To Understand The Nature Of Benchmarks, Option E:
Case Study of Discrepant-Results Benchmark
 

Estimated Time: 90 minutes.

Overview: Participants learn how a particular benchmark contributes to building student understanding of a topic; how other benchmarks on that topic are interrelated, both conceptually and developmentally; and what research reveals about student learning of the topic.

The following benchmark contributes to building student understanding of the Nature of Science topic Understandability of the World:

Benchmark 1A The Scientific World View (3-5) #1
Results of similar scientific investigations seldom turn out exactly the same. Sometimes this is because of unexpected differences in the things being investigated, sometimes because of unrealized differences in the methods used or in the circumstances in which the investigation is carried out, and sometimes just because of uncertainties in observations. It is not always easy to tell which. Participants study the benchmark and selected sections of SFAA and Benchmarks that are relevant to understanding what the benchmark is expecting students to know about the scientific world view:

• the relevant section of SFAA
• the K-12 benchmarks in that section of Benchmarks
• the introductory and grade level essays in that section
• the Understandability of the World strand map from Benchmarks on Disk
• relevant research from Benchmarks’ Chapter 15: The Research Base.

This option is appropriate for K-12 teachers from different science disciplines. Because most teachers are more familiar with the topics in Options A-D than with the topics related to the nature of science, this option might best be used as a second case, after a group has studied another topic using this procedure.
 

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