Category: Science Methods
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CER – How Effective Are Masks at Preventing Disease
Students examine data that show the effectiveness of mask wearing and the prevention of disease. The activity is a CER format (claim, evidence, reasoning.)
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Error Bars, Carl Sagan, and the Demon Haunted World
Read an excerpt from Carl Sagan to discuss uncertainty in science. Students learn how to use error bars to determine validity.
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Early Discoveries in Science – Remote Version
Remote version of early discoveries in science. Slides present scenarios about how the scientific method is used to solve real-world problems.
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Scientific Method Study on Beriberi and Chickens
Revised version of the Scientific Method in Action worksheet that focuses on the chickens who became sick due to a vitamin deficiency.
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CER and Data Analysis
CER introduction to scientific argumentation (claim, evidence, reasoning), Analyze a graph showing ACE2 receptors by age group.
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Highlight the Manipulated and Responding Variables
This worksheet describes the difference between an independent (manipulated) and dependent (responding) variable and then asks students to practice by identifying variables in short sentences.
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Podcast – Good Vibrations and Treehoppers
Introduce your students to the world of science podcasts! Listen to a short audio clip on treehoppers and how they use sound to attract mates.
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CER – Data Analysis with Sharks
Shark data by month where students make a LINE graph to show how the population changes over time. Students complete a CER to discuss results.
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Investigation: Heat Loss and Insulation in a Jar
This simple experiment can be used as a way to introduce the scientific method. Students design an experiment to test which materials are the best insulators by measuring heat loss. The materials are simple, and the experiment doesn’t take very long. They will need two beakers per group, a thermometer, and hot water. Also, a…
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Can Plants Learn?
An experiment to determine if plants could learn by association Identify key features, such as variables, controls. Based on a real experiment in Nature.com.
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Falling Cats – CER
Students practice Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning (CER) while examining the relationship between falling height and cat injuries. The graphs show that cats who fall 2-7 stories often suffer more injuries than cats who fall from greater distances. Not much information is given about how the data was collected, though the original source is included, I…
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Early Discoveries – CER
Students who are just learning how to do CER’s (claim, evidence, reasoning) often struggle when they are required to develop their own claims and evidence statements. In this activity, students read stories about historical science, such as Redi’s experiment on meat and maggots and Louis Pasteur’s experiments with the s-shaped flask. The stories are short,…
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The Martian and the Car
This worksheet is one of the older ones in my collection, and was recently updated to include a Claim-Evidence-Reasoning section (instead of short response/essay). This a a great way to introduce the topic of life and how we define whether something is living or not. In this scenario, a Martian is observing earth and decides…
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DataClassroom
High school biology classrooms often lack the time and resources to do long term studies and data collection that researchers engage in. Luckily for us, many projects make their data available for use by schools. Organizations like HHMI and Data Nuggets have created student resources that focus on analyzing real scientific data. One of these…
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Exploration: An Inquiry Activity on the Dubia Roach
A short activity for day one in the science class. Give students a live animal to observe, like a dubia roach. They write observations, questions, and make inferences to share with the class.