Índice
What do scientists do?............................................................................................................... 3
How to create a scientific project ............................................................................................. 3
Getting started............................................................................................................................. 3
1: Deciding the study field ..................................................................................................... 4
2: Choosing a mentor............................................................................................................. 4
3: Transforming the idea into a testable question and formulate a hypothesis ............ 5
4: Writing the project outline ............................................................................................... 10
5: Implementing the project................................................................................................. 12
6: Presenting the results ...................................................................................................... 12
What are the variables in a research project........................................................................ 13
Hypothesis ................................................................................................................................. 14
Method ....................................................................................................................................... 15
Data analysis ............................................................................................................................. 16
Conclusions ............................................................................................................................... 17
Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... 17
Activities: .................................................................................................................................... 19
2
What do scientists do?
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Perform observations
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Collect data
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Analyse the data
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Make predictions
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Construct theories and explanations
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Plan and conduct experiments
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Work in teams
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Publish research results
How to create a scientific project
A scientific research project contributes with new advances for science. Research is an
organized and objective way to answer a question.
Advances may be new information or new techniques for a particular scientific field.
Usually, the academic goal is to publish the results and findings in a scientific journal.
A scientific project requires time and dedication. Therefore, before starting any project,
it is necessary to bear in mind the time and work commitment that you must undertake
when participating in this type of research.
Getting started
Fundamental requirements when starting a research project:
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Have an original idea.
Being guided by someone with experience in the field.
Have family support.
Have work capacity.
For you to conduct a research project it is necessary to be resourceful and persistent.
You must be able to perform the experiments with the available resources. If there is
no laboratory available, conduct a project that does not require laboratory activity or try
to join a science summer camp where you can develop your project. If there are budget
problems, you should conduct a project that requires fewer resources or materials,
such as a mathematics or computer science project, or one involving the use of public
databases.
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There are different techniques to conduct an independent study. Some students work
with the mentor during the summer vacations or after school. Others participate in
scientific summer camps. Some projects may even be conducted at home, with or
without the help of a mentor.
1: Deciding the study field
The field of study you choose must be specific and of interest to you.
First you must choose a general field, such as biology, for example, and then choose a
more specific sub-field or issue that interests you.
How to choose the field of study:
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Choose a field that you have studied and you wish to explore further.
Use a hobby to derive inspiration for a research.
Try to answer a question you've always wanted to see answered.
Use the mentor as a source of ideas.
2: Choosing a mentor
Characteristics of the mentor:
• Work in the field you decided to study.
• Have availability to mentor you.
• Revise ideas.
• Provide literature and resources.
Why is it important to have a mentor?
Mentors can:
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Facilitate access to a laboratory where you can develop your research.
Explain more difficult concepts.
Help with common problems and give instructions on techniques and
equipment.
Provide access to materials that teach you more about your work.
Make sure you're interpreting the results properly.
Teach you how to publish the findings in a manner acceptable to the scientific
community.
Provide access to scientific journals.
Show you what is to be a scientist.
4
Where to find a mentor?
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Participate in a summer science program where you have contact with teachers
that can help you as mentors.
Talk with a university or research centre near your school.
Contact people writing scientific papers about your field of study.
Note: A mentor does not have to always be around, he/she can give support by
email or other means of communication.
How to choose a mentor?
1. Choose according to the field you're going to study.
2. Search on university websites. There are researchers used to working with
students who can help you.
3. Check the biography of those researchers, search what their field of work is,
and check if it fits your project.
4. Search for scientific papers written by possible mentors. On doing this, it is
possible for you to better know their work and confirm if it is compatible with
what you wish to study.
5. Write an e-mail to the researcher, revealing what interests you in his/her work.
In this email you must never mention that you intend him/her to be your mentor,
but you should mention your interest in the research. After asking for a meeting,
ask for more information about their work, and if they know someone who can
help with your project.
