Real Science!
	SNAPSHOT "How did you choose your subjects, Joe?" The message appears on Joe's screen from one of the student scientists in the group from Nebraska. He quickly types his response and then goes on to his second point, that the average heart rate after exercise among the football team was higher than that of the track team. Joe is defending his experiment involving heart rates to students in his science class and to three other students in three other states who have conducted a similar experiment. The task today was to compare scientific models and explain their results. UNIT OF PRACTICE Invitation How do scientists use collaboration and authentication in their work? What makes a good experiment? How do we give students the opportunity to develop and conduct their own experiments and carry out high level discussions with other students who attempt to replicate their findings? This unit explores these questions in projects that put students in the role of scientists conducting real experiments. Situation: This unit takes place in science classrooms and in the computer lab. Tasks Students design science experiments that answer a question related to a topic they are studying in class. They develop an hypothesis, test their hypothesis, and draw conclusions based on their experiments. They write up their experiments and use HotLine to exchange lab reports. Students replicate each other's experiments for authentication. The activity concludes with an online (chat) discussion of their findings. Interactions Students in each class work in pairs or small groups to design and carry out their experiments. Class-to-class partners are created, and after the groups have exchanged their lab reports, each collaborative group conducts an online "symposium" to discuss their findings. Standards This unit is supported by National Science Teachers Association standards which call for students to develop knowledge and skills in science, technology, and mathematics, and their interconnections, along with scientific habits of mind. English standards call for students to use a variety of technical and informational resources and to use spoken, written and visual language to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences. Math standards call for students who can collect, organize, and describe data; construct, read, and interpret displays of data; formulate and solve problems that involve collecting and analyzing data; formulate problems from everyday and mathematical situations; develop and apply strategies to solve a wide variety of problems; and verify and interpret results with respect to the original problem. Assessment Students are assessed on the quality of their original research as well as the degree to which they are able to reflect on their project with their replicating research partner. A transcript of their online discussion forms part of the grade. Tools This unit uses the following tools: ¥ Computers, browser software, Internet connection ¥ Internet, the City; Ancient Civilizations Web Pack; Encarta Deluxe; Scholastic Network; Electric Library Classroom Edition; and HotLine Getting Started If you want to create a project that involves parallel problem-solving using Internet partners, you will need to do the following. ¥ Introducing the Internet: Make the program, Internet, the City, available to students so they can begin to understand how the World Wide Web is structured, how to conduct an Internet chat (IRC), and how to transfer files (FTP). A check-off list at the computer will help you keep track of who has visited Internet, the City. ¥ Finding a Partner Class: Refer to the "How To...Communicate and Collaborate" section of this guide which gives you pointers on how to find another classroom for a collaborative project, and how to use the software titles in this kit to facilitate a collaborative project. ¥ Students should submit their experiment design to you prior to gathering input from othersÑCheck whether their experiment will prove/disprove their hypothesis. Often, this is the hardest part of the experiment! Students write up their experiment designs, results and concluding paper using a word processor. It's a good idea to send the reports to the other class before the online discussion. Use HotLine for uploading your files into their folder and downloading those they have left for you. The online chat is conducted by having both classes start up HotLine, and creating small group chats for each collaborative group. ¥ Publishing: The text can then be made available to others by placing it on a shared server using HotLine, or posting it as a Web page by converting the text to HTML using Myrmidon. The "How To..." section of this guide provides instructions for using both of these software programs. Extensions and Adaptations This project is easily adapted to any topic in science and to any grade level. It could also be adapated for English class, allowing students to exchange creative writing samples for critique and review.