Florida SC.5.N.1.5
The Standard
Recognize and explain that authentic scientific investigation frequently does not parallel the steps of "the scientific method."
Florida Next Generation Sunshine State Standards for Science
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students describe how investigations may involve revising questions, repeating tests, changing procedures, or gathering new evidence. They explain why scientists adjust their plans instead of following one fixed sequence.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students can examine an investigation and identify where the process changed direction. They can use evidence to explain why repeating or revising a step improved the investigation.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think every investigation must follow the same ordered steps. They may also believe changing a procedure is cheating, or that unexpected results mean the investigation failed.
How to Assess It
- Give students an investigation where surprising data leads to a revised test. Ask, “Why did the scientist change the plan, and how could that improve the evidence?”
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Have teams test paper towel absorbency, then revise one part of their procedure after reviewing their first results.
Ask students to write about why a scientist might repeat a test, change a question, or collect different data.
Give groups investigation event cards and have them build two reasonable paths that include repeated or revised steps.
Read a short account of a weather scientist updating a forecast, then identify how new evidence changed the investigation.
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Printable SC.5.N.1.5 Worksheet
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Related Standards
- SC.3.N.1.5
Recognize that scientists question, discuss, and check each other's evidence and explanations.
- SC.7.N.1.3
Distinguish between an experiment (which must involve the identification and control of variables) and other forms of scientific investigation and explain that ...
- SC.5.N.2.2
Recognize and explain that when scientific investigations are carried out, the evidence produced by those investigations should be replicable by others.
- SC.4.N.1.3
Explain that science does not always follow a rigidly defined method ("the scientific method") but that science does involve the use of observations and empiric...
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