The activities in this lesson provide students with an understanding of the diversity of the scientific enterprise, and the people engaged in the work. Teachers should emphasize the diversity to be found in the scientific community: different kinds of people (in terms of race, sex, age, nationality) pursuing different sciences and working in different places (from isolated field sites to labs to offices). ... Full description.

The Guide to the History of Science is a search tool provided by the History of Science Society. The database can be used to learn about people, institutions, organizations, and publications pursuing science history. Graduate programs and more than 5000 scholars of science from around the world are included. The guide also provides a link to a list of good places to start reading about the history ... Full description.

In this lesson, students are exposed to a compelling idea: the Earth really IS flat! They are challenged to provide evidence for a spherical earth, then present evidence (experiences) for a flat Earth, discuss the relative strengths of the evidence, and reach conclusions. They look at the nature of science and pseudoscience and examine the flat Earth idea in that context. The social context of science ... Full description.

This lesson is a vehicle to address natural illusions and how science can effectively reveal them. The hooey stick is a piece of notched wooden dowling, with a smaller dowling propellor at one end. When it is rubbed with a small stick, the propellor rotates. On the command of hooey, the propellor stops and reverses direction, magically. Full description.

This lesson explores the realm and limits of science. It engages students to give examples of topics that can be studied by science and those that cannot. It also takes a look at descriptive terms which reflect the true nature of modern science and those which do not, especially those which do not fit the popular perceptions of science. Full description.

This lesson explores six criteria of science (Consistent, Observable, Natural, Predictable, Testable, and Tentative (CONPTT)), with definitions and self-check questions. It compares emerging science, non-science, and pseudoscience, with definitions and examples. The activity engages students in analyzing a collection of paragraphs to decide which category each fits into. Full description.

This lesson teaches students that scientific hypotheses are subject to being tested. A closed box is shown to the class. It can be seen that three wires run through the box lengthwise and three more run through it widthwise, creating a grid of six crossed wires. The class is told that there is a metal washer somewhere on one or two of the wires inside the box. The challenge is to propose a series ... Full description.

This lesson probes a discrepant event to help students become familiar with the process of science. A plastic bottle with three holes covered with tape is filled with water and capped. Students predict what may happen as the tape is removed from each hole in turn, and hypothesize about the cause of the observed results. Full description.

This lesson uses a discrepant event to pique curiosity and provide an excellent metaphor for a problem in science that can be addressed in a scientific way. Water is poured into a magic box, and out comes a much larger volume of water (or other liquid). Students will learn that science is uncertain because scientists can make more than one workable model to explain their observations. Full description.

This lesson teaches students that scientific knowledge is fundamentally uncertain. Students manipulate sealed mystery boxes and attempt to determine the inner structure of the boxes which contain a moving ball and a fixed barrier or two. The nature and sources of uncertainty inherent in the process of problem-solving are experienced. The uncertainty of the conclusions is reduced by student collaboration. ... Full description.