JoshuaHalverson

NationalLouisUniversity
TIE542Kurt
May3,2014
WebquestTeachingGuide
Topic:ScientificMethod(PrerequisitetoScienceFair)
CreatedBy:JoshuaHalverson

Introduction&Aim

Eachyearthe4thGradestudentsofWoodDaleDistrict7create,design,test,andpresent
ascienceexperimentthroughtheWDSD7ScienceFair.Thiswebquestisdesignedto
helpstudentsunderstandtheprocessofthescientificmethod,whyitisimportant,
examples,andultimatelyhowtheycanuseitwhilecreatingtheirWDSD7ScienceFair
project.

Rationale

Scientificliteracyiscriticaltocomplexproblemsolvingandtouchesmanyaspectsof
humanlife.Suchliteracyincludesanintellectualcuriosityaboutthenaturalandphysical
worldandafamiliaritywiththewayinwhichknowledgeaboutthatworldisobtained,
analyzed,andinterpreted.Thescientificmethodandanalysisenhancethestudents
abilitiestoanalyzeandsynthesizescientificinformation,understandthelimitationsand
strengthsofexistingtheories,askstrategicquestions,andassessempiricalevidencethat
bearsonthem.
1

GoalsandObjectives

Attheendofthiswebquest,studentswillbeabletoexplainthepurposeofthescientific
methodanditssteps.Studentswillthenusethisinformationtoconducttheirownscience
experimentthattheywillshowcaseattheWDSD7ScienceFair.

1
"ScientificMethodandAnalysis:RationaleandLearningOutcomes."Home.Web.04May2014.
<https://undergrad.stanford.edu/programs/ways/about/scientificmethodandanalysisrationaleandlearning
outcomes>.
JoshuaHalverson
NationalLouisUniversity
TIE542Kurt
May3,2014

Standards

AllstandardsbelowareWoodDaleSchoolDistrictPowerStandardsandLearning
Targets.ThesePowerStandardsandLearningTargetsarealignedtotheCommonCore
ELAStandardsandtheNextGenerationScienceStandards.

WD.4.PS.1.SCApplythescientificmethodtosolveproblems.
WD.4.PS.1.SC.aObserve,estimateandmeasureinordertocollectdata
WD.4.PS.1.SC.bConstructchartsandvisualizationstodisplaydata
WD.4.PS.1.SC.cUsedatatoproducereasonableexplanations
WD.4.PS.1.SC.dReporttheresultofscientificinvestigations
WD.4.PS.1.SC.eDefineandsequencespecificstepsinthescientificmethod
WD.4.PS.1.SC.fIdentifyandapplybasicsafetyfeatureswhiledoingscientific
experiments
WD.4.PS.1.LAApplywordanalysisandvocabularyskillswhilereading.
WD.4.PS.3.LAReadandcomprehendinformationaltext.
WD.4.PS.3.LA.ausetextfeaturestocomprehendtext(maps,charts,graphs,timelines,
anddiagrams)
WD.4.PS.3.LA.bsummarizeusingmainideaandsupportingdetailsfromtext
WD.4.PS.3.LA.cexplainstructureoftext(cause/effect,problem/solution)
WD.4.PS.3.LA.dreadmultipletextsaboutsimilartopicsandreportinformation
WD.4.PS.3.LA.emakeandsupportinferencestointerprettext
WD.4.PS.3.LA.fexplainconceptsininformationaltexts,includingprocessandresults
usingspecificinformationfromthetext

AudienceandPrerequisites

Thiswebquestisdesignedfor4thGradeelementarystudents.Itisassumedthatall
studentshavethefoundationaltechnologyskillsnecessarytofollowandcompletea
webquest.

JoshuaHalverson
NationalLouisUniversity
TIE542Kurt
May3,2014
DescriptionofSubjectMatter

ThefocusofthisWebquestisonthescientificmethod.Thisincludesadetailed
descriptionofeachstage:
AskaQuestion
DoBackgroundResearch
ConstructaHypothesis
TestYourHypothesisbyDoinganExperiment
AnalyzeYourDataandDrawaConclusion
CommunicateYourResults

InstructionalPlan

StudentswillbeintroducedtoWebquest.
StudentswillbedividedintogroupstocompleteWebquest.
StudentswilleachbeassignedaroleinordertocompleteWebquestsuccessfully.
StudentscompleteWebquest.
UponcompletionofWebquest,studentswillbrainstormideasfortheirWDSD7
ScienceFairproject.
StudentswillorganizetheirprojectbyusingtheWDSD7ScienceFairPacket.
Studentswillconducttheirsciencefairproject.
Studentswillcreateapresentationboardthatincludesallpartsofthescientific
methodtodisplayduringtheWDSD7ScienceFair.
StudentswillexplainandshowcasetheirprojectattheWDSD7ScienceFair.

PlansforAssessmentandEvaluation

Studentswillbeevaluatedontheirscientificmethodunderstandingbycompletinga
WDSD7ScienceFairproject.

StudentswillbeassessedviatheWDSD7ScienceFairRubric.

ThisrubricisincludedintheEvaluationPage.