How did the Universe Form?

Student Learning Story

Brief Overview
In this student learning story I will describe a lesson sequence on the formation of the universe
in a 9th grade Integrated Science class. The 9th grade students in this class are ethnically and
academically diverse. 9th Grade Integrated Science includes a marking period each of chemistry, physics,
earth science, and ecology. The lesson sequence in this learning story is near the beginning of the earth
science marking period. It aims to give students opportunities to use three types of evidence to explain
the formation of the universe, and then write a comprehensive explanation using all of the evidence.

Goals for Student Learning

The learning objective for this lesson sequence is for students to explain the Big Bang theory
using astronomical evidence of light spectra, motion of distant galaxies, and composition of matter in
the universe (HS-ESS1-2), which is found in the Next Generation Science Standards. Studying the
formation of the universe expands students perception of time and space, which will continue to be
valuable as they progress through their science careers. It also is of profound interest to students,
seeing as they wrote about it over and over again when we asked what they wanted to learn at the
beginning of the school year. Our target scientific practice for this lesson sequence was constructing
explanations from evidence. The process of science is predicated on this practice, so experience with it
will allow students to more authentically participate in the scientific process as they build their content
knowledge. Furthermore, this practice was highlighted on our student surveys early in the year when
they wanted to learn about how scientists know what they know.

Story of What Happened

In the first lesson students will write explanations for what the measured wavelength of light
and sound waves tells us about the movement of objects such as a tuning fork, train, and star. Then they
will apply this method to analyze wavelengths of light emitted by distant galaxies, and decide what this
tells us about their movement. In the second lesson students will be presented with the question, If
you back up the expansion of the universe what do you start with?. We will answer this question
together by analyzing evidence collected by the scientists Penzias and Wilson, who studied mysterious
thermal radiation found in all directions of the sky. After eliminating all other possible explanations for
this finding, we will determine that the radiation is a left over fossil from the Big Bang. The third
lesson will continue our search for remnants of the Big Bang. Students will model the process of fusion,
which formed hydrogen (H) and helium (He) minutes after the Big Bang. Then they will compare the
amounts of H and He in the universe today to the amounts that could have been produced in stars, and
find that there is much more H and He in the universe than could have been produced in stars alone.
Finally, in the fourth lesson students will be guided in bringing all of the evidence together to write a

comprehensive explanation of the formation of the universe. They will use an explanation scaffolding
tool (see below) to help them organize their evidence, inferences, and explanation.

Evidence of Student Learning

On the Unit Pretest I asked the question, If you could go back in time to when the universe was
forming, describe what you would see happening.. In my first hour class, 13 out of 20 students
responded. Four of them wrote about the formation of the Earth instead, and two wrote about stars
forming. Three students had unconnected ideas about matter, and three students wrote about energy
being present from the beginning. Lastly, four students wrote about explosions and one wrote the big
bang without further explanation. None of them traced matter or energy in a very meaningful way, and
the responses tended to be simple with just one idea. For example, one student wrote You would see
stars being formed. Another student wrote only, a big explosion. I think that the simple answers and
the seven blank answers showed that students were struggling with the complexity of this open-ended
question. The results also show that some students already have heard about the Big Bang, and they
tend to interpret it as an explosion, but they dont know how to account for what is happening to energy
and matter in the early minutes of the universe.
I asked a similar question on the Unit Test for this unit. The question said:
Write one or two paragraphs explaining ONE of the following:
The scientific explanation for the formation of the universe
The scientific explanation for the formation of our solar system
Be sure to include any information, examples, and evidence that help explain your choice.
This question gives students the opportunity to explain with evidence how the universe formed.
One student who did a good job of supporting her explanation with evidence wrote, How did
our universe form? Scientists believe that the formation of the universe started with the Big Bang. When
the universe began expanding out in all directions. The evidence that supports this is that all galaxies are
moving away from us, which means the universe is expanding. Another is that Cosmic Background
Radiation fills all of space and finally, there is much more Helium and Hydrogen then could have been
made in stars. This response shows a correct explanation of the formation of the universe, along with
three pieces of evidence that support it (however, she only explained the meaning of the first piece of
evidence). The third and fourth sentences show how she can connect a piece of evidence (the
movement of the galaxies) to her explanation (the universe is expanding).
Another student who supported his explanation with evidence wrote, The Universe was
created about 13.7 billion years ago. Starting the Universe was gathered under extreme temperature
and pressure. When suddenly it exploded, and thermal energy went in all directions. After the Big Bang,
the matter made stars and galaxies. The evidence of galaxies are redshifted; proves the universe is
expanding. Scientist gathered evidence that there is CMB every where all over the earth. This also proves
the evidence of the Big Bang. [sic]. This student has two pieces of evidence to support her explanation,
and she does a good job of connecting the evidence to the explanation, instead of just stating it as an
unrelated fact. I also think that it is important to see that this students response attempts to trace
matter and energy throughout the earliest minutes of the universe. She says that thermal radiation goes
out in all directions, and that it can still be found all over earth. She also said that the matter from the
Big Bang eventually made the stars and galaxies.

Comparing students responses to the unit pre-test and their responses on the unit test shows
that the formation of the universe lesson sequence helped them better understand what was happening
when the universe was first forming. The students often accounted for the matter and energy as they
explained the transformation of the universe, and told it in a kind of timeline starting with the Big Bang.
The lesson sequence also improved their ability to write a scientific explanation from evidence. While
most students still need practice connecting their evidence to their explanation, many made sure to
include evidence in their responses.