Scientific Instruction
Use the following conversion factors to answer the question below. 1 Pa = 0.00750062 mmHg (at 0°C) 1 atm = 1.01375 x 105 Pa During an experiment, a student measures and records a pressure of 1.20 x 105 Pa. What is this pressure in atmospheres and millimeters of mercury at 0°C?
1.18 atm and 900 mmHg
Of the following, which is most likely the distance from a classroom on the second floor to the playground outside at the end of the wing?
105 meters
A pool empties at a rate of 12 quarts every 2 minutes. How many hours and minutes will it take to completely empty the pool which contains 12,000 gallons? (1 gallon = 4 quarts)
133 hours and 20 minutes
Which of the following is equivalent to 3 meters?
300 centimeters
If 2.54 cm = 1 in, about how many inches are in 1 meter?
39.4 in
How many hectoliters are in 45 kiloliters?
450
If 2.2 lb = 1 kg, and Mary weighs 120 lbs, how much does she weigh in kg?
55 kg
Susan travels at a rate of 60 miles per hour for 3 hours. Her car uses on average one gallon of gas per 30 miles. How many gallons of gas does she use on her trip?
6
A classroom is 7.5 meters wide. How many centimeters wide is the room?
750 cm
Which of the following accurately summarizes the difference between a hypothesis, a scientific theory, and a scientific law?
A hypothesis is a predicted outcome, a theory is a proposed explanation based on evidence, and a law is a documented description of observations surrounding a phenomenon.
Students in a fifth-grade class are arguing about whether evolution is a hypothesis, a theory, or a law. After giving the definitions of each, how might a teacher best help her students resolve their argument and understand the differences in the three terms?
As a class, gather and categorize examples of hypotheses, theories, and laws and ask students to develop a valid reason for categorizing evolution as one of the three.
School administrators often require their staff to write common assessments. Which of the following is important to consider regarding the writing of common assessments in a team of four teachers, all of whom teach third grade on the same campus?
Common assessments need to be a collaborative effort, aligned to the curriculum, and administered regularly.
What is the most important use of a control group in an experimental investigation?
Control groups give a baseline to compare results to.
Which of the following units is most appropriate to measure the volume of a solid?
Cubic centimeters
Which metric prefix indicates a factor of 10?
Deca-
The students in Ms. Dukes' fifth-grade class are using electronic scales to measure the weights of various rocks during a geology lesson. One group has consistently high values for the weights. What is the first thing she should ask the group to help them get back on track?
Did you zero the scale before you started measuring?
Mr. Muldoon is teaching about converting between metric and English units. One of his students refuses to engage in the activity and states "I am never leaving America so I don't need to learn this." How should he respond?
Explain the many ways in which people in America use the metric system.
Which of the following statements best describes a formative assessment?
Formative assessments measure what students know along the way.
Mr. Grubb is teaching about accuracy and precision. He asks students to write an essay explaining the difference between the two. He gets a couple of essays that are two sentences long. How can he improve this?
Give a rubric which clearly communicates expectations.
Mr. Bielenberg asks students to measure 5 different objects from home using different units of measurement. He does not receive a wide variety of objects. How could he improve this activity in the future?
Give clear guidelines for expected objects.
Sally would like to measure the volume of liquid water produced by a reaction. Which of the following tools would be most appropriate for her to use?
Graduated cylinder
Which of the following would be the most effective assessment of the students' understanding of scientific method?
Have students design and implement a hands-on experiment.
Mrs. Walker just completed a unit on the anatomy of a rat with her fifth graders. Which of the following is the most effective way for a teacher to assess the students' understanding of the concept?
Have students draw a rat and label the parts.
Ms. Ludgate would like her students to participate in an Engagement activity for a unit on vascular and nonvascular plants. Which of the following is the most appropriate for an Engagement activity in the 5E Instructional Model?
Have students pair up, and give each pair a sample of a nonvascular plant and a vascular plant. Ask students to make observations and notice differences, then have each pair share their findings with the class.
A teacher would like to assess students' understanding of the similarities and differences between mitosis and meiosis. Which of the following would be the most effective way to do this?
Have students partner up and create a Venn diagram for mitosis and meiosis.
Which of the following scientists won two Nobel Prizes, one in physics and one in chemistry, and discovered the elements Radium and Polonium?