6. Ask someone to review the email.
7. Send the email and wait for reply. There may be many rejections until you find
someone to help you. You may not even get any answers. You must be
persistent and patient.
8. Schedule a meeting immediately once you receive a positive response. Take
with you your research on the work of the scientist, and prepare some
questions about their work.
9. If you get several positive responses, try to take advantage of the situation and
choose the mentor whose personality best fits yours. A good mentor-student
relationship is essential for carrying out a good work.
10. Ask if you can help the mentor's work during the summer vacations or after
school.
3: Transforming the idea into a testable question and formulate a hypothesis
After choosing the field of study and the mentor, you must limit the study field to a
question that can be tested and formulate a hypothesis.
To develop a project you need to know the "state of the art", i.e., know what is already
studied and made in the field you chose to study. To this end, we recommend you to:
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Read scientific literature on this field.
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Ask the mentor what has been studied about the subject.
Which papers to choose?
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First you should read review papers, since they give you a general idea of what
is already investigated in the field and examine the outcomes of various papers.
Then you must collect information from more specific papers, which first
reported the results, methods and data.
When a paper is cited often, special attention should be given to it.
This prior study and reading helps you to better understand the issue you want to focus
on. After consolidation it is necessary to redefine it, and to further explore the main
points of previous experiments performed by other groups.
Finally you must talk to your mentor or an expert in the field, in order to validate your
question and make sure your work is innovative, logical and feasible.
You must take into account the needs of your research work, as well as the necessary
equipment, the cost and the time it will take.
How to search for scientific literature
Reading scientific literature is a critical part of the design and implementation of a
scientific project.
Sources to search for scientific papers
When you start to work, one of the first steps is to find and read scientific literature
related to your field of interest. Typically, the most important and most scientifically
valid papers are written in English. The mentor can be a good source of
recommendations for papers that may be crucial to your work, and you should always
ask him/her which papers are the most important. To find the best scientific literature
you must use academic search means.
There are many academic search means. Some focus on a single field, while others
cover several scientific fields. Some have free online access, while others are exclusive
to universities and can only be accessed from their campuses.
The table below shows some recommended search means:
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Serviço académico de
pesquisa
URL
Disciplinas
Ficheiros de ajuda:
Google Scholar
scholar.google.com
All
scholar.google.com/intl/en/scholar/help.html
Scirus
www.scirus.com
All
www.scirus.com/html/help/index.htm
Pubmed
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed
Life Sciences
www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/disted/pubmedtutorial
IEEE Xplore
ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/guesthome.jsp Electronics
Engineering,
Computer Science
ieeexplore.ieee.org/guide/g_oview_guidepdf.jsp
National
Agricultural agricola.nal.usda.gov
Library (AGRICOLA)
Agriculture
agricola.nal.usda.gov/help/quicksearch.html
Education Resources eric.ed.gov
Information
Center
(ERIC)
Education
eric.ed.gov/WebHelp/ApplicationHelp.htm
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Some tips to help with the academic search means:
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Read the help files of the services to understand how they work.
Try different keywords so you can find the best combinations that restrict your
search to papers that really matter.
Go back and try an additional search using language and terms found in the
papers you have already read.
The results of academic search means are abstracts of papers that you can read to
determine whether the paper is relevant to your work. Then you need to find a copy of
the full paper which often is not available online.
How to get a copy of a scientific paper.
Once you have found the citation to the paper of interest, the next step is to obtain a
copy of the paper. Some search means provide links to free versions of the paper. In
the event that no free access links exist, you have the following choices:
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Check libraries of local colleges or universities.
Academic institutions such as colleges and universities often subscribe to
scientific journals. Since these libraries are accessible to the public, contact
them and find if it is possible to use their resources.
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Search for an available online version.
Search for the full title of the paper in regular search means such as Google or
Yahoo. The research may lead to many results and one of those may will be
the free available paper.
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Check the online page of the journal in which the paper was published.
Some papers are freely available online. Others become available when the
paper has been published for over a year.
