the Big Bang and the Formation of the Earth, Science Graduation Standard #5-- Constructing Scientific Explanations
Essential Questions:
~How do scientific explanations differ from opinions? ~How do scientists develop good scientific explanations? ~How did the Solar System form? ~How old is the Earth? ~How did the early Earth evolve and change?
Class Notes and Activity Guides
Claim-Evidence-Reasoning:
Claim: A statement of a student’s understanding about a phenomenon or about the results of an investigation
A one-sentence answer to the question you investigated
It answers, what can you conclude?
It should not start with yes or no.
Evidence: Scientific data used to support the claim Evidence must be:
Sufficient—Use enough evidence to support the claim.
Appropriate—Use data that support your claim. Leave out information that doesn’t support the claim.
Qualitative, Quantitative, or a combination of both.
Reasoning: Ties together the claim and the evidence
Shows how or why the data count as evidence to support the claim.
Provides the justification for why this evidence is important to this claim.
Includes one or more scientific principles that are important to the claim and evidence.
Where did dogs come from? worksheet on Claim-Evidence Reasoning
The Big Bang: Download and open this document: "What is the Big Bang?". It contains links to websites and videos, and some questions to answer. You can answer the questions digitally, or you can print them off and write your answers by hand.
Notes: the Big Bang, and the Evolution of the Universe
Videos that explain the Big Bang and the evolution of the Universe after the Big Bang. Formative Assessment: Constructing Explanations/Claim-Evidence-Reasoning for the Big Bang
Our Universe: How Big is "Big"? How Small is "Small"? Watch this video (Powers of 10) and be amazed by how incomprehensible our Universe is.
How to Build an Atom: document that explains how to build different chemical elements using Play-Doh, and how the process of nuclear fusion powers the Sun.