Best Practices in Teaching Science:

    Hands-on activities that include
    -students identifying their own real questions
    about natural phenomena

    -observation activity, often designed by
    students, aimed at real discovery, employing
    a wide range of process skills

    -students hypothesizing to explain data

    -information provided to explain data only
    after students have engaged in the
    investigation process
 
    -students’ reflection to realize concepts and
    processes learned

    -application, either to social issues or further
    scientific questions                        

    Focus on underlying concepts about how
    natural phenomena are explained:

    Questioning, thinking, and problem solving
    especially:
    -being skeptical, willing to question common
    beliefs
    -accepting ambiguity when data isn’t decisive             
    -willing to modify explanations, open to
    changing one’s opinion

    -using logic, planning inquiry, hypothesizing,
    inferring

    Active application of science learning to
    contemporary technological issues and social
    choices

    In-depth study of a few important thematic
    topics


    Curiosity about nature and positive attitudes
    toward science for all students, including
    females and members of minority groups

    Integration of reading, writing, and math into
    a science unit

    Collaborative small-group work, with training
    to ensure it is efficient and includes learning
    for all group members

    Teacher facilitating students’ investigative
    steps

    Evaluation that focuses on scientific concepts,
    processes, and attitudes



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