1. Identify questions that can be answered through scientific investigations.

Ability to :

• Refine and refocus broad/ill-defined questions
• Identify and create testable questions
• Identify underlying concepts related to testable questions

2. Design and conduct a scientific investigation.

Ability to:

• Make systemic observations
• Accurately measure
• Identify variables
• Control variables
• Design investigations
• Interpret data (See #5)
• Generate explanations based on evidence (See #4)
• Propose alternate explanations (See #6)
• Critique explanations & procedures (See #6)

3. Use appropriate tools and techniques to gather, analyze, and interpret data.

Ability to:

• Choose appropriate tools to answer a question or do an experiment
• Use computers for collection, summary & display of evidence.

4. Develop descriptions, explanations, predictions and models using evidence.

Ability to:

• Propose an explanation based on observations
• Differentiate explanation from description (providing causes for effects and establishing relationships)

5. Think critically and logically to make the relationships between evidence and explanations.

Ability to:

• Define appropriate data to use in explanation
• Account for anomalous data
• Review and summarize data from a simple experiment and form a logical conclusion about the cause-and-effect relationships in experiment
• Begin to state some explanations in terms of the relationship between two or more variables.

6. Recognize and analyze alternative explanations and predictions.

Ability to:

• Listen to and respect the explanations proposed by other students
• Remain open to and acknowledge different ideas and explanations
• Be able to accept skepticism of others
• Consider alternate explanations

7. Communicate scientific procedures and explanations.

Ability to:

• Communicate experimental methods
• Describing observations
• Summarizing results of others
• Communicate explanations

8. Use mathematics in all aspect of scientific inquiry.

Ability to:

• Gather, organize and present data
• Use mathematics in structuring convincing explanations