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Magic Bus of School Science: “Seeing” What Can’t Be Seen
Book Chapter |
Scientists use direct empirical and inferential evidence, logical argument, and skeptical review to formulate and evaluate hypotheses and tentative, provisionally accepted theories. In this activity, a simple line-…
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Reading Between the Lines of the Daily Newspaper: Molecular Magic
Book Chapter |
Although there is no single scientific method, scientists use the triple tests of empirical evidence, logical argument, and skeptical review to discover patterns in nature and explain their underlying reasons in terms…
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Pondering Puzzling Patterns and a Parable Poem
Book Chapter |
Students and teachers need playful experiences where they can develop the scientific inquiry skills of observation, pattern recognition, and inferential reasoning and prediction, as well as discover some of the…
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Science and Art: Dueling Disciplines
or Dynamic Duo?Book Chapter |
A mixer activity (supplemented by “scientific” art, music, and optional demonstrations) is used to catalyze a conversation on the similarities and differences between the sciences and the arts.
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Osmosis and "Naked" Eggs: The Environment Matters
Book Chapter |
Osmosis is the diffusion of water through a selectively permeable membrane. Given their size and availability, the hard exterior shell of eggs provide a convenient macro-scale model of the system-level phenomenon of…
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5 E(z) Yet pHenomenal Steps to Demystifying Magic Color-Changing Markers
Book Chapter |
In this chapter you will explore, the chemical principles that explain the “science behind the magic” of color changing markers are explored in a series of teacher-guided but learner-designed hands-on explorations.
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5 E(z) Steps Back Into “Deep” Time: Visualizing the Geobiological Timescale
Book Chapter |
In this chapter, you will explore a sequence of fun, participatory activities juxtapose everyday popular culture and human time perspectives with the geobiological timescale of Earth’s history of millions and billions…
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5 E(z) Steps to
Earth-Moon Scaling: Measurements and Magnitudes Matter
Book Chapter |
Learners are surprised to learn that most textbook illustrations incorrectly represent the relative sizes and/or distance between Earth and its single moon. Although these and other visual representations of our solar…
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Acronyms and Acrostics Articulate Attributes of Science (and Science Teaching)
Book Chapter |
Learners’ ideas about the nature of science, school science, and science teaching are elicited by their creation of acronyms or acrostics that define key characteristics of science and teaching. An Extension activity…
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Tackling the Terrible Tyranny of Terminology: Divide and Conquer
Book Chapter |
Big, hard words in science are invariably made up of small, easy Greek- and Latin-based prefixes, suffixes, and root words that students can systematically learn, continually use, and creatively recombine. An unusually…
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Inquiring Into Reading
as Meaning-Making: Do Spelling and Punctuation Really Matter?
Book Chapter |
Learners are asked to read a passage full of misspelled words. Many readers are able to discern the meaning despite the numerous intentionally embedded errors. In a second exercise, learners experience how the meaning…
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Ambiguous Text: Meaning-Making in Reading and Science
Book Chapter |
Learners are asked to read one or more passages of ambiguous, discrepant text where they understand the individual words (or “trees”) but are hard-pressed to connect the words with an overall context (or “forest”) to…
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Resurrection Plant: Making Science Come Alive!
Book Chapter |
An inanimate, seemingly dead, 3–5 in. ball-shape brown object placed in water and exposed to sunlight is observed to “come back alive” and turn into a vibrant green photosynthetic plant over a period of anywhere from…
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Glue Mini-Monster: Wanted Dead or Alive?
Book Chapter |
A drop of clear, colorless, viscous liquid (i.e., a specific brand of modeling glue) assumes the role of an unknown macroscopic, single-celled organism in this demonstration. When placed in a petri dish of water, it is…
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Water “Stick-to-It-Ness”: A Penny for Your Thoughts
Book Chapter |
Water (in contrast to other clear, household liquids) assumes and maintains a very distinct semispherical shape when placed on a piece of waxed paper. For related reasons, a discrepantly large number of drops of water…
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