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Scientist Role Models

Photo montage of the scientists from the activity.

Topic

  • Scientific Skills & Literacy
  • Science as a Social Process
  • Experimental Design

Resource Type

  • Activities
  • Skill Builders

Level

High School — GeneralHigh School — AP/IBCollege
Saved By
45 Users
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View in Spanish

Description

In this activity, students find a scientist with whom they can relate in some way and then explore and reflect upon the impact of that scientist’s work.

This activity allows students to choose a scientist, and the part of biology they study, to explore on their own. Students can select their scientist from the “Scientist Profiles” document, which includes links to related BioInteractive Scientists at Work videos. After investigating the scientist and their research, students write and revise a short piece of writing about what they learned. 

Two versions of the “Student Handout” are available for this activity. The short handout focuses on notetaking and writing short paragraphs. The extended handout has students read a piece of primary literature from the scientist and then write a 400- to 500-word essay. Both handouts were designed to promote transparent teaching strategies and include rubrics for the written assignments.

The “Resource Google Folder” link directs to a Google Drive folder of resource documents in the Google Docs format. Not all downloadable documents for the resource may be available in this format. The Google Drive folder is set as “View Only”; to save a copy of a document in this folder to your Google Drive, open that document, then select File → “Make a copy.” These documents can be copied, modified, and distributed online following the Terms of Use listed in the “Details” section below, including crediting BioInteractive.

Student Learning Targets

  • Collect and synthesize information about a scientist and their research using multiple sources. 
  • Explain how a scientist’s research relates to your life and/or society in general.
  • (extended handout only) Read and interpret sections of a scientific paper. 
     

Estimated Time

One 50-minute class period.

Key Terms

experiment, rubric, scientific method, transparency, writing

Terms of Use

Please see the Terms of Use for information on how this resource can be used.

Accessibility Level (WCAG compliance)

PDF files meet criteria.

Version History

Date Published 05.06.20
Date Updated 10.21.22

NGSS (2013)

SEP8

AP Biology (2019)

SP1, SP2

Common Core (2010)

ELA.RST.9–12.2, ELA.RST.9–12.7, ELA.RST.9–12.10, ELA.WHST.9–12.3, ELA.WHST.9–12.4, ELA.WHST.9–12.8, ELA.WHST.9–12.9

Vision and Change (2009)

DP6

Materials

Resource Google Folder (Link)
Educator Materials (PDF) 253 KB
Student Handout — Short (PDF) 249 KB
Student Handout — Extended (PDF) 263 KB
Scientist Profiles (PDF) 4 MB
Educator Materials - Español (PDF) 273 KB
Student Handout - Short - Español (PDF) 252 KB
Student Handout - Extended - Español (PDF) 317 KB
Scientist Profiles - Español (PDF) 8 MB

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