Marie Curie
A student performed an experiment on three different types of paper towels. Each of the towels was soaked in a separate beaker, each containing 20 ml of water, for exactly 15 seconds. The towels were removed. What step should be next in the procedure in order to accurately identify the paper towel that absorbed the most water?
Measure the remaining water in each of the three beakers and compare the results.
Mr. Orlando is on the far side of the room when he sees a student mishandling equipment during a laboratory activity. Which of the following is the best first step Mr. Orlando should take to resolve the problem?
Move closer to the student.
Ms. Lemmons' class is about to carry out a lab experiment over plant growth. Which of the following would be the most effective way to carry out the experiment?
Ms. Lemmons can help the students form a hypothesis, identify their variables, and design an experiment before starting the experiment.
Mr. Howard would like to create a short freewriting activity to determine whether his students are using critical-thinking skills on their current topic. Which Bloom's verb would be the best for him to use to start his prompt?
Predict
Mr. Shields wants to create an engaging inquiry-based activity for her students in the upcoming physical properties of matter unit. Which of the following activities best accomplishes Mr. Shields' goal?
Provide students with a mixture that they separate into groups using different physical properties of the component for the different groups.
Which of the following would best help students learn to protect themselves against potential health hazards in the laboratory?
Regularly require students to wash their hands after a lab experience.
What is the most important reason for repeatability in scientific investigations?
Repeatability decreases the impact of human error, increases the reliability of results, and solidifies scientific law.
A teacher used the following activity to teach her elementary students about the process of science. She divided the students into teams of 3, provided them with paper, glue sticks, and scissors, and told them their goal was to build the highest tower, but only one student could touch the materials at a time. The teams would work as a relay, first one student building, with the other two coaching, then when a bell rings, switch builders, and so on until each student has had a chance to build. Which aspect of the scientific process was the teacher most likely trying to illustrate?
Scientific discoveries build on the discoveries of scientists who came before.
Which of the following is a key characteristic of scientific inquiry?
Scientific theories are open to change as new information is discovered.
Which of the following are appropriate lab safety standards? Select all answers that apply.
Students should wear safety goggles when working with fire. A first aid kit should be kept in the classroom.
When asked to list sources of error in an experiment, a majority of Mr. Crone's fifth-grade students included "human error" and "calculator error". What is their most likely misunderstanding about sources of error in an experiment?
Students think error in measurement is a mistake made by the measurer. Students think that a digital display has no margin of error. Students think that electronic equipment always measures exactly.
Students in Ms. Weikel's class are having difficulty remembering the metric unit prefixes. What should she do to help them remember the prefixes?
Teach students a helpful mnemonic device.
Billy and Sally perform the same experiment ten times to observe if variations occur in the results from the experiment. After they perform the experiment ten times, they notice a large variance of results, but they hypothesized a small variance in results. When they discuss the experiment with their teacher, the teacher directs them to identify any deviations from the original experimental procedure. Which of the following best describes the benefit of the teacher's directions?
The task helps Billy and Sally connect deviation in procedure to variance in results.
A popular graphic organizer used in the classroom is the Venn diagram. In which of the following assignments would students most likely find the Venn diagram to be a useful tool in organizing their information?
The teacher has asked the students to compare and contrast plants and animals.
In a typical science class, the "science kit," or the teacher herself, selects and prepares the tools that will be used for lab measurement. Later in the year, after having had experience with various tools, would it benefit students to have a variety of tools available from which to choose rather than a preselected set of tools? Why or why not?
Yes, a variety of tools requires the student to think about why a particular tool should be used.
A fifth-grade teacher is working with her students to study and categorize animals. The teacher wants to give a formative assessment in which they categorize animals as domestic animals, pets, or wild animals. Which of the following will best for the students to create?
a Venn diagram map
Mr. Anderson assigns a group of students to research and present rainfall disparities between the Sahara Desert and the Amazon Rainforest. Which of the following graphs would be most appropriate for the students to use?
a bar graph
In the middle of a lecture on plant systems, a teacher asks students to raise their hand if a statement she says about roots is true. She reads four statements and notes how accurate the class is for each statement. This exercise is an example of:
a formative assessment.
