DOCUMENT RESUME ED 040 086 SE 008 854 kUTHOR Van Deventer, William C.; Duyser, Lucille r;- '"LF Idea-Centered Laboratory Science (I-CLS), [Unit] C, How a Scientist Expects His World To Behave. TV,TITUTION Grand Rapids Public Schools, Mich.: Western Michigan Univ., Kalamazoo. PUB DATt' 69 NOT 65p. FDPS PRICE FDPS Price MF-$0.E0 PC-$3.35 DESCRIPTORS *Curriculum, *Fusel Curriculum, Instruction, *Thstructional Materials, Interdisciplindry Approach, * Science Activities, *Secondary Schc,l Science, Teaching Guides ABSTRACT The major ideas of this unit are: consistency and uniformity, cause and effect, and parsimony. Laboratory experiences consist of investigations into: projecting expectations, moon and stars, the relationships among different kinds of change (daily, monthly, anneal temperature changes), force and motion, chemical reactions, superstitions, origin of the Earth, origin of life, pebbles, cobbles, boulders, and two theories of evolution. The laboratory experiences in this unit, as in all I-CLS units, are inquiry related and designed primarily to develop an understanding of how a scientist expects his world to behave. The format for each laboratory experience is 3S follows: Introduction, Materials and Equipment, Collecting Data, and Follow -up. (BP) S. Z4PAITMENI Ot MEIN. IIIIKAIIONaWELFARE -109- OFFICE Of EDUCATION IDEA-COTE:REV' LABORATORY SCIENCE INIS DOCUMENT NILS KIN RIPRODUCID IILACItY AS RICPV1DFROM iht PERSON 011 016AMIATION 01161110116 ti POINTS Of VIEW OR OPINIONS (I CLS) STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT OFFICIAL OFFICE OfEDUCATION 105111011 011 POLICY. C. How a Scientist Expects HisWorld to Behave A scientist believes that the world whichhe has found is an orderly world. It follows definite patterns. The description of these patterns %g) constitute natural laws. If there are things in theworld that he does not understand, he expects that further discoveries willbring understanding, and that nothing will be brought to light that doesnot fit with the patterns CD already discovered. CD Q Furthermore= if he were able to go out andexplore the whole universe cm (other galaxies, other suns, other planetary systems) hebelieves that he would not find anything that followed a set ofnatural laws contrary to thenatural laws that our world follows.New natural laws might be discoveredwith the accumulation of new knowledge, but these could be understood onthe basis of what we already know. A scientist expects the world to behaveconsistently and uniformly. He expects effects to result from discoverable causes,and that a particular cause will always be followed by the same or anunderstandably related effect. Science abhors unique events--things that happen(or happened) only once, and never again. Science attempts to explain the physical worldwithout resorting to the occurrence of unique events, or events that occurwithout material causes. I-CLS Behave Unit C. How a ScientistExpects His World to Table of Contents Pale Idea of Conbistency andUniformity C.1. 110 Idea Bridge: A Dependable and Predictable"orid 110 Laboratory Experience C.1.a. Projecting Our Expectations 112 Laboratory Experience C.1.b.The Moon and Stars Rinds Laboratory Experience C.1.c. Relationships Among Different 118 of Change: Daily, Monthly and AnnualTemperature Changes Idea of Cause and Effect C.2. 122 Idea Bridge: Why Do Things Happen 123 Laboratory Experience C.2.a. Force and Motion 125 Laboratory Experience C.2.b. Chemical Reactions 127 Laboratory Experience C.2.c.Superstitions Idea of Parsimony C.3. 130 Idea Bridge: How to Resolve Dilemmas 131 Laboratory Experience C.3.a. Origin of the Earth Laboratory Experience C.3.b. Origin of Life:The Story of an 140 Idea 150 Laboratory Experience C.3.c. Pebbles, Cobbles and Boulders 153 Laboratory Experience C.3.d. Two Theories of Evolution -110- Idea of Consistency and Uniformity C.1. Idea Bridge: A Dependable and Predictable World A scientist believes that theworld which he has found is a dependable world. The discoverable past and thepredictable future follow the same pattern discover tiro past as the observable present. Therefore he feels that he can and predict the future by studyingand knowing the present, the universe From this concept comes the wholepicture of the world and It has that science has put together. All natural law is based onit. almost completely replaced the view ofthe world that was heldbefore the days This of modern science, in which magicand miracle played a majorpart. in the past change in view has taken place in the past500 years; much of it 100 or even 50 years. LABORATORY EXPERIENCE C.l.a. Projecting Our Expectations Introduction: particular place, why If you put a book or anarticle of clothing in a What is your reaction do you expect to find it therewhen you need it again? Why? if you do not find it there?How do you