What is Phenomena?

Local, community-related phenomena engage students and make science meaningful, preparing students for life beyond school in college, in careers, and as citizens. A good phenomenon often has no one right answer, but is a specific event or connection within the natural or designed world, ideally that students can directly experience. Further definitions of phenomena, resources for using them, and listings of them: 

Defining and Using Phenomena

• What makes a good phenomenon? - Ideas from the Georgia Science Teachers Association
• ACESSE Resource E: Selecting Anchoring Phenomena for Equitable Teaching – This professional learning module discusses what a phenomenon is and how it is different from a core idea in science. 
• NSTA Webinar on How to Select a Quality Phenomenon - by Tricia Shelton and Ted Willard, 90 min.
• NSTA Webinar on Storylines - by Brian Reiser and Michael Novak - details how to have students' work to sense of phenomena guide a unit of instruction, 90 min.
• STEM Teaching Tools Brief 42 - Using Phenomena in NGSS-Designed Lessons and Units

Listings of Phenomena

• Appendix A of the WSS - this appendix provides a range of Wisconsin-specific science contexts linked to the core ideas at each grade level. Often, a teacher would have to connect to a specific instance related to these contexts to make it a phenomenon.
• Georgia Science Teachers Association Phenomena Bank - created by teachers; linked to the Georgia standards, which are very similar to ours in Wisconsin  
• Data nuggets - resource from Michigan State University that asks students to build understanding of actual examples of scientific research and data
• NGSS Phenomena Website - database of short video clips, images, and resources created by TJ McKenna
• Wide range of actual data sources for students - large list of links to real-time data sets that students can make sense of
• Eureka Alert - Twitter feed with AAAS daily science news, images, videos, and more
• SciJourner - science news and graphics, most relevant for secondary and beyond students
• Bringing the Universe to America's Classrooms - PBS Learning Media collection of resources related to astronomy and earth science