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To search for teaching materials that address particular concepts in our conceptual framework, visit the teaching guide for your grade level:
K-2, 3-5 , 6-8, 9-12, or College
Found 28 resources:
Bundle up your hypotheses
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- College
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Science Story
Discipline:
- Space science
Time: 20 minutes
Overview
Teach about how science tests hypotheses and assumptions in different combinations, using an example from the history of astronomy. Get tips on using Science Stories in class.
Amazon fly
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
- College
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- lab activity
Discipline:
- Life Science
Time: 10-15 minutes
Overview
This short activity quickly engages the participants in the process of developing testable hypotheses. Students come up with multiple hypotheses to explain a set of observations and figure out how to test these hypotheses.
Discovering mass extinctions in the fossil record
Grade Level(s):
- College
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- lab activity
Discipline:
- Earth science
- Life Science
Time: 2 hours
Overview
This activity (suitable for distance learning) is designed to introduce students to the nature and process of science through the discovery of mass extinctions in the fossil record. Students will explore the fossil record of brachiopods and bivalves using the Paleobiological Database, identify patterns in their data, and generate and evaluate hypotheses. They will also document this process using the Understanding Science flowchart. Clicking the link below will download the Word file for this lesson.
Dino-Data
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- classroom activity
Discipline:
- Earth science
- Life Science
Time: 3-4 class periods
Overview
Students examine data about dinosaurs and hypothesize about what the data can tell them. Students modify their hypotheses as more information is revealed and review what they have learned about how science works.
Designing your very own science experiment
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
Source:
- Stefanski, Mark
Resource type:
- lab activity
Discipline:
- Life Science
Time: 2-4 class periods
Overview
Students design and carry out an experiment using pill bugs (isopods). Other organisms could be used in place of the pill bugs. Students reflect on the process used by charting their pathway on the Science Flowchart.
Exploring bouncing balls
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- lab activity
Discipline:
- Physical Sciences
Time: one class period
Overview
Students explore the physical properties of a variety of balls and how they bounce. Students then reflect on the process they used by charting their pathway on the Understanding Science Flowchart.
Heating and cooling of the Earth’s surface
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- lab activity
Discipline:
- Physical Sciences
Time: Two class periods
Overview
Students conduct experiments on the rate that sand and water heat up and cool down. Based on their observations, they make hypotheses about why materials heat up and cool down at different rates and then test their ideas.
Investigating a Deep Sea Mystery
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
Source:
- ETOL
Resource type:
- lab activity
Discipline:
- Life Science
Time: 4-5 class periods
Overview
In this lab activity, students examine authentic morphological and phylogenetic data of three fish families and then pose and test alternative hypotheses about the fishes' classification.
Investigating a Crime Scene
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
Discipline:
- General
Time: 30 minutes
Overview
Two suspicious dogs and a shredded book provide a perfect combination for focusing on the process of science and to do so with a bit of a chuckle. This powerpoint has been developed so that you can ask for student responses throughout.
Introducing the Understanding Science Flowchart to middle school students
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- classroom activity
Discipline:
- Earth science
Time: 1-2 class periods
Overview
Students read a story about Walter Alvarez and then plot his scientific journey on the Understanding Science Flowchart. Students find that science is seldom a linear story.
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.
Number patterns
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
- College
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- classroom activity
Discipline:
- General
Time: 15-20 minutes
Overview
Students try to discover the relationship among six numbers. The objective of this activity is to engage students in a problem-solving situation in which they practice aspects of the process of science.
Newton’s 2nd law: Inquiry approach
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
Source:
- Tung, Cecilia
Resource type:
- classroom activity
Discipline:
- Physical Sciences
Time: One to two class periods
Overview
Students act as colleagues of Isaac Newton. Students focus on how to design a procedure to test Newton's hypothesis and then communicate that idea to others. The emphasis is on the process rather than the actual results.
