I. Curricular Framework

Concept:

Scientific Method

Essential Question:

Bridge:

Content:

Outcomes:

II. Standards Aligned

III. Instruction and Assessment

1. Connect: Connecting to the Concept Experientially

Objective: To actively involve students in an enjoyable "non-scientific" experience that requires observation of patterns and hypothesis formation.

Activity: The teacher performs a Magic Show of science-based and non-science based tricks. The tricks have been gathered from a variety of Science Magic books and also from an exciting trip to the local magic store. Simple, cheap tricks are easily mastered by the teacher, for example, "chinese laundry ticket," "ball and cups," "multiplying rabbits," etc. The experience can be enhanced with background music, top hat and cape, assistants from the "audience," and so forth. As students observe each trick, the students must record their observations about how the trick was done. A sample student observation sheet contains the following: THE MAGIC SHOW Trick: Observations: Repeated Actions?

Assessment: Quality of class participation and attention to experience.

2. Attend: Attending to the Connection

Objective: To have the students analyze what they have just observed, recognize patterns and then test "educated guesses".

Activity: In small groups, students analyze a given trick, pool ideas and write a procedure to do one of the tricks. Groups are then given the materials needed and attempt to perform the trick for their classmates.

Assessment: Ability of the group to correctly perform its given trick.

Assessment, Phase One, Level of Engagement, Fascination:

3. Image: Creating a Mental Picture

Objective: To connect students to the understanding that science involves observing patterns, too.

Activity: Using a large screen TV monitor and computer terminal, the whole class joins in an activity of identifying patterns and forming hypotheses about those patterns. There are a number of software companies that have good scientific method programs. One that is conducive to large group participation is "Snigs, Flirks, and Blorgs" by Focus Media. This program presents three problems in levels of increasing difficulty.

Assessment: Quality of class participation and success of the class in solving the three problem sets.

Assessment, Phase Two, Seeing the Big Picture:

4. Inform: Receiving Facts & Knowledge

Objective: To teach the traditional steps of the scientific method.

Activity: Using overhead, chalkboard, and examples, the teacher provides the framework of a scientific process for problem solving, emphasizing that science is a creative process in addition to a critical one. Particular attention is paid to controlled experiments and their impact on hypothesis formation and identification of the variable. More than memorizing a set of steps, time is taken to explore the difficulty in identifying a problem; examples such as Flemming and the discovery of penicillin are examined.

Assessment: Short objective quiz.

Assessment, Phase Three, Success with Acquiring Knowledge:

5. Practice: Developing Skills

Objective: To have students practice recognition of a problem, hypothesis, observation based on experimentation, etc.

Activity: 1. Before going into the lab, students work first in whole class, then in cooperative groups, and lastly, alone on practice sheets which consist of varied experimental situations which are related to biology. The paragraphs contain the elements learned in the lecture such as problem, hypothesis, data, observation, conclusion. 2. Students get hands-on experience in performing a pre-designed "wet lab" which provides them with all the information they need to successfully complete the lab. Most high school biology books contain at least one such lab on the scientific method.

Assessment: Students' ability to correctly complete the practice sheets and understand the experimental design in the lab activity.

Assessment, Phase Four, Success with Acquiring Skills:

6. Extend: Extending Learning to the Outside World

Objective: To have students take what they have learned about the scientific process and write their own experimental design for an identified problem.

Activity: Students are given the following problem involving acorns: To the student: Select ten different acorns from the trays provided in class. They should be different in that they have caps or don't have caps, different shapes and different sizes. Record the similarities and differences on a chart you construct for the data section in your report. Fill a glass bowl or beaker nearly full of water and place one acorn in the container of water. Allow the acorn to sit for approximately 30 seconds. Determine if the acorn sinks or floats. Remove the acorn from the container and place it in a bag labeled either "sinker" or a bag labeled "floater". Repeat this procedure with the other nine acorns. Using your observations, form a hypothesis as to why you think the acorns float or sink. State your hypothesis as "If... , then..." Use the steps of the scientific process as described in class and the text. Use proper controls and variables for your experiment. When you are finished with the experiment, write a report about your findings. Include data charts and graphs to show your data. Author's note: This lab works well because acorns are so readily available at the beginning of the school year. There is a little worm which infiltrates acorns and eats the meat inside. Then the worm leaves by boring a hole. When acorns first fall from trees they are still filled with their meat; when these are dropped in water, they will sink. Those acorns which have been on the ground for a week or so which have been infiltrated by worms will float, if they are hollow. This becomes a fascinating observation/problem for those who do not know about the little worms. Why do some acorns float and others sink? It is important for the students to share their experimental hypotheses/results with each other.

Assessment: Quality of student reports, their ability to describe the problem, state a hypothesis, and design and perform an experiment.

7. Refine: Refining the Extension

Objective: To have the students and the teacher evaluate the lab activity for the criteria presented in the lecture.

Activity: In a whole-class format, the students analyze their lab activity for the steps in the scientific method. Their task is to identify how the scientific method format helps insure the validity and accuracy of their experiment.

Assessment: Quality of class discussion.

8. Perform: Creative Manifestation of Material Learned

Objective: To share individual experimental designs.

Activity: Each student will swap her/his acorn experimental designs with a classmate who will verify the findings by following each other's experimental procedures.

Assessment: Quality of lab procedures designed especially by their adherence to the steps of the scientific process and the ability of other student's to get the same results.

Assessment, Phase Five,Performance, Creative Use of Material Learned: