How do scientists make inferences for something they cannot directly observe? The Black Box approach seems ideal to help students understand how scientists work. Black Boxes are sealed units; their interior is not accessible. The effort to determine their possible content (internal structure) demands successive modifications in hypothesis,…

Many ground-dwelling amphibians, reptiles, small mammals, insects, and other arthropods seek cover during their resting hours. Their natural hideaways include underground burrows, rotting logs, and leaf litter, which are widely distributed and difficult to discover and observe. To make observation easier, scientists, educators, and students can…

In this article, two lessons are introduced in which students examine Arctic lake sediments from Lake El'gygytgyn in Russia and discover a climate signal in a lake or pond near their own school. The lessons allow students to experience fieldwork, understand lab procedure, practice basic measurement and observation skills, and learn how to…

Along-standing energy lab involves dropping bouncy balls and measuring their rebound heights on successive bounces. The lab demonstrates a situation in which the mechanical energy of a system is not conserved. Although students enjoyed the lab, the author wanted to deepen their thinking about energy, including the connections to motion, with a new…

This article describes a unit in which students investigate total solar eclipses, such as the one coming August 21, from several perspectives. It incorporates mathematical thinking and aligns with the "Next Generation Science Standard." This article refers to physical, virtual, and mathematical modeling. Various models and perspectives…

Data and data analysis are central to science and the complex world in which people live. Students need to practice working with data--addressed in the "Next Generation Science Standards" (NGSS Lead States 2013)--starting with small, self-collected data sets and moving on to larger, remotely collected data assemblages. Small data sets…

For much of the northern United States, the months surrounding the winter solstice are a time of increased darkness, low temperatures, and frozen landscapes. Each year, the ubiquitous white ice crystals that blanket regions of the north go uninvestigated. Instead of hunkering down indoors with their classes, however, teachers can take advantage of…

Graphs represent complex information. They show relationships and help students see patterns and compare data. Students often do not appreciate the illuminating power of graphs, interpreting them literally rather than as symbolic representations (Leinhardt, Zaslavsky, and Stein 1990). Students often read graphs point by point instead of seeing…

Every high school graduate should be able to use data analysis and statistical reasoning to draw conclusions about the world. Two core statistical concepts for students to understand are the role of variability in measures and evaluating the effect of a variable. In the activity presented in this article, students investigate a scientific question…

In this article, Renee Clary and James Wandersee describe the beginnings of "Classification," which lies at the very heart of science and depends upon pattern recognition. Clary and Wandersee approach patterns by first telling the story of the "Linnaean classification system," introduced by Carl Linnacus (1707-1778), who is…

In this article, the authors describe a lesson that uses the 5E Learning Cycle to help students not only understand the atomic model but also how Ernest Rutherford helped develop it. The lesson uses Rutherford's gold foil experiment to focus on three aspects of the nature of science: the empirical nature of science, the tentativeness of scientific…

Continental margins are an important part of the ocean floor. They separate the land above sea level from the deep ocean basins below and occupy about 11% of Earth's surface. They are also economically important, as they harbor both mineral resources and some of the most valuable fisheries in the world. In this article students investigate North…

In the activity described in this article, students learn about observation, interpretation, and argumentation. Students are led through several stages of observation and inference about an unknown object, during which they learn the value of representations and collaboration. They are then asked to construct an argument about the identity of the…

In the lesson presented in this article, students learn to organize their thinking and design their own inquiry experiments through careful observation of an object, situation, or event. They then conduct these experiments and report their findings in a lab report, poster, trifold board, slide, or video that follows the typical format of the…

This article provides an instructional approach to helping students generate open-inquiry research questions, which the authors call the "open-inquiry question template." This template was created based on their experience teaching high school science and preservice university methods courses. To help teachers implement this template, they…