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David Clater                 June 24, 2004              8th Grade Middle School Science

Science                        21 Students                  IEP, AD/HD, and LBD acceptable

Biology/Botany Biological Investigations: Teaching and Learning Science through Guided Inquiry

 

Goals and Objectives:

 

The goal of this series of lessons is to teach students about the nature of science and technology through guided inquiry, forensic investigation, and the use of laboratory specimens and equipment.  Upon completion of the lesson, students will be able to:

 

  1. Describe in writing the nature of science and technology by modeling the process of scientific investigation through systematic inquiries;
  2. Demonstrate an understanding of forensic plant pathology techniques with powdery mildew fungi (cleistothecia) using a specific identification method to prove their innocence in a mock murder investigation; and
  3. Develop skill in the use of equipment and practice with scientific method to produce replicable and documented laboratory results.

 

Students will be asked:

 

  1. To compare the forensic plant pathology observations recorded for the two different samples. Are the appendages observed on the two different samples the same or are they different?
  2. If the appendages observed on the cleistothecia found on the plant material taken from your shoelaces (murder suspect) are different from appendages on the cleistothecia found on the plant material taken from the murder victim, what does this evidence suggest?
  3. If the appendages on the cleistothecia found on the plant material taken from your shoelaces (murder suspect) are the same as the appendages on the cleistothecia found on the plant material taken from the murder victim, what does this evidence suggest?
  4. Do you need an alibi as to where you were when the murder took place? Explain.

 

Connections:

 

Learning objectives one, two, and three above all relate to Goal 1: 1.5 – 1.9; Goal 2: 2.2 and 2.4; and Goal 5: 5.1 and 5.4 of Kentucky’s Learning Goals and Academic Expectations (KLG&AE).  To meet Goal 1, students will use mathematical ideas and procedures to communicate, reason, and solve problems when they explore and model the nature of scientific investigation through directed inquiry by conducting an experiment using forensic pathology techniques and reporting their written results.  Students meet Goal 2 when they examine evidence to identify a pattern to understand past events and use fungi and plant material to predict an outcome.  Goal 5 is accomplished when students evaluate and compare plant genus to determine who the murderer is from the evidence and make decisions among available logical options.

 

The National Science Education Standards (NSES) lists guided, challenge, and open inquiry as the essential teaching principles and methods supporting the understanding of science and the nature of science. (NSES, p.105).  Students engage in directed inquiry to solve a murder mystery using scientific principles and experimentation with plants and fungi.  Before grade level 9, students are to acquire the abilities necessary to independently understand and perform scientific inquiry.

 

Context:

 

This lesson will be used to stimulate the investigative nature of students and their interest in science and biology as they use forensic plant pathology techniques with powdery mildew fungi (cleistothecia) to prove their innocence in a mock murder investigation.  In order for students to truly understand the nature of science and technology, they must model the process of scientific investigation through inquiries.  The major focus of this lesson belongs with a unit on Applications/Connections – Patterns, Systems, Scale, and Models from the Kentucky Program of Studies where students:

 

  1. Use scientific inquiry and conceptual understanding to design technological solutions to problems;
  2. Examine the interaction between science and technology;
  3. Demonstrate the role science plays in their life and explore careers in science; and
  4. Recognize that science is a process that generates conceptual understandings and solves problems.

 

The lesson forms the foundation for the unit and further study in science.  It teaches students to recognize and understand scientific concepts, the nature of science, experimentation, and scientific inquiry, and to appreciate how we know what we know through science.  The laboratory experiment provides a vehicle where science is best learned by active participation in the actual processes of exploration, discovery, and solution and the repetition, replication, and documentation of the process to enhance further study.

 

Resources:

 

Texts and Articles

 

Agrios, G. N. 1997. Plant Pathology, 4th ed. “The Powdery Mildews,” pp.295-298. Academic Press, San Diego, CA.

Carroll, J. E. 1994. Learning Biology with Plant Pathology. Ch. 8, part F "Classification of Powdery Mildews”, pp. 71-75.

 

National Association of Biology Teachers, Reston, VA.

Nameth, S. and J. Chatfield. Powdery mildews on ornamental plants. Ohio State University Extension Fact Sheet HYG-3047-96.  Available online at: http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/3000/3047.html

 

Websites

 

Powdery Mildew Fungi: Classification and Ecology.

http://www.apsnet.org/education/K-12PlantPathways/TeachersGuide/Activities/PowderyMildew/exercisepg1.htm

 

Images:  Whodunit?  CSI with powdery mildew.  Tutorial for sample collection, laboratory preparation, set-up, procedures.

http://www.apsnet.org/education/K-12PlantPathways/TeachersGuide/Activities/CSIPowderyMildew/CSI.htm

 

Printed Materials for Students

 

“Identification of Powdery Mildew Fungi” by V. Heffer, M. L. Powelson, and K. B. Johnson, Oregon State University
http://www.apsnet.org/education/LabExercises/PowderyMildew/

 

Forensic Key and Diagrams to the Genera of Powdery Mildew Fungi.  (C.B. Kenaga, E.B. Williams, and R.J. Green)

http://www.apsnet.org/education/K-12PlantPathways/TeachersGuide/Activities/CSIPowderyMildew/text/mildewkey.htm

 

Case Study Laboratory Sheet  and  Forensic Evidence Data Table – See end of page.  Click Here

 

Laboratory Report Format

 

Laboratory Experiment Method, Materials, and Equipment

 

Materials and methods – Collection and Preparation (Restricted)

Powdery Mildew Fungi: Classification and Ecology.

Procedures:

 

This is anticipated to be a three class period lesson.  Reading will be assigned, handouts distributed, and the lesson explained the day before the laboratory experiment is performed.  The laboratory experiment will take one full class and the final class will be to discuss results, observations, and conclusions.  Reference will be made to scientific method, laboratory procedures, safety, and basic biological principles related to or learned in 6th and 7th grade science to trigger prior knowledge.

 

An online website or PowerPoint presentation to involve students will be made that describes and illustrates the biological principles and laboratory methods used during the lessons.  Reading materials and handouts will be discussed to ensure students understand the lesson.  Students will be assigned to academic and culturally diverse teams of three that also match their laboratory group assignments.  This will allow motivated students to assist others in the group with both the lesson content and the laboratory.  Reference might be made to multicultural individuals who advanced science with their contributions.

 

 

Student Assessment:

 

Students will be informally and formatively assessed on their contribution to class discussions, response to questions presented during the website or PowerPoint presentation, and actively participating in the laboratory experiment.  Written and mental notations will be made for qualitatively scoring students accordingly to a scale of: 1 (fair), 2 (good), or 3 (excellent) for increasing effort and quality of discussion and response.

 

Students will be formally and summatively assessed numerically on their individual, written response to the Case Study Sheet and Forensic Evidence Data table according to completeness, accuracy, and effort.

 

Assigned groups of students will be formally and summatively assessed numerically on a final laboratory report