Developing Investigative Skills and Attitudes
Achievement Objectives for Focusing and Planning
|
|
|
|
|
| Students will be achieving at Level 2 when they can: | Students will be achieving at Level 4 when they can: | Students will be achieving at Level 6 when they can: | Students will be achieving at Level 8 when they can: |
|
talk about an object or event and settle on a question to investigate; |
ask questions of themselves, their group, and resource people and identify questions suitable for scientific investigation; |
ask a series of related questions of themselves, their group, and resource people and refine questions to make them suitable for scientific investigation; |
ask a series of related questions of themselves, their group, and resource people and refine questions to make them suitable for scientific investigation; |
|
use their science ideas and personal observations to make predictions or suggest possible solutions; |
use their science ideas and personal observations, and those of others, to make testable predictions or to identify possible solutions for trialling; |
integrate their scientific ideas and personal observations with the scientific ideas of others to make testable predictions or to identify possible solutions for trialling; |
integrate their scientific ideas and personal observations with the scientific ideas of others to make testable predictions or to identify possible solutions for trialling; |
|
suggest simple trials based on intuitive notions of fair testing and trialling. |
design 'fair tests', trials, and surveys with an attempt to control for obvious variables. |
design 'fair tests', simple experiments, trials, and surveys, with clear specification and control of likely variables. |
design systematic tests, experiments, trials, and surveys with rigorous identification and control of variables. |
Achievement Objectives for Information Gathering
Students will be achieving at Level 2
when they can:
Students will be achieving at Level 4
when they can:
Students will be achieving at Level 6
when they can:
Students will be achieving at Level 8 when they can:
make observations and simple measurements;
use appropriate instruments to enhance observation or to introduce
quantification;
select and use measuring instruments to make qualitative and quantitative
observations and standard measurements with appropriate precision;
select and use measuring instruments to make qualitative and quantitative
observations and standard measurements with appropriate precision;
talk about their observations and measurements;
record observations and measurements;
systematically record observations and measurements;
systematically and economically record observations and measurements;
seek information in books and from people;
locate information in the community or libraries;
locate information through catalogues, indexes, and computers;
compare, contrast, and choose between sources of information;
use information sources with teacher support.
use information sources purposefully, asking coherent, directed
questions of people and media sources.
use information-processing techniques to process information related
to the purpose.
use information-processing techniques to process information,
evaluate its relevance, and identify its bias.
Achievement Objectives for Processing and Interpreting
Students will be achieving at Level 2
when they can:
Students will be achieving at Level 4
when they can:
Students will be achieving at Level 6
when they can:
Students will be achieving at Level 8 when they can:
identify trends and relationships in recorded observations and
measurements by suggesting links between these;
identify trends and relationships in recorded observations and
measurements by making links within organised data;
identify trends, relationships and patterns, in recorded data
by analysing data using statistical and graphing procedures as appropriate;
identify trends, relationships, and patterns in recorded data
by analysing data using statistical procedures as appropriate; reflect
on reliability and validity of the findings;
with teacher support, use their findings to suggest an answer
to their selected questions and problems and make a simple evaluation
of their investigation.
use organised data and scientific ideas to suggest an answer to
their selected questions and problems, and make an evaluation of
their investigation.
set their findings or possible solutions against established scientific
theory to draw and justify conclusions.
critically evaluate their hypotheses or possible solutions using
analysed data and scientific theory, and draw and justify qualified
conclusions.
Achievement Objectives for Reporting
Students will be achieving at Level 2
when they can:
Students will be achieving at Level 4
when they can:
Students will be achieving at Level 6
when they can:
Students will be achieving at Level 8 when they can:
share what they did and what they found out in their investigations
in whole class situations or in groups.
present what they did and what they found out in their investigations
in ways and forms appropriate to their peer group.
present well reasoned, complete reports supported by relevant
data in ways, and forms, appropriate to nominated audiences.
present concise, well reasoned, complete reports, supported by
relevant and suitably processed data from a number of sources, as
necessary, in ways and forms appropriate to nominated audiences.
