|Feature in Visual Map|
|This feature is part of a module developed in WISE in which students learn about the moon phases phenomenon.|
In the first activity students start with observing the moon-phases during one month, and then arrange their findings in a digital calendar (see figure).
The calendar initially is only a blank matrix. Students first fill in the dates to make this matrix become a calendar of the relevant month, and then choose from a list the aproppriate figure of the moon-phase.
|The Rationale Behind the Feature (Specific Design Principle):|
|Viewing all the observations in one visual representation (in a familiar format of a calendar), enables them to see how the phases of the moon change during the month.|
|Context of Use:|
|This feature was used in two manner:|
1) Students first collected all their observations (one months) on paper, and then met in class, in which each pair of students transformed these observations to the digital callendar.
2) The whole activity was conducted from home - for each observation students chose the aproppriate figure of the moon-phase, and placed it in the calendar.
|• Hans, M. & Kali, Y. (2007). Spatial perception of the moon phases: Designing a Web-based module for middle school students. Paper accepted to 2008 annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), New York, March 2008.|
• Hans, M. & Kali, Y. (2007). Promoting middle school spatial perception of the moon phases with a web-based module. Paper accepted to 2008 annual conference of the National Association of Research in Science teaching (NARST), Baltimore, March-April 2008.
Students choose a "Stamp" of the desired phase of the moon and place it in one of the cells. They are also required to fill in the dates.