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Book Chapter
Now You “Sea” Ice, Now You Don’t
Increasing air temperatures in the last 50 years have dramatically altered the Antarctic Peninsula ecosystem. In this interdisciplinary inquiry, learners use a cooperative approach to investigate changes in the living and nonliving resources of the...
Book Chapter
The Fission Vision: Teacher and Student Editions
Although they may have heard the term many times, students often have difficulty conceptualizing the process of nuclear fission. The kinesthetic simulation, as well as the two suggested applets, are worthwhile activities for clarifying the process o...
Book Chapter
To help elevate your level of active instruction, this chapter provides a sampling of the kinds of hands-on activities that promote understanding of evolutionary processes. These particular activities are structured according to the BSCS 5E Instructi...
Book Chapter
Scales and Number Distributions
Statistics is a branch of science that deals with the collection, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of numerical data. We use statistics every day to solve problems. Geneticist Gregor Mendel, for example, experimented with pea plants, which ...
Book Chapter
Central Tendency and Variability
This chapter presents two important interrelated topics in statistics: central tendency and variability. Measures of central tendency show how similar the data points in a set of data are, while measures of variability show how much the data points v...
Book Chapter
In this chapter, the authors will discuss the following types of standard scores: percentile ranks, z-scores, and T-scores. All are based on concepts—such as the mean, the normal distribution, and the standard deviation—already familiar to you fr...
Book Chapter
This chapter will discuss the concept of correlation, which is used in later chapters that will explain the concepts of validity and reliability. Here, the authors introduce the Pearson correlation coefficient, a statistic that is used with ratio or ...
Book Chapter
In this chapter, the authors will describe the four types of validity: construct validity, content validity, concurrent validity, and predictive validity. Depending on the test and the rationale or purpose for its administration, and understanding of...
Book Chapter
In essence, reliability is the consistency of test results. To understand the meaning of reliability and how it relates to validity, imagine going to an airport to take flight #007 from Pittsburgh to San Diego. If, every time the airplane makes the f...
Book Chapter
Many criticisms have been launched against grades in general because of their perceived failure to portray student achievement accurately. In many instances, these criticisms are just. But, if student grades are reflections of measurable instructiona...
Book Chapter
Climate is the state of the atmosphere over years or decades. Although climate is commonly defined as “average weather,” the term encompasses more than a simple mean. It also refers to variability, seasonality, and extremes in climate elements su...
Book Chapter
Scientists expect that a warmer climate will cause more severe, more frequent, and longer heat waves. Heat waves pose a significant health risk to everyone, but especially to poor, elderly, and chronically ill individuals. In this open-ended inquiry,...
Book Chapter
In 1896, Svante Arrhenius published the first model of the effects of industrial carbon dioxide (CO2) on Earth’s climate. Since the days of Arrhenius, scientists have moved from pencils to supercomputers. Calculations take hours or days instead of ...
Book Chapter
Biological Effects of Climate Change
How important is climate change—something that has occurred throughout Earth’s history? Can ecosystems tolerate the magnitude and rate of future change? How will other conservation threats interact with climate change? How likely are widespread e...
Book Chapter
This “Quick Guide to Climate” is a brief, student-friendly overview of Chapters 1 through 3. The overview is suitable either for introducing climate change to your students or for reviewing key concepts at the end of a unit. You can also use the ...