About This Lesson
The demand for STEM workers is closely linked to global competitiveness, and a successful future in STEM depends upon an early introduction to the scientific mindset. The challenge for teachers is to break through students' preconceptions of STEM fields as "hard" or "boring," to show them that STEM is everywhere, it's relevant, and it's loads of fun. For proven lesson plans with just a dash of weird, STEM to Story is a dynamic resource, adaptable and applicable in school, after school, and at home.
THE SCIENCE OF SAVING DAYLIGHT - Based on the original workshop by Kevin Hainline
1 session, 2 hours or more
STEM disciplines: General introduction to science, communication, the scientific method, and science writing
Writing activity: Technical writing
In this lesson, we take a step back from the facts and focus instead on the process: the scientific method. As an added bonus, students will work on another essential scientific practice: communication, both written and oral.
This lesson introduces students to the scientific method and the fun of making discoveries. To make things easy for you, we’ve provided a subject (daylight saving time) and slides to guide the lesson, but you should feel free to change things up as you see fit. Follow the steps as suggested or do them in a completely different order. The slides can be printed and photocopied, or downloaded and then projected from a computer. Skip the slides or customize them. Investigate daylight saving time or another important scientific subject, like why dogs kick when you scratch their belly, or whether the five-second rule for dropped food is valid. The point is just to get students to generate and test hypotheses and talk about their findings.