Notes:
- The ability to carry out a complete investigation is the key expected outcome of this achievement aim.
- It is expected that students will develop any specific investigative skills they need when they are carrying out a complete investigation.
- The processes of investigation are not necessarily sequential. The process may begin at any point in the tables above and will tend to move backwards and forwards. Students should be reflecting on their decisions, actions, and findings and modifying their plans and actions as they are proceeding.
POSSIBLE LEARNING EXPERIENCES
Related to Focusing and Planning
|
|
|
|
using prior knowledge and experiences; clarifying ideas; integrating ideas from several sources; having hunches and making guesses; being curious and asking questions; reframing questions so that they can be investigated; identifying, defining, and analysing the problem; considering scientific models and laws; predicting; observing; being open-minded; being co-operative; designing a systematic investigation (including designing an experiment); making decisions about the feasibility of an investigation; being flexible; deciding whether an 'expert' needs to be contacted; re-designing an experiment when preliminary results are inconclusive; being persistent. |
clarifying their ideas about objects which sink (P 1.3, M 2.1); deciding how many leaves to collect in order to show variety in leaf shape (L 1.2); asking questions about observed changes during the cooking of pikelets (M 1.3); making predictions about the shape of a shadow when the sun comes out (E 2.2); sharing ideas about the use of different kinds of plastic materials (M 3.2); establishing the criteria to assess flight characteristics when carrying out a 'fair test' of paper darts (P 3.1/2, N 3.1); designing a technique for measuring or assessing the relative clarity of different water samples (E 3.1); guessing the reasons for the distribution of crabs on a rocky shore (L 3.4, L 4.4); listening to their work partners' reasons for having five trial plots of radishes (L 4.2, N 4.1); planning an electrical wiring system for a model house (P 4.3); developing a flow chart to show the expected directions in the process of an investigation into the properties of metals (M 4.2); deciding where relevant information regarding an endangered New Zealand animal can be found (L 4.2); asking an expert about experimental methods for determining the most readily available source of vitamin C in a variety of fruits (L 4.4, L 5.2); designing the structure of a magnetic lock (P 4.3); asking questions about which factors affect the light intensity of a bulb (P 5.3); making predictions about the presence of a particular ion in a substance (M 6.2); predicting which of a range of physical factors influence the scattering of broom seeds (L 7.2); using library information-search techniques when planning a science project on superconductors (P 7.4); deciding if it is safe to carry out an investigation into the distribution of a radioactive substance throughout a plant (L 8.4); reading a range of journals and newspaper articles when beginning a study on the effects of biotechnological developments on medical treatments of genetic diseases (L 8.4, N 8.3). |
POSSIBLE LEARNING EXPERIENCES
Related to Information Gathering
|
|
|
|
exploring; observing; seeking patterns and/or relationships; testing ideas, predictions, or explanations; organising resources; conducting experiments; testing methods or devices; identifying and controlling variables; constructing or manipulating equipment; locating, collecting, and recording data; searching for an answer to a problem or question; designing a device to meet a specified function; being honest in the recording and validation of data; being persistent. deciding what information is required; deciding when to ask an 'expert'; selecting information from a variety of sources; using information-retrieval and information-processing technologies; recording raw and processed data.
