Earthguide - Demo

Investigation & Experimentation

Teachers must convey the skills and knowledge that students need to perform investigations and experiments, the foundation of scientific knowledge. The Investigation and Experimentation standards allow students to make concrete associations between science and the study of nature and to provide many opportunities to take measurements and use basic mathematics. In the sequence for grades nine through twelve, teachers implement these standards in the context of physics, chemistry, biology/life sciences, and earth sciences.

Investigations and experiments engage scientists, catalyzing their highest levels of creativity and producing their most satisfying rewards. The possibility of discovery or of adding new scientific knowledge in the form of facts, concepts, principles, or theories offers a great sense of accomplishment and wonder. Investigation and experimentation can be just as engaging to high school students as they study science. Although students may not discover knowledge new to the scientific community, they may find pleasure in discovering something new to themselves or in seeing the content from their science text illuminated through demonstrations of the concepts. Accordingly, they can experience the pride of creating experimental protocols and realize the joy of discovery and learning.

Teachers need to know and teach the details of the scientific processes addressed by the Investigation and Experimentation standards. To be valid, an experiment needs controls that minimize sources of error and that provide reproducible results. Teachers should select standards-based, well-tested experiments and demonstrations instead of unguided or disorganized "expeditions." Taught effectively, science courses may be engaging for high school students. Some principles are best pretaught explicitly through direct instruction, then demonstrated with a hands-on activity that reinforces the teaching. Students may easily discover other principles by themselves, and teachers should not rob them of that pleasure. The teacher must be certain that every investigative activity reinforces content and sound thinking.

excerpt from:
Chapter Five: Earth Science, Investigation and Experimentation.
Science Framework for California Public Schools: Kindergarten Through Grade Twelve, 2004.
California Department of Education.

Acquired from online source on July 13, 2007.

See full Framework

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Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions and conducting careful investigations. As a basis for understanding this concept and addressing the content of the other four strands, students should develop their own questions and perform investigations. Students will:

a  Select and use appropriate tools and technology (such as computer-linked probes, spreadsheets, and graphing calculators) to perform tests, collect data, analyze relationships, and display data.

b  Identify and communicate sources of unavoidable experimental error.

c  Identify possible reasons for inconsistent results, such as sources of error or uncontrolled conditions.

d  Formulate explanations by using logic and evidence.

e  Solve scientific problems by using quadratic equations and simple trigonometric, exponential, and logarithmic functions.

f  Distinguish between hypothesis and theory as scientific terms.

g  Recognize the usefulness and limitations of models and theories as scientific representations of reality.

h  Read and interpret topographic and geologic maps.

i  Analyze the locations, sequences, or time intervals that are characteristic of natural phenomena (e.g., relative ages of rocks, locations of planets over time, and succession of species in an ecosystem).

j  Recognize the issues of statistical variability and the need for controlled tests.

k  Recognize the cumulative nature of scientific evidence.

l  Analyze situations and solve problems that require combining and applying concepts from more than one area of science.

m  Investigate a science-based societal issue by researching the literature, analyzing data, and communicating the findings. Examples of issues include irradiation of food, cloning of animals by somatic cell nuclear transfer, choice of energy sources, and land and water use decisions in California.

n  Know that when an observation does not agree with an accepted scientific theory, the observation is sometimes mistaken or fraudulent (e.g., the Piltdown Man fossil or unidentified flying objects) and that the theory is sometimes wrong (e.g., the Ptolemaic model of the movement of the Sun, Moon, and planets).

excerpt from:
Earth Sciences - Grades Nine Through Twelve.
Science Content Standards, adopted October 1998.
California Department of Education.

Acquired from online source on July 13, 2007.

See full Science Standards