Mentor Teacher Workshop July 15 – 17, 2009 Professional Learning Community Model for Entry into Teaching Science The Nature of Science Mentor Teacher Workshop July 15 – 17, 2009

Part 1: Interpreting (or Misinterpreting) the Nature of Science How can you help novice teachers portray science in September and throughout the year? Let’s do some investigating… http://undsci.berkeley.edu/teaching/misconceptions.php

Yes or No? Science is a collection of facts _______ Science is complete ____ There is a simple scientific method ___ Science is analytical and not creative __ Scientific reasoning is either deductive or inductive ____ Without an experiment, a scientific study cannot be rigorous ________

No or Yes? Hard sciences are more rigorous than soft sciences_____ Scientific ideas are absolute and unchanging______ Because scientific ideas are tentative and subject to change, they can’t be trusted__ Scientists’ ideas are judged democratically based on popularity______

Yes or No? Scientists’ observations directly tell them how things work (i.e. knowledge is “read off” nature, not built)__________ Science proves ideas_______ Science can only disprove ideas_______ If evidence supports a hypothesis, it is upgraded to a theory. If the theory then garners even more support, it may be upgraded to a law________ The job of a scientist is to find support for his or her hypotheses_________

Yes or No? Scientists are judged on the basis of how many correct hypotheses they propose (i.e. good scientists are the ones who are “right” most often)_______ Investigations that don’t reach a firm conclusion are useless and unpublishable____ Scientists are completely objective-evaluating ideas/evidence_______ Science is pure. Scientists work without considering the application of their ideas____

Critical Science Language Fact Law Observation Hypothesis Theory Falsifiable Uncertainty Error Prediction Belief