Mr. Orlando is teaching a unit about density, which is the amount of mass in a given volume. He would like students to practice measuring the density of various objects. Which of the following lists of equipment should Mr. Orlando provide to his students?
a graduated cylinder and a balance
Which of the following instruments would be most useful to find the volume of a very large textbook?
a metric ruler
Which of the following is the best definition of a hypothesis?
a predicted outcome based on an observation that can be further tested by experimentation
Which of the following students would qualify as an English-language learner?
a student whose family speaks Choctaw at home
A test given at the end of a unit on evolution is an example of:
a summative assessment.
A test given at the end of a unit on weather and climate is an example of:
a summative assessment.
A science teacher would like to determine students' understanding at the end of a unit. Which of the following activities would be best suited for this purpose?
a test featuring a variety of questioning methods
Mr. Murphy is planning a lesson designed to meet the needs of all learners in his science class. The goal of his lesson is to help the learner enjoy learning science. Which of the following should Mr. Murphy incorporate first into the lesson in order to reach his goal?
activities focused on a variety of interests and learning styles
Which of the following activities would be most effective as an introductory lesson about genetics?
an activity in which students are shown various traits and must record which traits they have and look for trends among the members of the class
Which of the following activities will best allow students to self-identify their misconceptions?
applying the scientific method to an idea in class and designing an experiment
Which would be the recommended sequence to follow when asking questions in the classroom?
ask the question, wait 5-10 seconds, and then call on a specific student to answer
During a unit on cell structures, a teacher would like to gauge student understanding. Which of the following formative assessments would be most useful for this purpose?
asking the students to collaborate with partners and create a Venn diagram of organelles and which types of cells they belong to
Which type of graph or chart would be best used to show comparisons between the volume of water drunk by athletes competing in two different sports?
bar graph
Which of the following steps in the scientific method is only completed after the experiment is completed?
communicating data
Which of the following is a list of ideas for formative assessment?
creating a graphic organizer, cooperative learning activities, and a foldable
Which of the following substances would be safest for use in a fifth-grade science experiment?
dish soap
Researchers have conducted studies on effective teaching methods. Hands-on learning allows students to experience and apply learned knowledge. Which approach is best for teaching the dissection of a frog?
dissection of a preserved frog in small groups
During a sixth-grade unit on suspensions, Mr. Ricky teaches that the color of a suspension depends on how light reflects on the solutes. He uses the examples of glacial lakes, which contain silt from the glacier's movement. When sunlight hits the lake and reflects from this suspended silt, the lake appears a spectacular turquoise blue or green color. Of the following student activities, which would be most useful to include while assessing students' understanding of his unit on suspensions?
drawing a diagram of why glacial lakes are blue
The 5E Model of Instruction is routinely recommended as one of the best practices in science classrooms. Which of these E's is generally the first step of the lesson cycle?
engage
Cara would like to research the effects of plants on students' self-reported stress levels. She places potted plants in student common areas for two weeks, taking surveys before and after. She then makes a graph of her findings. Which parts of the scientific method is Cara performing?
experimentation and data analysis
A teacher plays a game-show style review game with her students halfway through the unit. Which of the following types of assessment is this an example of?
formative assessment
In the middle of a unit on lunar cycles, Mr. Rice hands out drawing paper and gives his students the following task: A new moon is always high in the sky at noon. Use what you know about the positions of the sun, moon, and Earth during a new moon to draw a diagram to show why a new moon is in the sky at noon. After the students finished their drawings, Mr. Rice looked at them before he planned the next unit in the lesson. Mr. Rice used this activity as which of the following?
formative assessment
Mrs. Johnson's class is learning about ecology. She asks them to draw a picture of an example of interspecific competition and intraspecific competition. Then, she posts the pictures on the board and asks students to identify which type of competition is pictured. What type of activity is this?
formative assessment
Malik set up a conversion: 3 gallons X 4 quarts/1 gallon X 2 pints/1 quart X 2 cups/1 pint Which of the following conversions is he making?
gallons to cups
When students are conducting an experiment or investigation using glassware, which of the following is the most important piece of safety equipment for them to use?
goggles
When determining the accurate measurement of a liquid, which piece of laboratory equipment would be best to find the liquid's volume to the nearest milliliter?
