Best Practices - Middle (6-8)
"In the middle-school years, students’ work with scientific
investigations can be complemented by activities that are meant to meet
a human need, solve a human problem, or develop a product.”
--National Science Education Standards |
Experiments should be much more professional in middle school years.
- Clear communication enables scientist to inform others and expose their
work to criticism as well as to stay informed about others work in the same
area.
- As the middle school student takes on experiments that have more than one
variable, it becomes more complicated to determine the outcome attributable
to any of the variables.
Collaboration and discussion will help students understand the need for teamwork
as they learn about objectivity and the affect it has on the interpretation
of the solutions.
Recommendations for Students
- assess the risks associated with an investigation
- use computers to collect, store and retrieve data
- share summary reports with students in other parts of the world through
technology so that they begin to see the global nature of science
- understand the complexity of scientific discoveries by having different
investigators conducting independent studies of the same question
- be involved in researching the history of inventions and technologies to
learn how scientific discoveries and research can be controversial.
Discoveries radically change peoples’ lives and students should be engaged
in learning how science affects the world and its people.
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