (2018). Free Lexile Analyzer. Retrieved April 14, 2018, from https://la-tools.lexile.com/free-analyze/ Metametrics, Inc. (2018). Matching Lexile Measures to Grade Ranges. Retrieved April 14, 2018, from https://lexile.com/educators/measuring-growth-with-lexile/lexile-measures-grade-equivalents/ Science Channel, (2017) What’s the Big Deal about Gravitational Waves?. [Reading Passage]. Available from http://www.discoveryeducation.com