Nature of Science Lesson Plan

Subject Area: Biology

Lesson Topic: Evolution

Grade Level: 9th/ 10th Grade

Lesson Objective
Students will explore the definition of science, and be able to answer the questions What is
science? and What is not science?
Standards:
From the Nebraska State Science Standards:
SC12.1.2.a.
SC12.1.2.c

Recognize that scientific explanations must be open to questions, possible

modifications, and must be based upon historical and current scientific knowledge
Recognize that the work of science results in incremental advances, almost
always building on prior knowledge, in our understanding of the world

Materials
Computers or tablets, dry erase boards, markers, erasers, copies of journal article
Anticipatory Set
Because I want to assess students initial understandings of what science is, there will not be an
opening activity for this day, as it could influence or bias them.
Teaching Process
1. Students will work in groups to create a representation of what science is and is
not on their dry erase boards. They will have ten minutes to reach an initial consensus
with their group mates. During this time, the teacher will be circulating to informally
assess students initial understandings.
2. In the same groups, students will explore the Berkeley What is Science? page
for 15 minutes (http://undsci.berkeley.edu/article/whatisscience_01) and can revise their
boards if desired.
3. Coming back together as a class, we will create a single class representation of
what science is and is not to use as a reference for future classes.
4. In the last ten minutes of class, students will be introduced to a research article..
(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2933358/)
Independent Practice:
As homework, students will explore the article given to them, and make note of
the following things:
Things that were confusing or that they did not understand
Things that seemed important
Things that seemed interesting
What they think the takeaway from the article is supposed to be.

 additionally, it will be made clear to students that the article is very dense, and
there is a very good chance that they wont understand everything, and that thats okay.