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Teaching resources:
Resource database
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FOUND 26 RESOURCES:
 | Amazon fly
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.
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 | Discovering mass extinctions in the fossil record
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 above will download the Word file for this lesson.
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 | From city girl to naturalist
This Science Short illustrates how scientists are shaped by their personal experiences in the context of research about fossil insects.
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 | High altitude adaptations: The work of Emilia Huerta-Sánchez
This research profile tells the story of Emilia Huerta-Sánchez and how she uses mathematical modeling to answer evolutionary questions. Students examine data visualizations and learn about the process of science while focusing on adaptations, allele frequencies, and natural selection.
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 | How science works
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.
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 | How scientific is it?
Students are given six knowledge statements and asked to rank them according to how scientific they feel the statements are. A group discussion ensues. This activity is adapted from Scharmann et al. 2005. Journal of Science Teacher Education.
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 | Introducing the Understanding Science flowchart
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.
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 | Mystery boxes: Uncertainty and collaboration
Students manipulate sealed "mystery" boxes to determine the inner structure of the boxes. The nature and sources of uncertainty inherent in the process of problem-solving are experienced, but reduced by collaboration.
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 | Mystery tubes
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.
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 | Number patterns
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.
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 | Ornamentation in birds
In this investigation students explore the connection between competition for mates and the evolution of elaborate traits in birds. Using the online database Birds of North America , students develop and test a set of hypotheses to explain the variation in sexual dimorphism among bird species.
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 | The great fossil find
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.
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 | The Hobbit: When scientists disagree about the evidence
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.
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 | The story behind the science
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.
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 | Umbrellaology
Based on a classic philosophical exercise (Somerville, 1941), students are asked to read a letter that describes detailed data collected on umbrellas. Their task is to determine whether or not umbrellaology represents science.
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 | What do you think it means to be human?
This first lesson of the "What does it mean to be human?" sequence sets a scientific frame of mind for students as they begin to explore the question, “What do you think it means to be human?” This lesson sets an important tone by highlighting that other lines of human inquiry outside of science are important for answering this question on a personal level, but the class will focus on a scientific definition of “humanity.” Students learn to distinguish questions that could be addressed by the methods of science and those that could not, and they practice applying these criteria.
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 | What is it about Los Angeles?
This Science Short illustrates the idea that answering one scientific question leads to other scientific questions in the context of research about fossil insects.
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 | What's in a Word?
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.
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