Dawn C. Sherwood
Highland Springs, HS, VA

Name ____________________________ Pd ____ Date ________________________

Lab: Science is Like a Puzzle

Introduction

We often wonder if scientists are “wrong” because they can’t answer all the questions we might have to ask. We know lots about the evolution of the universe. We know lots about the evolution of living things. But, we don’t know everything. Does that mean that we can’t explain things based on what we do know now?

Just recently, the International Astronomical Union decided that Pluto and some other objects in our solar system were not planets, but instead were dwarf planets. Does that mean that earlier astronomers were wrong about calling Pluto a planet? What was the basis of the change?

This activity will take you through the steps of the scientific method and help you figure out how scientists make predictions and draw conclusions.  It will help you begin to think more like a scientist yourself.  You will complete this activity on this worksheet and on the lab form attached.

Vocabulary    In your own words, write the definitions to these terms we have previously gone over.

Hypothesis:

Material and Methods:

Data:

Analysis:

Inference:

Conclusion:

Materials

Bag of jigsaw puzzle pieces per group, sheet of paper/poster board, lab sheets

Procedure

1.  You will be working in groups. I will assign you to the groups. Write your name and your lab partners.

2.  Your group will get a piece of a jigsaw puzzle. Using that piece, create a hypothesis of what the whole picture is (this is also prediction 1):

Hypothesis 1:

3.  Each person in the group will select one puzzle piece out of the bag.  Put this first set of puzzle pieces together and then stop. Talk among your group and decide what the puzzle is about.  Do you still agree with the initial hypothesis?  Why or why not?

What is your new hypothesis if your group creates one (this is prediction 2)? 

Hypothesis 2:

4.  Record your final hypothesis in the lab write-up.

5.  Before putting any more pieces together for you part of the puzzle (once we put all of the groups’ parts of the puzzle together we’ll have the whole puzzle), list how your lab group is going to put your part of the puzzle together. Write this under Methods

6.  Each person in the group needs to select one more puzzle piece out of the bag and assemble it.    Analyze what you have and decide what the theme of the whole puzzle is about.  Record this in your data.  Prediction 3 (after the second set of pieces is added); Prediction 4 (after the third set of pieces is added).

7.  After you have completed your section of the puzzle together, make a final prediction on what the final puzzle will look like.  Be specific.

8.  Finally, connect your section of the puzzle with the other sections the other groups have put together.

Analysis

1.  Were your predictions for your section of the puzzle correct? Were you wrong in any way? Explain.

2.  Did your predictions ever change?  Why?  What does this tell you about scientific study?

3.   When were your predictions most accurate, when you had more information or less?  Why?

4.  Can we determine what a puzzle is about even if some pieces are missing?  How?  How is this similar to what happens in real scientific studies?

5.  Does having more data in scientific investigation always make it easier to solve?  Explain your answer.  Was there any extra data added in your puzzle?  If so, explain.

6.  What does building this puzzle say about what scientists know and how they find things out?

7.  If scientists don’t know everything, what then is the point of continuing to study science?

Conclusion

How does the work you did predicting, assembling, and analyzing this puzzle relate to the work of scientists?  What is your opinion of the collaboration with other “scientists” to complete the final puzzle?  Give a real world example.

Under conclusion, write if your hypothesis was correct.  Explain how you think this lab activity relates to you current knowledge of Earth Science and later in June.