Found 11 resources for the concept:
Scientific ideas cannot be absolutely proven.
Age dating star clusters
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
Source:
- Whitfield, Lisé
Resource type:
- lab activity
Discipline:
- Space science
Time: ~ one hour
Overview
Students explore how classification and graphing are used by astronomers to determine the age of star clusters. They will measure the color and brightness of stars, as proxies for temperature and luminosity.
Endosymbiosis: Cells within cells
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- College
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Science Story
Discipline:
- Life Science
Time: one period
Overview
This Science Story on endosymbiosis explores the career of microbiologist Lynn Margulis and how an unlikely idea overcame strong resistance within the scientific community and finally came to be an accepted part of evolutionary theory. Get tips for using science stories in class.
Introducing the Understanding Science flowchart
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- College
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- classroom activity
Discipline:
- Earth science
Time: 90 minutes
Overview
Students participate in a quick activity and discuss whether they were doing science. They then read a story about Walter Alvarez, discuss the process of science, and trace his scientific journey using the Science Flowchart.
Luminous
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- College
Source:
- Sam Smartt
Resource type:
- classroom activity
- Science Story
- video
Discipline:
- Space science
Time: 2-8 hours
Overview
The film LUMINOUS (now freely available through many libraries and the Kanopy platform) tells the story of astronomer Larry Molnar as he investigates a distant, double-star system, about which he makes a daring and explosive prediction. Interviews with Dr. Molnar’s diverse set of colleagues, collaborators, and skeptics highlight science as a community and intensely human endeavor, debunking the myth of the lone scientist conducting dispassionate research. The Luminous Science Education Toolkit provides classroom activities to support students' interpretation of the film.
Mystery tubes
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
- College
Source:
- ENSI
Resource type:
- classroom activity
Discipline:
- General
Time: One class period
Overview
Students are asked to determine what the interior construction of the mystery tube looks like. Working in groups, students pose explanations for what they are observing and test their ideas.
Poking around
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
Source:
- Stefanski, Mark
Resource type:
- classroom activity
Discipline:
- General
Time: One to two class periods
Overview
Students are introduced to the process of scientific inquiry as they develop an approach to determine the shape and size of an unseen object.
Rutherford’s enlarged: A content embedded NOS activity
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
Source:
- Abd-El-Khalick, Fouad
Resource type:
- lab activity
Discipline:
- Physical Sciences
Time: One class period
Overview
Students reason about a model of Ernst Rutherford's famous experiment supporting the idea of the atomic nucleus. They differentiate between observation and inference and see the role of creativity in the process of science.
The checks lab
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
Source:
- ENSI
Resource type:
- classroom activity
Discipline:
- General
Time: One class period
Overview
Students construct plausible scenarios to explain a series of canceled bank checks. They revise their original hypotheses with new evidence and learn how human values and biases influence observation and interpretation.
The story behind the science
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- College
Source:
- Iowa State University
Resource type:
- article
Discipline:
- Earth science
- Life Science
- Physical Sciences
- Space science
Time: Variable
Overview
Thirty stories spanning five disciplines help students explore key science concepts through the eyes of the scientists who were involved, while emphasizing the nature and process of science.
Time for mitosis
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
Source:
- Lederman, Norman and Judith
Resource type:
- article
Discipline:
- Life Science
Time: One to two class periods
Overview
Drs. Lederman compare two methods of teaching about mitosis, emphasizing how to enhance a lesson by incorporating the nature of science.
Xenosmilus
Grade Level(s):
- 3-5
- 6-8
- 9-12
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- classroom activity
Discipline:
- Life Science
Time: One class period
Overview
In this lesson, students play the roles of paleontologists on a dig. They "unearth" a few fossils at a time and attempt to reconstruct the animal the fossils represent.