graduated cylinder
When examining the color and clarity of 1 gram of sugar in 30 milliliters of water, which of the following would be the best substitute for a test tube?
graduated cylinder
Mr. Harris has several English-language learners in his classroom. He is currently teaching a unit about pH balance. Which of the following activities will be most effective in engaging Mr. Harris' English-language learners in a lesson?
having students measure the pH balance of chemicals before and after mixtures
Which of the following would most engage students in scientific inquiry?
having students write down three problems they encounter on a weekly basis and suggesting they use a scientific process to solve one of the three problems
Patrick likes to play horseshoes. He consistently tosses the horseshoes about one meter to the left of the stake. Which of the following accurately describes his results?
high precision, low accuracy
When is the best time to teach lab safety rules?
immediately before the students begin the experiment
Which is the most appropriate unit to measure the height of the average adult human?
inches
Which of the following is the best way to engage students from diverse cultural backgrounds in the practices of science?
incorporate science lessons that develop from the actual experiences of students in their culture
Mr. Fielder has assigned students an open-ended research question for his fifth-grade science class. Which of the following should Mr. Fielder provide to ensure active engagement for his students in the activity?
inquiry-based instruction
Which of the following is the responsibility of the teacher with regard to the use of chemicals?
knowing the chemicals used in each laboratory experiment and reviewing the material safety data sheet for them
Calvin planted a tree that measured 0.5 meters tall. If he recorded the growth of the tree every month for two years, what would be the best way to display his findings, in order to visually compare the progression of growth over time?
line graph
Which type of graph or chart would be best used to show the velocity of a moving vehicle at different points of a road trip?
line graph
Patricia is measuring the volume of a chemical in the lab using a graduated cylinder. She takes three measurements at 40 mL, 35 mL, and 50 mL. She pours the chemical into a 50-mL beaker, and it reaches the 50-mL marking exactly. Which of the following descriptions of her data is likely correct?
low accuracy, low precision
A group of students want to find out the specific temperature at which chocolate will begin to melt. To determine the correct temperature, the students would rely on which science processing skill?
measuring
When reading the volume of a liquid in a test tube, data measurements should always be taken from where?
meniscus
Which is the most appropriate unit to measure length of the average football field?
meters
Density is measured by using the formula mass/volume. In addition to a scale, which of these tools would be helpful in finding the density of a regular-shaped, solid object?
metric ruler
Which of the following units represents the shortest distance?
nanometer
A student was given the kernels from an ear of seed corn that had been placed in a moist environment and allowed to sprout. The student sorted the kernels and found the percentage of kernels that had not changed at all, the percentage that had swollen but not sprouted, and the percentage that had sprouted. Which of the following types of graph is most the appropriate to use to present the findings?
pie graph
Which of the following is the most appropriate unit for expressing the volume of an average glass of milk?
pint
According the 5E model, an ideal full lesson cycle should start by ___ and end with ___.
piquing students' interests; some sort of evaluation
Casey is building a treehouse in his backyard. He works on it every day with all of his friends. Casey has little interest in science until Mrs. Baker teaches simple machines, and uses Casey's construction project as an example for how pulleys make lifting the building materials much easier. What process does Mrs. Baker use to encourage Casey's love for science?
real-world situations for application
A scientist is performing an experiment to determine the conductivity of a specific substance. Which of the following actions would increase the reliability of the results?
recording the results of repeated experiments
A scientist wants to show the correlation between the genre and the number of songs downloaded from the internet. Which type of graph would be best suited for this?
scatter plot
Mrs. Alexander wants to introduce her fifth-grade students to the process of classification. Which of the following activities would best accomplish this goal?
sorting a collection of objects into metals and nonmetals and then further sorting the metals into magnetic or nonmagnetic
Mrs. Campbell, a third-grade science teacher, is teaching conservation practices. What can her class do to demonstrate they have learned to make informed choices, based on the needs of the environment?
start a paper and plastic recycling program
The semester exam administered to students at the end of the term is considered to be a:
summative assessment.