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Search directly at the first or last author page.
Sometimes the first or last author offers the pdf of papers for download on their
websites.
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Search the paper (by author or title) on a scientific database.
The following table shows the databases that contain free versions of papers:
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Bases de dados
NASA Scientific
Information (STI)
SOA/NASA
System
arXiv
and
URL
Technical www.sti.nasa.gov/STI-publichomepage.html
Astrophysics
Data adswww.harvard.edu/
Disciplinas
Aerospace engineering
Astronomy and Physics
arxiv.org/
Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Biology,
Finance and Statistics
CiteSeerX
citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/
Computer Science
Public Library of Science (PLOS)
www.plos.org/search.php
Life Sciences
High Wire Press
highwire.stanford.edu/lists/freeart.dtl
Life Sciences
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Purchase a copy of the paper.
Depending on the journal where it was published, it is possible to buy a copy of
the paper. This is the most expensive option, especially if you want to read
several papers, so use this as a last resort.
How to search for old papers (pre-internet)
Even with all the previous means, it may not be possible to find a copy of a paper,
especially if it is older, published before the online contents became a reality. In such
cases there are other ways of obtaining the paper for free or at reduced cost:
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Contact the author via email.
The first and the last authors of the paper are the best bets to ask for the paper
in question. Explain that you want to conduct a scientific project and ask for the
paper directly from the author. Be friendly, polite and brief in your e-mail.
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Check the libraries of local schools or universities.
Academic institutions such as colleges and universities often subscribe to
scientific journals. Since these libraries are accessible to the public, contact
them and find if it is possible to use their resources.
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Contact your mentor
Ask for the mentor's help. Use this option as a last resort, since the request can
be forgotten in the midst of the things he/she will have to do.
4: Writing the project outline
After formulating the question, you need to write a project outline, that is, to write down
the ideas, questions and tasks in a way that can be assessed and improved over time.
The next step is to show that outline to the mentor or family. The mentor can give
his/her views on the expected results, improve the experimental procedures or give
other useful advices. Family members can help with the overall structure, logic and
clarity of ideas.
The outline is something that is interactive and is always evolving. The first draft is far
from being the final project.
The outline should include 5 sections:
Introduction
The introduction describes the "state of the art" i.e., what is already done on the subject
you will study. You must use the papers you studied as references in this description.
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The introduction should also include the description and the reason for the choice of
the species or system that you are using/studying.
In the end you should place the question to which you want to get an answer, explain
how you intend to get to that answer, and what hypotheses are you raising.
It is important to quote the scientific papers that you use as you write, and list them in
the references.
Methods
This section should include a list of the tasks to be performed, i.e., you must present in
detail the experiences and observations that you intend to perform.
The description of the methods must be very detailed and include:
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Where and when the research will take place.
Which controls you are going to use for the research.
How long will each procedure take.
What materials and equipment will be needed.
What method you are going to use.
It is important at this stage to think about, and write down, how you will evaluate and
analyse the data (learn to treat your data with statistical formulas, think about what
types of charts to use to present the data, etc.)
In the end, it is necessary to go back and check if all methods are achievable, and if
the experiments are adequate to your study.
Expected Results
At this stage you should try to predict what will happen in the experience, and try to
understand what results you will obtain. You can use images and tables of what you
expect to obtain, and try to interpret these data
Relevance
Explain the relevance of your work, that is, the importance of your research project for
the advance of science in the field you are studying.
References
In this section you must cite all relevant sources you used in the development of the
project.
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5: Implementing the project
The outline will serve as a guide for the implementation of the project. During the
implementation of the project, it is important that you take detailed notes of everything
you do.
As you collect the data, it is important to analyse them, and verify if they contribute to
answering to your problem.
All data are important. They help you check if you are on the right track, and in some
cases they can disprove the hypothesis. In this case, it is important to bear in mind that
not having results is also a result.
As you obtain data you may feel the need to change the method and verify that the one
you have been using is not the most appropriate.