Mystery boxes for grades 3-5
Grade Level(s):
- 3-5
Source:
- Janulaw, Sharon
Resource type:
- classroom activity
Discipline:
- General
Time: One class period
Overview
Working in groups, students pose explanations (hypotheses) for what they are observing and are asked to test their hypotheses. These procedures have been modified from Mystery Boxes: Uncertainty and Collaboration by Jean Beard.
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.
What’s in a Word?
Grade Level(s):
- 3-5
- 6-8
- 9-12
- College
Source:
- Schwartz, Renee
Resource type:
- article
Discipline:
- General
Overview
Word choice in the classroom can (mis)represent science. Use word lists to combat misconceptions about science that stem from vocabulary mix-ups. Find out how in this article distributed with permission from Science Scope.
Weathering and erosion
Grade Level(s):
- 3-5
- 6-8
Source:
- Whitfield, Lisé
Resource type:
- lab activity
Discipline:
- Earth science
Time: 4-6 Class periods
Overview
Students will conduct a series of experiments to explore the processes and effects of weathering and erosion.
The Hobbit: When scientists disagree about the evidence
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- College
Source:
- Visionlearning
Resource type:
- classroom activity
Discipline:
- Life Science
Time: One class period
Overview
This classroom activity, adapted from an exercise on PBS's NOVA website, provides an excellent example of an active debate within the scientific community regarding a relatively recent human fossil find, Homo floresiensis.
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 great fossil find
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
- College
Source:
- ENSI
Resource type:
- classroom activity
Discipline:
- Life Science
Time: one class period
Overview
Students are taken on an imaginary fossil hunt and form hypotheses about the identity of the creature they discover. Students revise their hypotheses as new evidence is found.
Ozone depletion: Uncovering the hidden hazard of hairspray
Grade Level(s):
- College
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Science Story
Discipline:
- Earth science
- Physical Sciences
Time: 2 hours
Overview
Follow a group of scientists from around the world as they work together to understand - and then help fix - a problem that threatens the future of the planet: a hole in the ozone layer. Get tips for using science stories in class.
Tennis shoe detectives
Grade Level(s):
- 3-5
Source:
- Heindel, Sharon
Resource type:
- classroom activity
Discipline:
- General
Time: Two 40-minute periods
Overview
Students make observations, examine data, and form hypotheses about a set of footprints and what they can tell us.
Teaching the Process of Molecular Phylogeny and Systematics: A Multi-Part Inquiry-Based Exercise
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- College
Source:
- Lents, Nathan
Resource type:
- lab activity
Discipline:
- Life Science
Time: 1 to 4 class periods or one 3 hour lab session
Overview
Students explore molecular data from Homo sapiens and four related primates and develop multiple hypotheses regarding the ancestry of these five species by analyzing DNA sequences, protein sequences, and chromosomal maps.
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.
Scientific Process: The mysteries of life with Tim and Moby
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
Source:
- BrainPOP
Resource type:
- Science Story
- video
Discipline:
- Earth science
- Life Science
Time: 10 minutes
Overview
How does science work? This animated video introduces key ideas using the story of the how science uncovered the link between the dinosaur extinction and a massive asteroid impact. (Note that this video inaccurately characterizes the difference between hypotheses and theories. See Understanding Science 101 for a correction.)
Asteroids and dinosaurs: Unexpected twists and an unfinished story
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- College
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Science Story
Discipline:
- Earth science
- Life Science
Time: 2 class periods
Overview
This story uses the Science Flowchart to map Walter Alvarez's scientific journey as he investigates an intriguing hypothesis about the extinction of the non-Avian dinosaurs. Get tips for using science stories in class.
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.
How science works
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
- College
Source:
- California Academy of Sciences
Resource type:
- Science Story
- video
Discipline:
- Life Science
Time: 10 minutes
Overview
This Science in Action video uses the Understanding Science Flowchart to follow arachnologist Charles Griswold and colleagues as they describe the process involved in an exciting new spider discovery.