|
collecting data from tests of an elastic-propelled vehicle (P 1.1/2); hunting for insect holes at a road cutting (E 2.1); sharing the reading of a big book to find out answers to questions about tadpoles (L 2.3); looking for living things in a compost heap (L 3.4); recording the pattern a tuning fork makes on water (P 3.3); seeking reasons why board sailors wear wet suits in the summer (P 4.4); asking a consultant to comment on predictions made about the number of green tints found in nature (L 5.2); building a waka, from harakeke, which will hold 500 grams (P 5.1); collecting data about how much candle is required to heat water for a cup of tea (P 5.1); sorting metals according to agreed attributes (M 4.1); identifying the effect of different variables associated with the swing of a pendulum (P 5.1); conducting a 'fair test' into the flammability of a range of materials (M 4.2, M 5.2); building a model electric motor (P 5.1); using an oscilloscope to record sound patterns produced by different musical instruments (P 7.1). asking adults about changes in their town (E 1.2); deciding what questions to ask the school gardener about the trees growing in the gully (L 2.1); comparing 'before and after' views of rusting of iron (M 4.3); using the local council library to obtain information to prepare for a project on shellfish gathering at the local beach (E 4.4); using the microfiche/CD ROM in a library to access information about the activity of major volcanoes in New Zealand during the previous 100 years (E 5.1/2); interviewing a plant breeder to collect information about plant genetics (L 6.2/3); deciding what information is required to make appropriate planning decisions for an investigation into insect life cycles (L 7.2); evaluating gathered information about the effect of variable oxygen levels on the fish population in a river (M 8.4). |
Note: Students may be gathering information from practical investigations and/or from investigating resource material, and consulting with 'experts'. The division in this table reflects these different methods.
POSSIBLE LEARNING EXPERIENCES
Related to Processing and Interpreting
|
|
|
|
processing data; synthesising data; linking new and old ideas; discussing ideas; negotiating an understanding; identifying patterns and relationships; suggesting possible explanations; criticising the method; analysing a device; being critically minded; being intellectually honest. evaluating processed data; trying to resolve any incongruity in ideas and concepts; justifying inferences in the light of gathered data; appreciating and expressing limitations of experimental procedures and gathered data; being open-minded; detailing a solution to the problem; reflecting on their own thinking; being willing to suspend judgment; being willing to tolerate uncertainty; accepting the provisional nature of scientific explanation; accepting the validity of the results and conclusions of others.
|
discussing ideas about the flat shape of leaves (L 2.1, N 2.2); making links between a practical experiment which indicates that a hollow ball of plasticine will float and the hollow chambers found in a submarine (P 2.3); deciding that all observations about spiders indicate that spiders have eight legs (L 2.1, N 2.1); developing an explanation for the strength of a paper tower (P 3.3); evaluating findings about which tested method is the most effective for cleaning up a beetroot spill (M 3.2, N 3.1); \interpreting the class's monthly data on inside and outside temperatures (E 4.1); establishing the relationship between heating effect and the power settings of a microwave oven (P 4.4, N 4.1); reaching a consensus about the causes of the apparent changes in the shape of the moon over a four-week period (E 4.3); evaluating processed data from experiments on the conditions required for the best germination of seeds (L 4.2); deciding whether to endorse the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in car air-conditioners (E 5.2, M 5.4); discussing ideas about processed data on voltage changes in a battery over time (P 5.3); linking ideas about insects laying eggs and the survival of insects in winter (L 5.2); putting together gathered data on the time taken by model cars to travel up a variety of inclines (P 6.3); interpreting a print-out of a seismograph recording (E 6.1/2); resolving the conflict arising when two patterns emerge in the worked data gathered from experiments into the effectiveness of different hair shampoos (M 6.4, N 6.1); selecting the best explanation for the relative strengths established from a series of experiments on differently constructed electromagnets (P 6.1); recognising that the data collected is insufficient to enable confident statements to be made about the relationships between aerosol sprays and the health of a household plant(E 7.4, M 7.4); identifying the relationship between cicadas' song and the time of day (L 7.2); evaluating conflicting ideas about evolution (L 8.3, N 8.1); reflecting on apparently conflicting conclusions on the causes of cot death (L 8.4, N 8.1). |
Note: Although it is possible to identify different skills which relate to processing and interpreting, in practice the possible learning experiences generally apply to both processing and interpreting and therefore have not been separated in the table.
| Table of Contents | Previous Page | Next Page |
