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We help students overcome common misconceptions about climate change, evolution, and the nature of science.
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Science is About the Evidence
The practice of science is conducted in a cyclic way, with scientists working back and forth between pursuing exploration and discovery, assessing benefits and outcomes, and developing analysis and feedback. At the core of this process is evidence, against which ideas in science are constantly tested. This lesson set is intended to allow students to experience evidence in action and appreciate its importance to the scientific process.
Age Level
Grades 9-12
Duration
4-6 50 minute classes
NGSS Standards
DCIs (Disciplinary Core Ideas)
Engineering Design:
- HS-ETS1.B1: When evaluating solutions, it is important to take into account a range of constraints, including cost, safety, reliability, and aesthetics, and to consider social, cultural, and environmental impacts.
Performance Expectations
Engineering Design:
- HS-ETS1-3: Evaluate a solution to a complex real-world problem based on prioritized criteria and trade-offs that account for a range of constraints, including cost, safety, reliability, and aesthetics as well as possible social, cultural, and environmental impacts.
Science and Engineering Practices
- Asking Questions and Defining Problems
- Analyzing and interpreting data
- Engaging in argument from evidence
NGSS Appendix H: Understanding the Scientific Enterprise: The Nature of Science in the Next Generation Science Standards
- Science investigations use a variety of methods
- Science is a way of knowing
- Science addresses questions about the natural and material world
Other Relevant NGSS References
- NGSS Appendix F: Science and Engineering Practices in the NGSS
- NGSS Appendix G: Crosscutting Concepts
- NGSS Appendix J: Science, Technology, Society and the Environment
Note: Due to the nature of the five lesson sets, these four appendices are a vital component of why these activities are important in the science classroom. While a wide variety of science topics are selected to demonstrate the nature of science, all five lesson sets incorporate the ideals of these four appendices and provide numerous opportunities for the application of scientific knowledge across a variety of disciplines.
