Scientist vs. Engineer lesson (appropriate for elementary school children as well)

• Students may misunderstand lessons about experiment-based activities if they don’t understand what the purpose of doing a controlled experiment is. This lesson helps students understand a major difference between what a scientist and an engineer do: that scientists conduct experiments to compare things to see if they make a difference, and engineers use what scientists learn to make things that work better. They also learn about creating a controlled experiment and answer questions about a good (controlled) experimental set-up at the end of the lesson. Students can then do the experiment on their own if they wish.

Experiment-related Vocabulary lesson

• This interactive lesson introduces students to basic vocabulary words related to experimental design and science inquiry in general, including variable; values; conditions; experiment. Students are given feedback on their responses throughout this lesson and their understanding of these concepts is assessed at the end of the lesson.