Meles-meles

Age: 

11-14 years old

Subjects: 

Science, Environmental education

General description:  

The investigation aims at developing understanding on the uncertain and subjective nature of science. The framework we use is the decision-making in the context of a topical socio-scientific issue:

The farmers, the environmentalists and the government of Great Britain need to address the issue of Bovine Tuberculosis. Cattle that get infected need to be slaughtered. Farmers believe that the disease is transferred because of badgers Meles-meles, which are thought to be carriers of the disease, and they demand that they are culled. Environmentalists think that the problem could be solved with other ways. Both farmers and environmentalists force government to take a decision immediately.

Goals: 

Students are expected to become able to:

1. use criteria for evaluating scientific claims

2. discuss issues regarding the uncertain and subjective nature of science

3. analyze data from multiple sources (tables, graphs, text, images).

The learning environment

General description of the implementation

Students form groups each of which is assigned one of three roles: farmers, environmentalists and government. They need to study the available data organized in the Inquiry Environment and make a decision on the issue. After that they form new groups with one representative of each role. The new groups need to make a consensus decision. The Workspace, the tools of synchronous and asynchronous communication and the explicit reflective epistemological discussions support students’ investigation.

The implementation of the learning materials in four sixth grade classes of two different schools in Cyprus are completed.

For more information: info@stochasmos.org 

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