How We Do Science

Introduction:

Whether or not we realize it, people use a great number of scientific processes in their daily life.  Everyone uses science on a daily basis and most often it is without being conscious they are doing so.  Throughout the school year we want students to be aware of which scientific processes are involved in the activities they carry out, so this activity has been constructed to demonstrate and emphasize what some of these are.

National Standard Addressed:

Understandings about scientific inquiry, is a standard that fits under the concept of science as inquiry.  This works because students are asking questions and developing their own classification system to help and solve the question that they have asked.

The standard Evidence, models and explanation under the heading of unifying concepts and processes.  It addresses this standard by allowing students to put their own classification system together.  By doing this they will be able to see direct evidence of how the scientific process works.  It may also help them explain it later if asked.

Assessing, Learning and Teaching is a teaching standard that allows the teacher to assess the students in a non-traditional way.  This is a way students can show a teacher what they know by answering the question that they came up with.

.Objectives and Benchmarks:

In this activity, students will carry out simple experiments to demonstrate the basis of science by applying several scientific processes with nothing more than a sample of small colored objects.

Students will be able to list the steps of the scientific process.  Students will be able to show proof of using the scientific process.

Materials:

Container with a collection of several hundred small multicolored objects.

Advanced Preparation:

Collect objects for the activity.

Procedure:

It may be best to copy the instructions found at the bottom of this page and hand a copy to each group of students.

 Things to Consider:

The terms highlighted above are major components of the scientific process.  Be sure the students feel comfortable with all of them and understand them.  They can look them up and write down the dictionary definitions if they are still unclear.

 Possible Integration:

This lesson can also be integrated with math because you are working with different variables that have to be recorded, measured, and observed.

Critical Concepts:

Ratios            Hypothesis            Experiment            Variables         Infer            Interpret

Instructions

Basic Processes:                                                                                                   

1. Use another sheet of paper or the back of this sheet to RECORD your findings.

2. Examine the samples and list 3 different things you OBSERVE.

3. Think of at least 3 different ways you could MEASURE the sample.

4. What are 3 ways you could CLASSIFY your sample?

5. How could you USE NUMBERS to describe 3 things about your sample?

6. Think of 3 different written ways you could COMMUNICATE one of the numeric aspects of your sample.

7. Compare your counts with others at your table and determine how your samples RELATE to each other.

8. Develop a QUESTION about the objects.

 Integrated Processes: