The Science Lens

Now, more than ever, it's important for students to think critically about the information that they encounter every day. In this packet, I use examples of two cognitive biases and five logical fallacies that people commonly encounter to help students understand how their thinking can go wrong, and how we can use science to correct it. It begins with introductory questions that use Harvard’s Project Zero thinking routine ‘Red light, yellow light’ to elicit students’ prior experience with critica

Hi, I'm Luke, and welcome to my unit on the James Webb Space Telescope!This is an inquiry-based unit designed to encourage students to figure out key scientific concepts by learning about the science behind this technological marvel. Throughout the unit, students will explore specific topics including: WavesThe electromagnetic spectrumThe Doppler effectRedshiftBig Bang These topics are used to frame a larger discussion on the effects that technology has had on the world.  It doesn’t require any

Hi, I'm Luke, and welcome to my unit on the auroras.This is an inquiry-based unit designed to encourage students to figure out key scientific concepts on their own, rather than receiving them through direct instruction. It uses the phenomenon of the auroras to pique curiosity and serve as the anchor for exploring a core idea in science: using models to understand complex systems. Throughout the unit, students explore broad concepts like matter and energy, as well as more specific topics includin

This worksheet is designed to support my YouTube video on confirmation bias, where I explain what confirmation bias is and how we can use scientific thinking to overcome it. The first set of questions follows Harvard's "Project Zero" thinking routine 'Take Note', to help kids focus on the key ideas of the video while considering things they'd like to know more about. After watching the video, the questions then build in complexity from simple recall to more challenging open-ended questions tha

Access to information is easier today than it has ever been. The challenge for students is how to differentiate between reliable information and misinformation. This series of five videos and accompanying worksheets walk students through some of the ways science can help us recognise misinformation and help to slow its spread. The bundle begins with introductory questions that elicit student’s prior knowledge and prompt them to consider the role of media in their lives. The videos incorporate: C

This worksheet is designed to support my YouTube video on the Burden of Proof, where I discuss the problems with jumping to conclusions and also shifting the burden of proof. The first set of questions follows Harvard's "Project Zero" thinking routine 'Take Note', to help kids focus on the key ideas of the video while considering things they'd like to know more about. After watching the video, the questions then build in complexity from simple recall to more challenging open-ended questions th

This worksheet is designed to accompany my YouTube video on cherry-picking data, where I explain how people can focus on one small piece of data to make an argument. Together with this worksheet, students will learn how to recognize cherry picking and see the fuller picture. The first set of questions follows Harvard's "Project Zero" thinking routine 'Take Note', to help kids focus on the key ideas of the video while considering things they'd like to know more about. The questions then move fr

Everybody loves a good story, but stories can become a problem when people pay more attention to them than data. In the Youtube video accompanying this worksheet I explain, using examples from television and real life, how students can use critical thinking to consider the reliability of anecdotal evidence. The worksheet includes: Space for students to take notes with prompts based on Harvard's Project Zero thinking routine 'Take Note'.Simple recall questions to reinforce the concept of anecdot

We should trust experts, but not based solely on the fact that they're authority figures. We need to first check their credentials, check to see if their opinions are shared by other experts, and whether they could be biased. This worksheet and accompanying Youtube video explain the appeal to authority fallacy to students, then give them a chance to to explore real life examples. The worksheet includes: Space for students to take notes with prompts based on Harvard's Project Zero thinking routi

This worksheet is designed to support my YouTube video on the slippery slope fallacy, where I explain how people can use leaps of logic to reach scary but unlikely conclusions. Together with this worksheet, students will learn how to identify and avoid the slippery slope fallacy. The first set of questions follows Harvard's "Project Zero" thinking routine 'Take Note', to help kids focus on the key ideas of the video while considering things they'd like to know more about. After watching the vi

Scientists often face situations where the right choice isn't obvious. Thankfully, learning some basic ethical principles can help us frame discussions about these situations and hopefully determine the best course of action. This worksheet is designed to accompany my YouTube video linked here. It will introduce students to the concepts of teleological and deontological ethics using examples from the world of science as well as everyday life. The worksheet includes: Space to take notes from th

This worksheet is designed to accompany my YouTube video on Checking for Peer Review. The worksheet includes: Space for students to take notes with prompts based on Harvard's Project Zero thinking routine 'Take Note'.Simple recall questions to reinforce the steps in the process of peer review.Directions for students to check whether information on specific websites is based on peer-reviewed sources.More challenging discussion questions on when it could be preferable to use other reliable source

If there's one thing that I've learned as a science teacher it's that kids love labs, and don't love lab reports. They can be a lot of work and remembering all of the details required can feel overwhelming. So, over the years I've been gradually refining this lab report template to try to ease the cognitive burden of remembering what to include in a lab report. Having a worksheet like this helps to focus the student's attention on understanding the concepts involved and building their thinking

This worksheet and accompanying Youtube video explain the Dunning-Kruger effect to students, then give them a chance to to explore a variety of examples. The worksheet includes: Space for students to take notes with prompts based on Harvard's Project Zero thinking routine 'Take Note'.Simple recall questions to reinforce the concept.Hypothetical and real life examples of the Dunning-Kruger effect that challenge students to consider the importance of understanding this bias.An answer key for ques

A misconception that I commonly come across as a teacher is that science is only done by people in shiny labs and white coats. But science can be done by anyone, anywhere. All you need is the right approach to thinking. This worksheet is designed to accompany my YouTube video linked here. It will help students become familiar with the terms hypothesis, independent variable, dependent variable and controlled variables as well as get them to think about how the scientific method can be applied to

Being able to reason inductively is an important and powerful skill, but when not done correctly this process can go off the rails. In this video and accompanying worksheet, I discuss some of the ways that scientists approach the process of inductive reasoning to make better predictions and draw better conclusions. The worksheet includes: Space for students to take notes with prompts based on Harvard's Project Zero thinking routine 'Take Note'.Simple recall question to reinforce the concepts.Fou

This worksheet is designed to accompany my YouTube video on Science in Advertising.The first four questions use the Project Zero visual thinking routine 'Take Note' to help students identify the most important concepts involved and to think about any questions from the video that they would like to discuss. The students are then given seven other examples of science in advertising and asked to identify the technique being employed. Finally, they are given a chance to come up with their own adve

This worksheet is designed to accompany my YouTube video "Going Beyond the Headlines," where I discuss four questions to ask to better understand the context of articles about scientific investigations: 1. What was the sample size? 2. How repeatable were the results? 3. How broadly can the results be applied? 4. What does the study not tell us? The first four questions use the Project Zero visual thinking routine 'Take Note' to help students identify the most important concepts involved, and t

Our memories are funny. On one hand they have the ability to record petabytes of data, and on the other hand we forget most of what happens to us during the day. In this video and accompanying worksheet, I discuss five ways in which our memories let us down, and some suggestions from the world of science on how we can improve them.

Most people feel that it's important to only share factual news, and most people are pretty good at identifying reliable sources. So, if this is the case, why does so much misinformation exist online? In this video, I discuss five cognitive biases that are involved in our decisions to share misinformation. The worksheet includes: Space for students to take notes with prompts based on Harvard's Project Zero thinking routine 'Take Note'.Simple recall question to reinforce the concepts.Hypothetical