Week 2: Investigate

Welcome to Week 2: Investigate!

Lead: Sarah

This week is designed to help you understand how scientists design investigations, gather evidence, and work through uncertainty. You will learn how to identify the strengths and weaknesses in a study and begin developing your own scientific investigation proposal.

Because some of this week’s material may be more technically dense, please feel to reach out to Sarah directly with any questions, concerns, or comments at sarah@open-discovery.com. We are also happy to share additional learning resources with anyone who would like to explore a specific topic further.

To complete Week 2:

1) Watch the Week 2 asynchronous lesson videos.

2) Attend the live session on Google Meet on Thursday, July 23 from 6:00–7:30 PM EDT, if you are available.

3) Complete the Week 2 assignment by Sunday, July 26 at 11:59 pm EDT and submit your response to Google Classroom.

Week 2 Assignment - Design a Scientific Investigation

Choose a scientific question that interests you. It may be related to your Week 1 topic, the live session, or a completely different subject.

Include the following:

1) Scientific Question - Write one focused, testable scientific question.

2) Hypothesis and Prediction - Explain what you think may happen, using valid scientific reasoning, and describe the result you would expect to observe if your hypothesis is correct.

3) Proposed Investigation - Briefly describe:

  • Who or what you would study

  • What you would change or compare

  • What you would measure

  • Any comparison group(s) or control(s) you would include

4) Challenge or Limitation - Identify one possible challenge or limitation of your proposed investigation and explain how it could affect the results or conclusions.

Please try to identify one or more research papers related to your question. Reviewing existing research may also help you develop your hypothesis and design your proposed investigation.

Asynchronous Lessons

Lesson 1 - What makes a scientific question testable?

Lesson 2 - How do scientists design experiments?

Lesson 3 - How do scientists gather evidence?

Lesson 4 - How does research work in real life?

Lesson 5 - What specific tools do scientists use?