SAASTE Science/Guidelines for Scientific Investigations

Guidelines for selecting suitable investigations
How do I go about selecting and initiating a suitable investigation for my learners?

Many investigations deal with the selection of the appropriate materials to perform a particular function e.g.
 * Perform an investigation to determine which material is best for insulation purposes
 * Perform an investigation to determine which material is best to create a specific structure or product.

Investigations concerning events in the school's immediate surrounding should also be considered. The following is a suggested route for the educator to assist his/her learners in arriving at a suitable investigation: Perform a few focus tasks to improve the learners' observational skills. One must bear in mind that observations can include all five senses (taste, touch, hearing, sight and smell).

A possible way of improving observation in terms of hearing:
 * pair learners
 * one learner from each pair is blindfolded
 * one learner leads the blindfolded learner
 * the blindfolded learner mentions all the sounds he/she hears and reports happenings in the surroundings to the other learner who records it on a sheet

A possible way of improving observation in terms of touch:
 * put different objects in a container
 * learners identify objects in the container by means of touch only (learners are not to see the objects in the container)

A warning in the case of tasting: This observational skill should be practiced under controlled circumstances

Once the focus tasks on observation have been completed the educator can ask learners to prepare a list of events which occur in their immediate surroundings e.g.
 * Gardening
 * Making a noise
 * Working
 * Littering

Ask the learners to indicate what events they are happy or unhappy about - this will lead to problem identification.

A hypothesis can then be formulated.

The extent of the problem can then be determined quantitatively, which implies that measurements have to be made.

The educators now have to assess whether the measurements can be performed within a reasonable time frame.

If the outcome of this assessment is positive the educator can confidently go ahead with this investigation, knowing his/her learners will be exposed to the majority of the science process skills.

A look at a few science process skills:

Text books
Bunge, M. (1967) Scientific Research I - The Search for System - Springer-Verslag Berlin Heidelberg New York

Petrucci, R.H. (1985) General Chemistry: Principles and modern applications. 4th edition: Macmillan Publishing Company. New York.

Internet
www.epa.gov/radon/index.html

www.lungusa.org

sedwww.cr.usgs.gov:8080/radon/georadon/2.html

va.essortment.com/sientificresea_rqce.htm