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What is the relationship between scientific practice, scientific explanations and scientific knowledge? |
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3. Student Learning Map
- Topic:01- Introduction to Science
- Subject(s):Science
- Days:15
- Grade(s):9
Key Learning:
Science disciplines may differ froom one another in what is studied, techniques used, and outcome sought, but they share a common purpose and philosophy. Scientists construct explanations based on well-reasoned, logical arguments built upon multiple lines of valid scientific evidence using what they already know as a foundation.
Unit Essential Question(s):
Concept: Lab Safety
Describe safety practices and their importance in the science laboratory (rules, safety symbols and emergency equipment). Emphasize the importance of following oral and written directions.
Cover the Polk County science safety rules and safety science contract. The safety contract along with the rules sheet should be sent home for the parents to review and sign. Any student who does not bring back a signed copy of the safety contract should not be allowed to participate in any laboratory activities.
Concept: Lab Equipment
Do each of the following as pertinent to your course:
Illustrate the parts of lab equipment, demonstrate their use and explain their relevancy.
Demonstrate the use of metrics to accurately and precisely make measurements using lab equipment.
Use significant figures to correctly measure items and to complete calculations.
Concept: Scientific Practice
Discuss how inferences are made from observations. Explain the difference between inferring and predicting. Give specific examples of inferences made from observations as pertinent to your course.
Discuss science as a human endeavor. Explain how scientists use critical and logical thinking, open-mindedness, objectivity and skepticism as they examine a scientific claim. Discuss why research is important to scientists.
Discuss the need for scientists to be creative as they pose new questions, design investigations and develop explanations.
Discuss how scientists around the world have replicated similar investigations and obtained similar results. Give examples pertinent to your course.
Concept: Scientific Knowledge
Discuss the difference between science, nonscience and pseudoscience. Discuss why some types of questions can not be answered by science. Some questions are personally useful and socially relevant but they fall outside the boundary of scientific investigation (for example- art, philosophy and religion). Emphasize that scientists strive for the best possible explanations about the natural world.
Discuss how scientific knowledge is both stable and subject to change. Emphasize that scientists accept the notion that scientific knowledge is always open to improvement and can never be declared absolutely certain.
Emphasize that scientific knowledge is subject to modifications as new information challenges prevailing theories and as a new theory leads to looking at old observations in a new way.
Discuss how the varied backgrounds, talents, goals and interests of scientists influence the development of scientific knowledge. Describe how competing interpretations of empirical evidence can lead to alternative explanations or support existing explanations.
Discuss how science influences society through its knowledge and world view. Explain how using alternative strategies for societal problems have benefits and consequences (human, economic and environmental).
HOTS: Constructing Support, Analyzing Perspectives, Inductive or Deductive Reasoning could be used to demonstrate the ET LEQ.
Concept: Theories, Laws and Models
Discuss how theories explain how or why something happens in the natural world. Recognize that new scientific knowledge is often used to re-evaluate and modify existing theories. Attack the misconception that theories become laws. Give examples of theories that are pertinent to your course.
Discuss the role of consensus in the historical development of theories. Theories are judged by how they fit with other theories, the range of observations they explain, how well they explain observations, and how effective they are in predicting new findings. New ideas in science are limited by the context in which they are conceived; are often rejected by the scientific establishment; sometimes spring from unexpected findings; and usually grow slowly, through contributions from many investigators.
Discuss how laws describe specific relationships in nature. Emphasize that laws do not attempt to explain the these relationships. Attack the misconception that laws become theories or that a theory has to come before a law. Give examples of laws that are pertinent to your course.
Understand the difference between a theory and a law. Theories are well supported explanations and laws are well supported descriptions.
Discuss the purpose and variety of models in science. Give examples of models pertinent to your class.
HOTS: Analyzing Perspectives, Comparing/Contrasting, Constructing Support, Inductive Reasoning, Deductive Reasoning or Error Analysis could be used to demonstrate ET LEQs.
Concept: Lesson Essential Question(s):What similarities and differences exist between science, nonscience and pseudoscience?
(A)How does new information impact existing scientific knowledge?
(A)How does science impact society?
(A)What can we learn from scientific argumentation?
(ET)Lesson Essential Question(s):How do models illustrate scientific explanations?
(A)How do theories reflect scientific explanations?
(A)How does new evidence impact an existing theory?
(ET)How do scientific law illustrate patterns in nature?
(A)What is the relationship between a theory and a law?
(ET)Lesson Essential Question(s):
Additional Information:
Suggested Resources-
Textbook program and ancillary materials, the Internet, Unitedstreaming, and classroom models.