Traditionally, most elementary questions asked during instruction and assessment are at the recall level. Which level of Bloom's Taxonomy encourages the learner to think at a highest level?
synthesis (creating)
Students perform an investigation to compare the relative specific heats of sand, water, and soil. They fill plastic cups with the same mass of each material, place a temperature probe in each sample, and put the samples the same distance beneath identical flood lamps. Students record temperature data for 2 minutes while the lamps are on, and continue recording data for 1 minute after the lamps are turned off. Which of the following is the dependent variable in this experiment?
the change in temperature of the materials
When deciding to house a live animal in the classroom, the risk of a potential health hazard to the student or animal must be weighed against the educational value added. What guidelines must first be considered to address this potential hazard, prior to making a choice of getting the animal for the classroom?
the children that might be affected by allergic symptoms
What must a scientist consider when deciding which tools to use to gather data?
the expected outcome of the investigation
Which of the following is a widely-accepted explanation that is supported by observational evidence and experimental confirmation?
theory
Which one of the following tools would be most appropriate to measure the velocity and acceleration of a toy car in a lab activity?
ticker timer
Formative assessments provide information that can be used for which of the following?
to change and improve instruction
Which of the following is the best way to use data collected from pre-assessment activities?
to drive instruction
During lessons, teachers should provide effective feedback to students. Which of the following explains why immediate specific feedback is essential?
to ensure a positive learning experience in science
To help students learn the discovery nature of the scientific method, teachers should provide opportunities for them to conduct experiments to practice the steps. Which of the following is the best task for the teacher during this experimentation process?
walking around the room, guiding students and answering questions
During part of a lab activity, students need to let a solution evaporate to see if any solutes are left behind. Which of the following tools would be most appropriate for this purpose?
watch glass
A student is investigating the growth of Elodea under different light sources. Which of the following is the best research question for this student?
How does the type of light source affect the rate of photosynthesis of Elodea plants?
Which of the following is a main benefit of using inquiry-based learning in the classroom?
Inquiry-based learning encourages students' scientific inquiry and develops their skills using the scientific method.
Suppose Mike's actual weight is 165 lbs. His scale says his weight is 164 lbs. What can be said about his scale?
It is accurate.
Suppose Monica's actual weight is 122 lbs. Her scale says her weight is 99.82 lbs. What can be said about her scale?
It is precise.
Mrs. Conner wants to pre-assess the class regarding their knowledge of the periodic table of elements, inquire about their interest in the subject, then follow up with what students have learned. Which of the following formative assessment tools would be a good choice for Mrs. Conner?
K-W-L chart
Which metric prefix indicates a factor of 1000?
Kilo-
A teacher tells the following true story to her fifth-grade class. "Some scientists in Utah had made a wonderful discovery! They discovered a source of huge amounts of cheap energy that was easy to produce. They performed experiments, analyzed their data, and published their results. Scientists at research centers all over the world tried to do the experiments in their own labs, but there was a problem: no one could get the same results as the original scientists. The original results could not be reproduced and eventually their conclusions were rejected. Their experiment had not worked in any other lab, and no cheap and abundant energy source was developed." Of the following choices, which concept is she most likely preparing to teach?
The importance of repeatability in science.
Many of today's education experts recommend that teachers move away from the "sage on the stage" approach and become more of a "facilitator of learning". What does this most likely mean?
This means that teachers need to move away from long lectures and move toward facilitating the classroom while allowing students to become active participants in learning.
Students in Ms. Kitchen's third-grade class are cataloging the different types of plants and animals they find in a one square foot section of the lawn around the playground. She shows them different kinds of graphs and asks them to figure out how they want to record and present their data to the class. What is the most likely reason she asked the students to make the decision about presentation style instead of telling them which type of graph to use?
This method requires students to think about different ways to represent their data.
Which of the following is NOT a valid reason for giving all elementary students opportunities to design and perform investigations?
To learn that all of the questions in science have answers.
An elementary student drops a beaker in the lab. Which of the following describes the best safety procedure for the teacher to follow when cleaning up the broken glass?
Use forceps to pick up the large pieces, a wet paper towel to pick up the small pieces, and place all of the pieces in a glass disposal container.
Which is the best way to help elementary students learn the scientific method?
Use ideas from the scientific method, with explicit instruction, in all investigations throughout the year.
Which type of graph or chart would be best used to show the breakdown of coat colors in a rabbit population?
circle graph
Fifth-grade students are working on an experiment and writing down their discoveries. Which of the following should the teacher be doing as the students work on the experiment?
coaching and guiding children as needed
