ABSTRACT
Th e quote above is taken from a peer collaborative writing of two students who have two goals for their writing: to explain what they are learning about “black holes” and to develop a narrative using their imaginations to communicate their interpretation of how “black holes” could aff ect life, such as the lives of two astronauts. In their paper, they explain scientifi c concepts they are learning in their high school astronomy class. Th ese include event horizon, gravitational lensing, x-ray radiation, gravitational redshift, and the role of tidal force on the eff ect of matter. In the telling of their story, they coin a new term, spaghettifcation, to describe the eff ect of tidal forces on an astronaut, representing matter, as he enters a black hole (e.g., the astronaut is stretched into what looks like spaghetti). Th is writing activity, typical of activities within the Exploring Minds project, engages the students in self-directed learning projects and integrates
Marino C. Alvarez TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY
Victoria J. Risko VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY
the language arts curriculum with disciplines across the curriculum to foster application of content to new contexts (e.g., in their writing, Addie and Bobby are applying their newly acquired science learning to a plausible real life event).
