Science protects the health of our communities, the safety of our families, the education of our children, the foundation of our economy and jobs, and the future we all want to live in and preserve for coming generations. When science is threatened, so is the society that scientists uphold and protect. This question exploration helps explains How does economic, political, and social concerns affect science?

Question Exploration Routine is an instructional methods that teachers can use to help a diverse student population understand a body of content information by carefully answering a critical question to arrive at a main idea answer. Students taught using the question exploration routine earned higher total test scores than did students taught using the lecture-discussion method.

Personally, I use the Question Exploration Routine to figure out what I want to say and how I want to say it. It keeps my "Sage on the Stage" time limited to what fits onto 2-3 pages (about 45 minutes of directed class discussion).

This product includes the completed question exploration guide, and the student guide blanked except for vocabulary, scaffolding questions, and graphics already filled in. It's in Microsoft Word .doc form so that Ts can customize the discussion to fit the needs of their Ss, and it also includes a ten question worksheet with multiple choice and true/modified false questions.

This Content Enhancement has been classroom tested to cover the following Florida Next Generation Sunshine State Standard Benchmarks:

• SC.N.8.4.1 Explain how science is one of the processes used to inform decision making at the community, state, national, and international levels
• SC.N.8.4.2 Explain how political, social, and economic concerns can affect science, and vice versa.
• SC.912.N.4.1 Explain how scientific knowledge and reasoning provide an empirically-based perspective to inform society's decision making.
• SC.912.N.4.2 Weigh the merits of alternative strategies for solving a specific societal problem by comparing a number of different costs and benefits, such as human, economic, and environmental.

Related Resources

• Question Exploration: How Can Models Help Scientists Understand Systems?
• Question Exploration: How Do We Use the Scientific Method to Investigate?

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