Data and explanations
Activities
| Ideas | Activities |
|---|---|
d, e, f, h, k | Germ Theory of Disease - John Snow |
d, e, f | The Story of the Discovery of Contact Infection by Semmelweis |
b | Testing the placebo effect |
i, j | Natural selection in Lake Malawi |
a, j | Examining evidence for the effect of carbon dioxide on the temperature - cpdn |
a, b, c, i | Controversial science |
g, j | Dialogue concerning the origin of the universe |
c, k, l | We should be so lucky |
h | Modelling scientific research with playing cards |
a, b | Measurement errors |
1. Germ Theory of Disease - John Snow
This activity is for use in class with alternative reading and discussion of a question. It teaches an interesting and important story in the history of the Germ Theory of Disease. It also introduces some key ideas about how a scientific theory develops. These will be expanded and reinforced later in the course.
Teacher Notes and Student Sheets (
, 30 KB)
2. Semmelweiss
(estimated time: 45 minutes)This extract from 'The Century of the Surgeon' by Jurgen Thorwald is a full version of the story of Semmelweis. The activity expects the student to read a substantial passage, and then answer some questions.
Activity (
, 87 KB)
3. Testing the placebo effect
The effectiveness of many CAM therapies is often ascribed by sceptics to the 'placebo effect'. In this activity students carry out a short experiment on their peers into the placebo effect.
Teacher Notes and Student Sheets (, 10 KB)
4. Natural Selection in Lake Malawi
In this short DART activity students are asked to distinguish explanations from evidence in a passage about the evolution of chichlid fish in Lake Malawi.
Teacher Notes and Student Sheets (, 26 KB)
5. Examining evidence for the effect of carbon dioxide on the temperature – cpdn
This activity from the climate prediction.net site looks at the uncertainty in some information about past climate. It shows how a set of different pieces of evidence together provide support for a theory.
Student Information (, 618 KB)
Teachers notes (, 107 KB)
6. Controversial Science? Investigating climate change online
In this exercise the teacher takes the role of advocate for the idea that there is nothing significant in global climate change that should be attributed to human activity.
Teacher Notes and Student Sheets (, 81 KB)
Powerpoint presentation (
, 454 KB)
7. Dialogue concerning the Origin of the Universe
This activity requires the students to consider the basic ideas of the Big Bang hypothesis in a novel form that links back to Galileo's dialogues.
Teacher Notes and Students Sheets (, 42 KB)
8. We should be so lucky
This activity allows students to read an article about the possibility of extra-terrestrial life and to criticise some of the assumptions and arguments used in the debates.
Teacher Notes and Student Sheets (, 37 KB)
9. Modelling scientific research with playing cards
This activity is one way of using a pack of playing cards to model the process of scientific research through observation, generating hypotheses and then testing the hypotheses until a rule is found that fits all the observations. It was written by Tom Mc Goldrick who is an SPU teacher at City and Islington College, London.
Teacher notes and student sheets (, 174 KB)
10. Measurement errors
Some ideas for a quick activity to demonstrate the inherent error in any measurement, using thermometers, watches or rulers. It shows how even a simple measurement is subject to both random and systematic error.
Teacher Notes (, 104 KB)