Anchor Visuals

First Weeks of School

Your three anchor visuals are the most visible expression of the PhD Science experience in your classroom. They make student thinking public, give the module a coherent story, and keep the anchor phenomenon at the center of learning all module long.

Driving Question Board in Practice
After presenting the anchor phenomenon, facilitate student question generation and post questions on the board. Return to it at the start and end of each concept—which questions can you now answer? Which new ones emerged? K–2: Track answered vs. unanswered in separate columns. Grades 3–5: Help students organize questions into categories that map onto the module’s concepts.

Anchor Model in Practice
Students develop an initial model of the anchor phenomenon at the start of the module, then revise it after each concept as their understanding grows. The revision process is as important as the model itself—it makes the growth in student thinking visible. K: Build the class model together. Grades 1–2: Students draft individual models first, then the class model is built from student input. Grades 3–5: Large-format chart paper or a smart board works best.

Anchor Chart in Practice
Grow it with student input as students distill key concepts. Don’t write it yourself in advance—the value is in the co-construction. K–2: Move sentence strips next to the Anchor Model when making connections between chart entries and the model, then return them to the chart. Grades 3–5: Add to the large chart paper as students distill each concept.