Big Idea 3: The Role of Theories, Laws, Hypotheses, and Models

This is lesson 3 of 3 in the Goldilocks’ Café Just Right unit. This lesson focuses on systematic investigation on getting a cup of coffee to be the “just right” temperature and turbidity level. Students will use both the temperature probe and turbidity sensor and code using ScratchX during their investigation.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is lesson 2 of 3 in the Just Right Goldilocks’ Café unit. This lesson focuses on systematic investigation on getting a cup of coffee to be the “just right” level of turbidity. Students will use turbidity sensors and code using ScratchX during their investigation.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is lesson 1 of 3 in the Just Right Goldilocks’ Café unit. This lesson focuses on systematic investigation on getting a cup of coffee to be the “just right” temperature. Students will use temperature probes and code using ScratchX during their investigation.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will be able to observe, explain, and model reflection and refraction through a series of inquiry light stations. Students will engage and perform different challenges to obtain knowledge about how light reflects off of surfaces and how light is refracted when changing mediums.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will model and describe the layers of the Earth, including the crust, lithosphere, asthenosphere, mantle, outer core, and inner core through several hands-on activities. Students will model the different layers of Earth's interior and differentiate between benefits and limitations of the models.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this 5E lesson, students will collect data through a simulation game on deforestation and be able to describe how humans have impacted a simulated forest. Students will learn about subsistence farming and its role in rain forest (primary) forest deforestation.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will further explore the idea of radioactive dating through a drawing activity and creating a model simulation in Scratch.

Type: Lesson Plan

The students will investigate how the various forms of energy are transferred into other forms of energy and will use graphic organizers and stations to describe how the energy is being transferred.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will begin by differentiating between scientific theories and laws. They will then analyze evidence provided to them to determine what evidence supports their assigned theory and what evidence is not relevant. Students will present their findings to the class.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will participate in a simulation model of the rock cycle. Collecting data by throwing die, students will develop an understanding of the movement of atoms and rock particles through the rock cycle.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will be using a model of Earth to observe the flow of energy through different layers.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will learn how to draw, complete, interpret, calculate the probabilities, and figure ratios for single trait crosses with complete dominance interaction.

Type: Lesson Plan

Using a guided-inquiry model, students in a math or science class will use an experiment testing the effect of temperature on cricket chirping frequency to teach the concepts of representative vs random sampling, identifying directly proportional relationships, and highlight the differences between scientific theory and scientific law.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson compares and contrasts scientific theories and laws, addressing misconceptions associated with them.

Type: Lesson Plan

The students will be able to examine several models, and identify pertinent aspects of each, including benefits and drawbacks of their use.

Type: Lesson Plan

Raising Your Garden MEA provides students with a real world engineering problem in which they must work as a team to design a procedure to select the best material for building raised garden beds. The main focus of this MEA is to recognize the importance of choosing the correct material for building a raised garden bed, what information is needed before starting a gardening project, and to consider the environmental and economic impact the garden will have on the school. Students will conduct individual and team investigations in order to arrive at a scientifically sound solution to the problem.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. 

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson plan uses recent earthquakes as a learning opportunity. Students will learn what causes earthquakes to happen by going through a series of activities that allow them to explore the structure of Earth's interior, convection currents in the mantle, motion of tectonic plates, and the relationship between plate tectonics and earthquakes.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this activity, students are introduced to faults. They will learn about different kinds of faults and understand their relationship to earthquakes.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will understand the benefits and limitations of scientific models.

Type: Lesson Plan

Learn how math models can show why social distancing during a epidemic or pandemic is important in this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn to recognize and explain the difference between scientific theories and scientific laws in this interactive tutorial. You'll also explore several examples of scientific theories and the evidence that supports them.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn how scientists use models to simplify and understand the world around us. In this interactive tutorial, you'll also explore the benefits and limitations of scientific models.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Some scientists' labs are outside! Learn all about a large-scale environmental model called LILA!

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Expert

Complex problems require complex plans and training. Get in shape to get things done.

Related Resources:
KROS Pacific Ocean Kayak Journey: GPS Data Set[.XLSX]
KROS Pacific Ocean Kayak Journey: Path Visualization for Google Earth[.KML]

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Professional/Enthusiast

This resource explains the difference between scientific theories, hypotheses, and laws.

• A scientific theory is an explanation inferred from multiple lines of evidence for some broad aspect of the natural world and is logical, testable, and predictive.
• As new evidence comes to light, or new interpretations of existing data are proposed, theories may be revised and even change; however, they are not tenuous or speculative.
• A scientific hypothesis is an inferred explanation of an observation or research finding; while more exploratory in nature than a theory, it is based on existing scientific knowledge.
• A scientific law is an expression of a mathematical or descriptive relationship observed in nature.

Type: Professional Development

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. Chocolate has been known to have health benefits for hundreds of years, but why? Because of the large size of the molecules found in chocolate, the body shouldn't be able to absorb their beneficial components. A team of scientists investigated to see if bacteria in the gut are responsible for breaking down these large molecules further, enabling the human body to absorb them and take advantage of chocolate's health benefits.

Type: Text Resource

Students help design experiments to test whether the temperature of water affects the rate of evaporation and whether the temperature of water vapor affects the rate of condensation. Students look in detail at the water molecule to explain the state changes of water.

Type: Unit/Lesson Sequence