Inquiry Science

This lesson plan uses a poem and class discussion to help students witness how incomplete data and bias can impact scientific inferences. Included you will find a lesson overview, learning targets, materials list, step by step procedure and student handouts. Nature of Science concepts addressed include: 1. The difference between observations and inferences. 2. Interpretations may be limited by the completeness of the data. 3. Background experiences may affect the interpretations of observati

This inquiry gives students the opportunity to draw a picture of what they think a real life scientist looks like based on their background knowledge. Students then collect gender, ethnicity and other demographic information regarding all of the scientists that the students have drawn in order to get an idea of trends in the class data. Data is graphed into bar graphs and pie charts, and then compared to actual scientist demographic data that has been compiled by the National Science Foundatio

This lesson plan is designed to help students understand a handful of important nature of science concepts including the relationship between inferences, observations and scientific explanations. In addition, the lesson plan highlights the subjectivity of scientific knowledge. The activity was designed by science education researchers and has been demonstrated to enhance student understanding of the nature of science in numerous studies. The lesson plan includes an overview, detailed instruct

This lesson plan is a scientific inquiry into the predicted doomsday scenario that is associated with the end of the Mayan Calendar. It includes prompts for a great class discussion that will address student misconceptions and fears surrounding current events. Included you will find links to mulitmedia on the topic including a short radio blurb from scientific experts, a movie trailer, and a website devoted to debunking the myths. The lesson includes step by step instructions to guide you thr

This all inclusive lesson plan gives students important background knowledge regarding the nature of science. The nature of science refers to the characteristics of scientific knowledge that necessarily result from the scientific investigations that scientists conduct to develop knowledge. The reading addresses the following key aspects of the nature of science: how scientific knowledge is generated, what science is, who scientists are, and why science is important. In addition, the reading i

This inquiry-based investigation includes a fun, hands-on way to build student background knowledge for different components of a science investigation. Students make giant bubbles (and simultaneously clean their desks) as they make hypotheses, gather data, create bar graphs and then use their data to make scientific claims based on evidence. The investigation also helps them to clearly understand the difference between independent, dependent and controlled variables. I have included step-by-ste

This literature review is intended for middle and high school science teachers who strive to teach inquiry based lesson plans that help students learn through discovery. The information presented within includes a thorough background discussion on the Nature of Science (NOS) along with its relevancy to developing scientific literacy. In addition you will find a comprehensive list of references and links to activities that will help you incorporate the teaching of NOS into your classroom.