Steps 4 and 5 can be changed as you progress in the project, and once one is
changed you should always change the other.
6: Presenting the results
Once the experimental phase and data analysis is complete, it is time to present your
results. You can do it in an oral presentation, a paper or a poster, or even use all three
forms.
Regardless of the way you present the end result, the data should be shown in a
format that is used and recognized by other scientists within the field, i.e., you must use
a scientific language. In general, charts, figures and tables should appear as they do in
the papers of the study field. Your mentor may be a good critic and an excellent
support.
Once you have the data collected and ready to present, you must train your
presentation skills and/or review all your written communication. Parents, teachers and
mentor can help you better train your writing and speaking skills, in order to prevent a
poor communication from weakening a good research work.
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What are the variables in a research project
Scientists use experiments to determine the cause/effect relationship in nature. In other
words, they design experiences in which they change something in order to verify if the
effect is different from what happens in nature.
That "something" that scientists change is called a variable. A variable is a factor or
condition that can exist in different amounts or shapes. In an experiment there are
three kinds of variables: independent, dependent and controlled.
An independent variable is one that is changed by the scientist - i.e., the scientist
changes the independent variable and observes what happens.
The scientist focuses his/her observations on the dependent variables to see how they
respond to the change in the independent variable. The new values of the dependent
variables are therefore caused by changes in the independent variables.
For example, in one experiment we can alter the pH (independent variable) of an
aquarium and check the weight and length (dependent variables) of the fish.
An experiment also has controlled variables. Controlled variables are quantities that the
scientist maintains constant. That is, in the previous example, the controlled variables
are temperature and density.
In a good experiment the scientist must be able to measure the values of each
variable. Mass is an example of an easily measurable variable. However, if the variable
is love there is no scale to measure it. We have to believe that someone loves another
but we will never be sure. You should therefore try to use measurable variables.
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Hypothesis
After meticulously researching the question you want to study, you should have a
reasoned prediction of the behaviour of the system. This reasoned prediction is called
the hypothesis.
The hypothesis must be set forth so that it can be tested in the experiment. That is, you
must express the hypothesis using the independent variable and the dependent
variables. For example, if the independent variable x changes, then there will also be
changes in the y and z variables (dependent).
Returning to the previous example, one hypothesis would be: changing the salinity of
the water (independent variable) causes a change in weight and fish growth
(dependent variables).
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Method
After the hypothesis is formulated, it is necessary to develop an experimental
procedure to test if the hypothesis is true or false.
The first step to develop the experimental procedure is to plan the change in the
independent variable, and how to measure the impact of this change in the dependent
variables. To guarantee a true test make sure that the independent variable is the only
variable to be changed and that all controlled variables remain constant. Only then can
you be sure that it is the change of the independent variable that actually causes
changes in the dependent variables.
Scientists test these changes several times (multiple replicates) to guarantee that the
results are consistent. That is, each time the experiment is repeated with the same
value for the independent variable, similar results are expected. This guarantees that
the answer to the question is not an accident. A replicate is every time the experiment
is performed. So, the experimental procedure must specify how many replicates are
intended to be performed. You must repeat the experiment at least three times.
However, it is advisable to repeat it more than three times, since the more times you do
it, the more the user errors will be diluted.
In many cases you can make all replicates at once. When you are experimenting with
plants, for example, you can grow three identical plants in separate vases under the
same conditions and thus count each one as a replicate.
When experiments involve testing or researching different groups of people, there is no
need to repeat the experiment many times. However, make sure you research enough
people so that the results are reliable.
All sound experimental procedures also compare the different groups of replicates with
each other. This comparison guarantees that the changes really are due to the change
in the independent variable.
There are two types of replicates: experimental replicates and control replicates.
The experimental group consists of replicates in which the independent variable is
changed. For example, when changing the pH of the medium where a fish lives.
The control group is when the independent variable is left under natural conditions. i.e.,
the pH of the medium in which the fish live is not changed.
