Category
State Standard
ExplanationsExplanations provide interpretation,
meaning, or sense to objects, organisms, or events. Explanations incorporate
existing scientific knowledge and new evidence from observations, experiments,
or models into internally consistent, logical statements, such as hypotheses,
laws, principles, and theories. The goal is to help students create explanations
which incorporate a scientific knowledge base, logic, and higher levels
of analysis.
K-12
|
State Indicator |
Fact, Concept, Generalization |
Winnebago Indicator |
Activity |
Evaluation Levels |
| Explanations |
|
|
|
|
|
| kindergarten |
|
- Objects can change and stay the same.
- Objects are located relative to other objects.
- Objects can be compared to other objects.
|
|
|
|
| first |
|
- Scientists raise questions about the world around them and seek answers
to some of them by combining observation and trying things out.
- Explanations tell how something does what it does.
|
|
|
|
| second |
|
- Inquiry starts with observation.
- People are more likely to believe your ideas if you give good reasons
for them.
- One way to understand something is to think how it is like something
else.
- Strong feelings can affect a person's reasoning.
- How do I know is a good question to ask to try and understand what
is or has happened.
- Sometimes people aren’t sure what will happen because they don’t
know everything that might be having an effect on the event.
- Some events are more likely to happen than others.
- Some events can be predicted more accurately than others.
- One way to describe something is to say how it is like something else.
- Explain procedures or ideas in more than one way (e.g., sketches,
charts, and graphs).
|
|
|
|
| third |
|
- Reasonable conclusions can be made when a rule that always holds is
related to good information about a particular situation. If then logic.
(If plants are green and this is green, then it is a plant. If John
is not a plant and he paints himself green he will not be a plant.)
- Reasoning by similarities can suggest ideas but can't prove them.
- Practical reasoning may require several steps.
- Often a person can find out about a group of things by studying just
a few of them.
|
|
|
|
| fourth |
|
- When people disagree on explanations for an observation they usually
make more observations to refine their explanations.
- Observation, creativity, and logical argument are used to explain
how things work.
- The more experience or data a person has the better prediction they
are likely to make
- The way a system works can be used to describe and explain what it
is (operational definition).
- Sketches can be useful in explaining procedures or ideas.
- Evidence is something that is observed and can be used to understand
what is happening and make predictions about future changes.
- Finding out what the biggest and smallest possible value of something
is often as revealing as knowing the average value.
- Numerical data can be useful in describing and comparing objects and
events.
|
|
|
|
| fifth |
|
|
|
|
|