The NRC National Science Education Standards (NSES) clearly indicate that concepts should be taught from a perspective of student-centered inquiry. For some concepts, this inquiry-based strategy is much easier said than actually done. For me personally, one of the most difficult concepts to teach in Earth and space science that is explicitly stated in the NSES, without resorting to rote student memorization, is the life cycles of stars. Developed through considerable trial-and-error, I would like to share a student-centered, learning-cycle approach to teaching star life cycles.
