The Nature of Science

      Like any good science teacher, you usually start off the year/semester with a small unit on the Nature of Science before you dive into your usual curriculum.  For the past few years I have started off with same lessons, because they have worked so well.  The lessons that I have used are pretty common, but with 8th and 9th grade students none of them have usually ever seen them before, so it is pretty exciting. Check out my Nature of Science page to read about what some lessons that I do in the beginning of school!


8th grade science 

The Great Fossil Find 

       I found this lesson in college on this website         http://www.indiana.edu/~ensiweb/lessons/gr.fs.fd.html
It is awesome for a lot of lessons, so I encourage you to check it out!  Basically, what the GFF is, is a lesson where students are only given a few cut out fossils at a time and have to try and figure out what the mystery animal is.  Each time they are presented with new fossils they must record how their thought process has changed and why.  The kids really seem to enjoy this and it leads to a really great discussion afterwards of the process of science, and how it is always changing with incoming information. It also gives you a chance to see how your classes do in a group setting right from the beginning, and you can easily figure out who some of the "leaders" in class might be as well as any issues that may arise with that particular class.

I have attached the papers and the narrative that I use in class. I have the narrative on a PowerPoint that I am having trouble uploading.   I usually do this after "syllabus day" because it is also a great way to practice some of your classroom procedures when working in groups. This lessons usually takes the the entire class period and follow up questions the next day. It is a great way to lead into specific vocabulary as well such as hypothesis, theory, prediction, inference and you can refer back to it throughout the year as well.

GFF PowerPoint
 GFF Power Point

The fill in sheet which is the same as the site
Student fill out sheet