explain itsnot being there? to find your house on You expect the sun to riseeach morning, and you expect the same side of the street asit was the night before. You expect the direction you take to go toschool to be the same. It would be disconcerting if it were not. idea that the sun Once there was a sciencefiction story based on the to happen, think ofall failed to rise one morning. If this were actually consternation that it the terrible things that wouldresult from it, and the would the failure would cause.Aside from all of theseresults, however, why of a regularly recurring commonevent like this bedisconcerting? Materials and Equipment: Sites where erosion is takingplace in nature ( onthe school ground, along roadsides, at constructionsites, et cetera) Maps showing drainage patterns A relief model or map ofNorth America Sand table (if available) Collecting Data: that you normally depend In a typical day in yourlife, list the things Why do you expect them on happening just asthey have happened before. way? What is the probability to happen? How long havethey happened in this change? Why? Why not? of their changing? A slowchange? A sudden, abrupt What kinds of things do people in general expect tocontinue to happen as they have always happened? List as manyof these things as you can think of. What is the Principle of Consistency? How is it related tothe existence of natural laws?What would the world be like if it did notoperate? Observe the results of erosion caused by running water on a oixtrite or a cutbank at the edge of a road. Look for examples of water erosion at the site of new construction. Can you find any results of erosion on yourschool ground? Where else can you find such results? Set up a sand table (if you have one available) in the laboratory,sad use it to study the effects of water erosion.' Makeimaginary mountaiDel and see how erosion wears them down. (Note: This work with a sand table me:rbe omitted if the effects of erosion have been observedoutdoors.) Etudy relief maps and models. How are stream valleys formed? What is the difference between a young valley and an old vain Bey? Between e youni stream and an old stream? Relate these things to the arcisioneifects that you have observed on a smaller scale. Do the same kinds of things takeplace in an eroded field teke pace on a larger scale in streamvalleys? 3tudy a relief map of North America. Where are the youngest mountains? The oldest mountains? How do they differ. from one another?How can you tell that one is older than the other? Why? What is the Principle of Uniformity (Uniformitarianism)?How does it serve to explain the features of the landscapethat we see around us? What are some examples of the operation of thePrinciple of Uniformity other than attempting to explain the development of the features ofthe earth's surface? What is the relationship of the Principle of 4nitormityto the Principle of Consistency? Are they different aspects of the samething? Could we have one operating without the other? Why orwhy not? Follow-Up: Have you ever been in a town or other place afterhaving been there one or more times before, and found yourself"turned around" or disoriented--that is, the streets appear to run in a different directionfrom the way you re- membered them, or houses appear to have been"moved across the street," facing in a direction opposite to the way you remembered them.Usually the disorienta- tion occurs most frequently if you come into the place atnight, or if your second visit is in the daytime after you were there at night thefirst time. Why do you think this is?Sometimes also one may become disoriented on a cloudy day. Why? Why is this experience an uncomfortable one? How is the disconcerting nature of it related to the Principle of Consistency? Read Indian legends and stories about the origin of the Grand Canyon. How do scientists explain the origin of the Grand Canyon? -112- LABORATORY EXPERIENCE C.1.b. The Moon and Stars Introduction: Astronomy is the oldest of the sciences. We have no way of knowing when man first observed the regular recurrenceof the phases of the moonand the apparent movements of the stars, but we do knowthat some of the very earliest records that we have deal vtth the use of suchobservations to distinguish seasons and make primitive calendars. There is reason to believethat primitive man's first idea of a "year" was really a "moon." He marked the passageof time by counting lunar cycles (the changes of the moon's phasesfrom the time it is "full" until it is "full" again) before he counted seasonal cycles(spring, summer, fall, winter) as we do now. In some parts of the worldthe seasonal changes are less clearly distinguishable. The phases of the moon arethere for everybody to see. The stars are there to see, too.Their patterns have alwaysfascinated those who have looked at them.