1. The Helicopter Hypothesis A lesson in scientific inquiry

2. Teacher’s Notes, page 1 Background: –Students should already know how to identify and use observation, inference, and prediction. –Students should be familiar with Cornell note strategies. This introductory lesson will be accompanied by a laboratory experiment and data analysis.

3. Teacher’s Notes, page 2 Action Steps incorporated into this lesson: –Identification of critical-input experiences –Presentation of information in small chunks with room for student input –Student-written conclusion (in Cornell format) –Student reflection of learning

4. Teacher’s Notes, page 3 Continued Action Steps incorporated into this lesson: –Providing students with opportunities to practice learning –Use of games focused on academic content –Incorporation of unusual information

5. Student Lesson begins on next slide

6. The Helicopter Hypothesis A lesson in scientific inquiry

7. Notes I. Notes Notes Notes A. notes notes notes notes notes notes B. notes notes notes C. notes notes notes Using your Cornell frame Main ideas Key terms Questions Cartoons - A brief summary - Connections to other things you know

8. Objective Students will be able to: –Define/explain several important terms used in scientific inquiry –Apply these terms in a real-life scientific inquiry challenge

9. Brainbuster! What is the only bird that can fly both forwards and backwards?

10. Brainbuster! Answer: the hummingbird

11. hummingbird helicopter paper helicopter of science!

12. Today’s Important Terms: Scientific Inquiry Hypothesis Independent Variable Dependent Variable Uncontrolled Variable Control Group

13. What is Scientific Inquiry? It is the process of using observations, inferences, predictions and experiments to learn about the world It is an ongoing process of discovery It is used in all types of science, but also in other areas, and even regular daily life!

14. Example: Scientific Inquiry Uh oh! I turn on my radio, but no music comes out. Maybe the radio is unplugged? If the radio is unplugged, then plugging it in will start the music. I’ll check and see if the plug is plugged into the wall. Yep, the plug is plugged in. The plug isn’t my problem. Something else must be wrong. observation inference prediction experiment data analysis conclusion

15. Example: Scientific Inquiry Uh oh! I turn on my radio, but no music comes out. Maybe the radio is unplugged? If the radio is unplugged, then plugging it in will start the music. I’ll check and see if the plug is plugged into the wall. Yep, the plug is plugged in. The plug isn’t my problem. Something else must be wrong. prediction hypothesis

16. Today’s Important Terms: Scientific Inquiry Hypothesis Independent Variable Dependent Variable Uncontrolled Variable Control Group

17. What is a Hypothesis? It is a prediction It is almost always based on observations and inferences It is testable It is my best guess of what will happen

18. Today’s Important Terms: Scientific Inquiry Hypothesis Independent Variable Dependent Variable Uncontrolled Variable Control Group

19. What is a Control Group? It is the unchanged (“normal”) stuff in an experiment where I am testing different conditions It is something to which I can compare my test results It’s sometimes just called a control Control = Comparison

20. Today’s Important Terms: Scientific Inquiry Hypothesis Independent Variable Dependent Variable Uncontrolled Variable Control Group

21. What is an Independent Variable? It is the condition I change in an experiment I change it because I want to see what will happen I should change only one thing at a time I’m in charge of it! Independent Variable = I change it

22. Today’s Important Terms: Scientific Inquiry Hypothesis Independent Variable Dependent Variable Uncontrolled Variable Control Group

23. What is a Dependent Variable? It is the data I collect It is the observation I make after testing my independent variable It is the result of my experiment It depends on what I changed Dependent Variable = Data that Depends

24. Today’s Important Terms: Scientific Inquiry Hypothesis Independent Variable Dependent Variable Uncontrolled Variable Control Group

25. What is an Uncontrolled Variable? It is a source of error It is an unexpected mistake or event in my experiment It may be unavoidable It may make my data unreliable It is generally unwanted! Uncontrolled Variable = Unexpected, Unreliable

26. Quick Quiz

27. What do you call a prediction, or educated guess? Scientific Inquiry Hypothesis Independent Variable Dependent Variable Uncontrolled Variable Control Group

28. What is the thing that I change in an experiment? Scientific Inquiry Hypothesis Independent Variable Dependent Variable Uncontrolled Variable Control Group

29. What is the thing that remains unchanged in an experiment? Scientific Inquiry Hypothesis Independent Variable Dependent Variable Uncontrolled Variable Control Group

30. What do you call the data that you collect in an experiment? Scientific Inquiry Hypothesis Independent Variable Dependent Variable Uncontrolled Variable Control Group

31. What do you call the things that may cause errors in your experiment? Scientific Inquiry Hypothesis Independent Variable Dependent Variable Uncontrolled Variable Control Group

32. What do you call the process of doing experiments to learn answers? Scientific Inquiry Hypothesis Independent Variable Dependent Variable Uncontrolled Variable Control Group

33. The Helicopter Hypothesis To practice using all these parts of scientific inquiry, you will build and test paper helicopters Your goal is to figure out what will make them stay in the air the longest

34. Hypothesis The Helicopter Hypothesis What I think will happen  Scientific Inquiry Independent Variable Dependent Variable Uncontrolled Variable Control GroupA regular helicopter  What I change  Possible mistakes  What actually happens  The entire experiment 

35. The Helicopter Hypothesis In your next lessons, you will perform the experiment and examine your data You’ll learn more about scientific inquiry by really using it!

36. Objective Students will be able to: –Define/explain several important terms used in scientific inquiry –Apply these terms in a real-life scientific inquiry challenge

37. Notes I. Notes Notes Notes A. notes notes notes notes notes notes B. notes notes notes C. notes notes notes Using your Cornell frame Main ideas Key terms Questions Cartoons - A brief summary - Connections to other things you know