Lesson Pathways for Specific Inquiry Steps

Experiment-related Vocabulary Lesson (general prerequisite):

• This interactive lesson introduces students to basic vocabulary words related to experimental design and science inquiry in general (variable; values; conditions; experiment). Students are given feedback on their responses throughout this lesson.

Introduction to Good Research Questions Lesson (general prerequisite):

• This lesson helps students understand what a “good” general research question is, or one that allows them to design a controlled experiment. They will learn about the proper format of a research question that includes an independent variable and dependent variable. They will also gain practice considering whether the variables they’ve selected for their experiment are easily measurable.

Research Question module: Worked Example mode:

• Students view and interact with a virtual “high school student” of their choice as they work through the process of selecting a research question that is appropriate to them, based on their interests and knowledge.

Introduction to Good Hypothesis Lesson:

• This lesson introduces students to the components of good hypotheses for controlled experiments, including a detailed and "scientific" explanation of the relationship between the independent and dependent variables. Students then evaluate example hypotheses (from actual middle school students' science fair posters) for quality based to these criteria.

Background Research module: Worked-Example mode:

• In this lesson, a virtual “high school student” chosen by the student conducts research on the questions he had developed earlier. For each question, the virtual student follows a cycle of (a) considering what he already knows about the question, (b) planning and searching for information, (c) reading and explaining relevant text, (d) taking notes of relevant information, and (e) summarizing the information (e.g., in text and/or pictorial form). At certain points in the lesson, “Dr. ISP” comes on-screen to ask students questions about the virtual student's actions during particular steps of the cycle, good next steps, or to point out other meta-cognitive actions the virtual student is taking (e.g., planning ahead to a future inquiry stage).

Experiment-related Vocabulary Lesson (general prerequisite):

• This interactive lesson introduces students to basic vocabulary words related to experimental design and science inquiry in general (variable; values; conditions; experiment). Students are given feedback on their responses throughout this lesson.

Introduction to Good Research Questions Lesson (general prerequisite):

• This lesson helps students understand what a “good” general research question is, or one that allows them to design a controlled experiment. They will learn about the proper format of a research question that includes an independent variable and dependent variable. They will also gain practice considering whether the variables they’ve selected for their experiment are easily measurable.

Research Question module: Guided Response mode:

• Students practice selecting a research question from eight different topics from four different science areas and view animations for one trial run of a chosen experiment.

Introduction to Good Hypothesis Lesson:

• This lesson introduces students to the components of good hypotheses for controlled experiments, including a detailed and "scientific" explanation of the relationship between the independent and dependent variables. Students then evaluate example hypotheses (from actual middle school students' science fair posters) for quality based to these criteria.

Background Research module: Guided Response mode:

• The Background Research Module (BRM) is a website that consists of online units on various science concepts relevant to forming hypotheses for the research question students chose in the RQ Module. A printable “BRM worksheet” guides students through the process of conducting background research for their chosen research question in the BRM.

Pretest on experimental design:

• This pretest features 6 word problems: 3 asking students to design and 3 asking students to evaluate experiments and correct them (if necessary). Students receive one point for each experiment they correctly design, one point for each correct evaluation, and one point for each correction they make (for a total of 9 points).

• **Students' scores are shown at the end. Students who score less than about 6 out of 9 on this may benefit from working through this instructional pathway.

Experiment-related Vocabulary Lesson:

• This interactive lesson introduces students to basic vocabulary words related to experimental design and science inquiry in general (variable; values; conditions; experiment). Students are given feedback on their responses throughout this lesson.

Introduction to Good Research Questions Lesson:

• This lesson helps students understand what a “good” general research question is, or one that allows them to design a controlled experiment. They will learn about the proper format of a research question that includes an independent variable and dependent variable. Students will also gain practice considering whether the variables they’ve selected for their experiment are easily measurable.

Research Question module -- directed selection:

• Students are prompted to select a specific area of science, experimental topic, and research question to address in this module.

Instruction on Experimental Design:

• Students set up an experiment for their research question in the crystal growth experiment and are given feedback on their choices. Then students evaluate 2 experiments. Instruction focuses on the reason for controlling variables (found to cause robust learning and transfer).

Posttest on experimental design:

• The posttest is similar to the TED pretest but the experiments are in novel domains; this allows you to determine if students have developed a robust understanding of experimental design.

• **As with the pretest, students' scores are shown at the end (out of 9).

Pretest on experimental design:

• This pretest features 6 word problems: 3 asking students to design and 3 asking students to evaluate experiments and correct them (if necessary). Students receive one point for each experiment they correctly design, one point for each correct evaluation, and one point for each correction they make (for a total of 9 points).

• **Students' scores are shown at the end. Students who score less than about 6 out of 9 on this may benefit from working through this instructional pathway.

Experiment-related Vocabulary Lesson:

• This interactive lesson introduces students to basic vocabulary words related to experimental design and science inquiry in general (variable; values; conditions; experiment). Students are given feedback on their responses throughout this lesson.

Introduction to Good Research Questions Lesson:

• This lesson helps students understand what a “good” general research question is, or one that allows them to design a controlled experiment. They will learn about the proper format of a research question that includes an independent variable and dependent variable. Students will also gain practice considering whether the variables they’ve selected for their experiment are easily measurable.

Research Question module -- guided response:

• Students are asked to choose an area of science, topic, and research question.

Instruction on Experimental Design:

• Students set up an experiment for their chosen research question and are given feedback on their choices. Then students evaluate 2 experiments. Instruction focuses on the reason for controlling variables (found to cause robust learning and transfer).

Posttest on experimental design:

• The posttest is similar to the TED pretest but the experiments are in novel domains; this allows you to determine if students have developed a robust understanding of experimental design.

• **As with the pretest, students' scores are shown at the end (out of 9).