Whether or not having a control group, your experience will always have controlled
variables. Controlled variables are those that you do not want to change when
performing the experiment, and must always be the same in all replicates and all
groups of replicates. For example, in the fish experiment, the controlled variables are
salinity and temperature.
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Key elements of an experimental procedure
• Describe all experimental and control groups.
• List all the tasks of your experience step by step.
• Specify how you will change the independent variable, and how to measure this
change.
• Explain how you will measure changes in the dependent variables.
• Show how to keep the controlled variables at a constant value.
• Report how many times you intend to repeat the experience.
• Allow for anyone to repeat the experiment in the exact same way.
Data analysis
Overview
It takes some time to carefully review all the data obtained from the experimental
procedures. Using tables and charts is a good method to help you analyse the data
and search for patterns.
You must examine the data and use them to strengthen your theory.
Calculations and data summary
It is often necessary to perform calculations using raw data to obtain results that will
lead to a conclusion. Programs such as Microsoft Excel can be a good tool to perform
the calculations and order the results. You should always use appropriate titles for
columns and rows and never forget to include the units (grams, litres, etc. . .).
An experiment should have several assays. After obtaining several results from these
assays, it is necessary to decide the best way to treat these data. Will it be better to
use the average of the assays, gather all the results like ratios, percentages, standard
deviations, or is it useful to check the results as a unit?
The use of formulas, statistical or not, help you to treat the data and to better
understand them.
Charts
Charts are a great way to show and group the results.
For each chart type:
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Generally the independent variable is in the X-axis (horizontal) and the
dependent variable in the Y-axis (vertical).
You must always put a title on the axes of your chart - never forget to include
the units of measurement (l, m, g).
When there is more than a set of data, show each series with a different colour
or symbol and include a legible title.
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Different experiences require different types of charts. The following are some
examples of possible charts that you can use, depending on the experience you
perform:
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A bar chart can be used to compare different assays or different groups of
experiences. It can also be a good choice if the independent variable is not
numeric.
A time chart is useful when the dependent variable is numeric and the
independent variable is a time scale.
A line chart shows the relationship between the dependent variable and the
independent variable when both are numeric.
A scatter plot is appropriate if the intention is to show how two variables relate
to each other.
Conclusions
Overview
Conclusions should summarize the results of the project, whether they support or
contradict your original hypothesis. You can include some data from the literature to
help explain the results.
If results show that the hypothesis is false?
If the results do not support your hypothesis, you must not change or manipulate the
results to support the hypothesis; simply explain why the results are not as expected.
This kind of results sometimes happen to scientists, and they are reused to devise new
hypotheses. If additional experiments are needed, you must describe what are the
perspectives for future work.
Abstract
An abstract is a shortened version of the final project. Usually it is at the beginning of
the scientific paper.
Typically an abstract comprises:
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Introduction: Where the reason of the project is described, and why people
should be interested in it. Does it explain something that may cause change of
thought in people about a subject? Was something discovered or was a better
method developed, faster or more affordable than the existing ones? It is
necessary to motivate the reader to read the abstract until the end and then
read the entire project.
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Aim: Identifies the problem that the work addresses or the hypothesis that it is
being researched.
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Method: What are the approaches you have chosen to investigate your
problem. Do not go into detail about the materials, unless they are crucial for
the success of the research. Describe the most important variables, if you have
space.
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Results: What answers did you get? Be specific and use concrete data to
describe the results. Do not use vague terms such as "some" or "most".
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Conclusions: Describe the contribution of the work to the field you are
researching. Did you achieve the goals?
Aspects to avoid:
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Terms that are too technical.
Abbreviations or acronyms that are not understandable or that you have not
previously mentioned.
Abstracts should not have references or quotes.
Abstracts should not have charts or tables.
Why is the abstract important?
The abstract helps the reader to quickly understand whether he/she has interest in
reading the full project. Consequently, to enthusiasm the public with the project, you
must write an abstract that can interest those who are reading.
