Assessing Prior Knowledge

If I were teaching this lesson to my 4^th graders, I would assess prior knowledge by asking the students to collaboratively brainstorm on the board what they think revolution and rotation are. I am expecting to learn that most of my college students will know what those terms are, but I expect my 4^th graders to know at least one of the terms, but maybe get them confused with each other. This information would be useful in the next step of the lesson because I could tailor my next instruction based on their responses. If they already know about the definitions, I can briefly go over them, and then spend more time focusing on the concepts behind the terms. If they don’t know the definitions, then my lesson will be right on target.