Title
Scientific Method Unit Timeline

Grade Level
10-12 Biology

Protocol
Birds

Abstract
This unit will be used at the very beginning of the school year to introduce the scientific method. The unit will take about 12 days. We will go through notes over scientific method and various activities to reinforce each step of the method. I will incorporate a bird study at the end of the unit to have the students go through an entire experiment and lab write-up. The students will need to be familiar with common birds first, which we will spend a few days working on. Then the classes will be put into groups of 3 to think of a research question they want to answer involving birds and their abundance or diversity in the schoolyard. The students will need to develop a hypothesis and an experimental design to begin. They will have 2 days in class to collect data and then they will analyze their data and write a formal lab report.

Author
Jenny Fetters
Mountain View High School

AZ Standards

• S1C1: PO2 Develop questions from observations that transition into testable hypotheses.
• S1C1: PO3 Formulate a testable hypothesis.
• S1C2:PO2 Identify the resources needed to conduct an investigation.
• S1C2:PO3 Design an appropriate protocol for testing a hypothesis.
• S1C2:PO4 Conduct a scientific investigation that is based on a research design.
• S1C2:PO5 Record observation, notes, etc using charts, graphs, etc.
• S1C3: PO2, PO4, PO7 Evaluate whether data supports hypothesis, identify possible errors, and propose further investigations.
• S1C4:PO2, PO3 Produce graphs that communicate data clearly and logically
• S1C4:PO1, PO3 Communicate results clearly and logically

View this Lesson
Click here to view this lesson. (You must have the Adobe Acrobat reader installed on your computer to read this file.)