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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.Author/Source:
UCMP Grade:
6-8 Discipline:
Life Science, Nature and Process of Science Time:
one class period Concepts:
Correspondence to the Next Generation Science Standards is indicated in parentheses after each relevant concept. See our conceptual framework for details. - Science deals with the natural world and natural explanations.
- Scientists strive to test their ideas with evidence from the natural world; a hallmark of science is exposing ideas to testing. (P3, P4, P6, P7, NOS2)
- Scientific knowledge is open to question and revision as new ideas surface and new evidence is discovered. (P6, NOS3)
- Scientific ideas cannot be absolutely proven.
- The real process of science is complex, iterative, and can take many different paths.
- The process of science involves observation, exploration, testing, communication, and application.
- Scientists test their ideas by predicting what they would expect to observe if their idea were true and then seeing if that prediction is correct. (P4, P6)
- Scientists can test ideas about events and processes long past, very distant, and not directly observable.
- Different scientists may interpret the same data in different ways. (P7)
- Hypotheses are potential explanations for what we observe in the natural world. (P6)
- Hypotheses are usually inspired and informed by previous research and/or observations. They are not guesses. (P6)
- Scientists usually work collaboratively.
Teacher background:
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