Visual Literacy Tasks— Found at the end of each chapter, students are asked to analyze key images and answer accompanying application questions, purposefully supporting learners’ visual literacy.
ConceptChecks—Included at the end of each sections, these thought-provoking questions go beyond reading comprehension, often asking students to draw conclusions informed by but not explicitly mentioned in the text, calling for applied thinking and synthesis of concepts.
CalculationChecks—Similar to ConceptChecks and focusing on mathematics, these give students the opportunity to test themselves by solving different mathematical problems associated with chapter concepts. They appear within sections where relevant mathematical reasoning is presented.
Cautions—Confronting misconceptions
Throughout Investigating Astronomy, paragraphs marked by the Caution icon alert the reader to conceptual pitfalls such as these.
Analogies—Bringing astronomy down to Earth
Analogy paragraphs relate new ideas to more familiar experiences on Earth.
Key Ideas—Found at the start of each chapter, students can get the most benefit from these brief chapter summaries by using them in conjunction with the notes they take while reading.