As the abstract is short, each section should contain one or two long sentences.
Therefore, each word is important to describe the message. If a word is boring or
vague you should try to find one that best defines what you are doing. If a word does
not add something important you should not use it. Even with a short text you must
highlight the key points, writing them in more than one section and in different ways.
How to comply with the word limit.
Most authors agree that it is more difficult to write a short description than a long one. A
tip is not to worry with the word limit in the first draft. You should only be concerned
with writing all the key points. Afterwards reread the draft and take out everything that
is in excess or repeated or that simply does not matter. Search for places where you
may join sentences. Reread the abstract after some time. With "clean" eyes you can
detect more places where you can cut words or phrases.
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Activities:
"Sound Cups"
Level of education: 10th, 11th and 12th grades
Duration: 45 min
The plastic cups are excellent resonance chambers, allowing simple objects to produce
a mysterious sound. Simply through careful observations, the students will be able to
build matching plastic sound cups. The may be able to produce a corresponding sound
using different objects from those contained in the original cups.
Materials:
• Opaque plastic cups (3 per student)
• Adhesive tape
• Small objects to put inside the cups (For example: paper, paper clips, coins, pins,
marbles, rubber bands, yarn, cotton balls, cotton swabs, rings, smaller cups)
• A tray for each table
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Preparation (60 min):
Choose how you want students to work, in pairs or in groups. If you choose work in
pairs, you must prepare 2 identical sets of a single type of sound - for example, make 2
pairs of cups containing straws, 2 pairs of cups containing a coin, 2 pairs of cups
containing rings, etc. If you choose group work (4 elements), you must organize four
identical sets of a single type of sound - for example, make four pairs of cups
containing straws, etc. Put the object(s) in a cup, place another cup over it, with the
bottom facing up and close (join the cups) with tape. Prepare another set exactly equal
to the first (with the same type of sound) before starting to prepare cups with different
types of sounds. While preparing the sound cups, place, in each tray, samples of the
used objects. Prepare a "sound cup" for each student.
Method:
1. Give a "sound cup" to each student. Ask students to listen carefully and then to
find a colleague who has a cup that seems to have the same sound. You can
choose to do the first part of the activity in silence.
2. Ask students to hear the sounds from each other, and sit down with the
colleague that they think has a cup that produces the same sound.
3. Once students find their matches they will work together to try to build a cup
with the same sound. For this purpose they will use the materials provided in
the trays. Put a tray of materials on each table (or in multiple workstations).
Students can talk between them but they cannot open the original cups.
4. Once students have finished building the new "sound cup", each pair will
present their work. They must demonstrate the sound of the original cups,
talking about the perception they had and how they decided to build the "sound
cup" that matched the original. It is important that students share the thought
process they developed up to the decision making.
5. As each pair presents their work, make a list of words used by the students to
describe the sounds while demonstrating them.
Dealing with the proposals of the students:
The students will want to know if it is "right". In science we often are not able to appeal
to a higher authority, and we must rely on our observations and experiences to answer
the questions. This can be frustrating for students but it is important to emphasize this
crucial issue of the scientific process.
Reflection:
•
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Do the pairs have similar sounds? Could you find somebody whose cup sounds
like your cup? What observations did you do to get to your pair? Why?
How does the cup built by the pair sound compared to the originally supplied
cup? What led you to build this theory?
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•
•
What does this sound remind you of? Describe how you built the cup with the
similar sound? What were your experiences to achieve that cup? What did you
observe?
What was the material that worked out? What observations support your
theory?
"Pieces of the Puzzle"
Level of education: 10th, 11th and 12th grades
Duration: 45 min
This activity demonstrates the importance of obtaining a large amount of data and
sharing the results with the scientific community.
