Cool! Awesome! What is it?
This lesson uses mysterious online images to help develop students' deduction skills and inspire their curiosity. Students learn about science by looking closely at things they would normally not see. In a 10-week educational game, one team of students conducts independent research and composes clues based on their research about the images, while the others try to figure out the solution. The project engages the students in a hunt for scientific answers through critical thinking.
Grade Level: 5-8
Subject Matter: Science
Curricular Uses: Astronomy, Biology, Earth Science
Learning Objectives
Students will be able to:
- Work in small groups to brainstorm hypotheses about mysterious science photographs.
- Read and interpret answers to the science photographs and cooperatively develop a set of clues for the images.
- Develop their own science photo mysteries, based on what they have learned.
Use of Internet
Students use the Internet to access the mysterious science photographs and their solutions. If feasible, students post their own similar photographs on the school's Web site.
This lesson plan was developed by Jordan D. Brown, wNetSchool Master Teacher, and was funded by The Louis Calder Foundation.