Materials:
• An image, which may be a photograph of a landscape, an animal, a person, or other
real object
• Scissors, 8 envelopes and 1 pencil
Preparation (30-40 minutes)
Cut the image into eight equal rectangles (as illustrated above). Cut each rectangular
section into at least 20 pieces of random shape (as illustrated above). Write the section
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number on the back of each piece and put the pieces in an envelope. Write the
corresponding number on the envelope.
Method:
1. Divide the class into eight groups of researchers. Tell each group that they are
now part of a research team.
2. Each team receives an envelope and each envelope contains only a part of the
picture.
3. Each team will be allowed to take 5 pieces of the envelope and observe them
carefully. Each group should then try to determine what is represented in the
image. They must record the proposal and explain the factors that allow them to
justify the prediction they presented.
4. Once this stage is complete, they should take 5 more pieces from the envelope.
Now, the team has 10 pieces to examine. Do they wish to change the original
proposal, or add more details? Again, they must register and explain what
factors justify this new proposal.
5. Finally, let the teams take 3 more pieces from the envelope and present the last
proposal.
6. Each of the 8 groups makes an oral presentation explaining what they think the
image can represent and what factors led them to consider that possibility.
7. After seeing all the pieces, which all teams took out of the envelopes, they must
reformulate the final answer.
Reflection:
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•
•
•
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Did the analysis of the image fragments make you think and create a hypothesis?
The observations you made helped you to create new theories or to consolidate the
one you already had?
Were your findings inferred from your observations?
The findings and theories that other groups presented helped you to complete your
theory? Did you agree with all their observations? Did their theories deserve criticism?
On performing this activity, what stages of the research process did you go by?
Science is a puzzle
Level of education: 10th, 11th and 12th grades
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Curricular coordination: Aspects of the activity of scientific research, on the nature of
building scientific knowledge, and on science as a human endeavour.
Duration: 45 min
Figure 1. - The final solution with all pieces of the "puzzle"
Figure 2 - The first final solution (without the square).
This activity is targeted at high school students and promotes reflection about the
nature of science, and also shows the importance of students being active participants
in the learning process.
Materials:
•
Print figure 1 on cardboard or thick paper, making enough copies for students to
work individually.
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ScissorsMethod: Give to each student the pieces of the "puzzle” except the square
marked with the circle.
1. Ask students to join the pieces in order to make a square.
2. While trying to put the pieces together you can explain to them that each
puzzle piece represents a datum and/or a set of scientific data, and its
whole (the final square) represents a scientific model or a scientific
result.
3. When students reach the final solution (Figure 2), distribute the square
marked with the circle and ask them to remake the square incorporating
this piece. You should remark that this piece represents a new scientific
discovery.
4. Probably, at this stage, some of the students have difficulty in finding a
solution or tend to redo the initial square. At this stage, encourage them
to work in small groups in order to reach the solution (Figure 1).
Questions for reflection during this activity:
This activity allows the reflection concerning the characteristics inherent to the process
of experimentation in scientific research:
We may suggest that students discuss the similarities between the construction of the
puzzle and "making" Science.
Experimentation, trial and error, are common stages during scientific research and
often cause frustration and anger reactions in scientists (these stages and reactions
were experienced during the construction of the puzzle activity). On the other hand,
when a plausible solution is reached, the challenge is attained, as the students felt
during the activity.
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Additional information:
The reflection about the nature of science:
1. Creativity
2. Peer collaboration
3. Scientific Theory and Model
4. Empirical nature of science,
(experimentation, trial and error)
tentative
nature
of
knowledge
With this activity we create conditions for students to be creative, and we provided a
conducive atmosphere so that students are not afraid to try and make mistakes, to
experiment (empirical and tentative nature of scientific knowledge), sharing (peer
collaboration) and reflect. Common actions during the process of scientific research.
On the other hand, when asked to add a piece (a new scientific datum, a new
evidence) students will "undo" the theoretical model (which they had proposed with the
initial data) and will have to build a different model because of the new evidence. This
means that new data can produce new models and therefore new theories (scientific
knowledge is modified in light of new evidence).
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