The basis of belief

The basis of belief • A primary goal of many science educators is to help students learn to base beliefs (and the claims they make that correspond to those beliefs) on quantitative information. • There are several skills that students must possess in order to achieve this goal. • In this session, a lesson on global warming that incorporates many of these skills will be presented.

Session Outline • Big picture goal (5 minutes) • Break down the goal into more manageable objectives (5 minutes) • Explanation of lesson structure to teach the objectives (5 minutes) • Explanation of example activity (10 minutes) • Perform example activity (25 minutes) • Discussion on answers for activity (10 minutes) • Discussion and feedback on implementing an activity with this structure (15 minutes)

Big Picture Goal • Make students more knowledgeable. • For students to become more knowledgeable, they must be able to acquire knowledge. • Knowledge defined as justified true belief. • Everyone holds some unjustified beliefs. • Beliefs in some areas are impossible to justify. • Make students learn to base their beliefs on information that justifies those beliefs (when possible) so they can acquire knowledge. • Why justify beliefs? • When we teach what we know, should we include how we know it? • What qualifies as adequate justification?

Analyzing the goal • Students will learn to hold justified beliefs. • Skills are required to decide what information provides adequate justification for a belief. • Interpret information • Evaluate the relevancy/significance of information • Evaluate the reliability/accuracy of information • Source of information (credentials, biases) • Type of information (quantitative, anecdotal) • Determine what level of confidence is needed to regard information as true/ to believe it.

Example • Belief: People almost always have two eyes • Justification 1: Dogs almost always have four legs • Justification 2: 999 out of the 1000 dogs I observed had 4 legs • Justification 3: Billy told me that people almost always have two eyes • Justification 4: Almost all the people that I have seen have had two eyes • Justification 5: 99,999 out of 100,000 people I observed had two eyes.

Objectives relate to many standards • GLCE on science inquiry process, analysis, and reflection standards: • S.IP.06.16 Identify patterns in data. • S.IA.06.11 Analyze information from data tables and graphs to answer scientific questions. • S.IA.06.15 Use multiple sources of information to evaluate strengths and weaknesses of claims, arguments, or data. • S.RS.06.11 Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of claims, arguments, and data. • S.RS.06.12 Describe limitations in personal and scientific knowledge. • S.RS.06.13 Identify the need for evidence in making scientific decisions. • S.RS.06.14 Evaluate scientific explanations based on current evidence and scientific principles.

Objectives relate to many standards • HSCE science inquiry and reflection standards: • B1.1g: Use empirical evidence to explain and critique the reasoning used to draw a scientific conclusion or explanation. • B1.2A: Critique whether or not specific questions can be answered through scientific investigations. • B1.2B: Identify and critique arguments about personal or societal issues based on scientific evidence. • B1.2C: Develop an understanding of a scientific concept by accessing information from multiple sources. Evaluate the scientific accuracy and significance of the information.

Lesson Structure • Take backward design approach to lesson • Goals Assessment Instruction • Use an active learning instructional technique • Problem solving, discussion, think-pair-share, etc • http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/gallerywalk/active.html • http://serc.carleton.edu/sp/library/index.html • Can integrate scientific inquiry and reflection goals into lessons that cover content standards. • Provide background information to students on the concept that they need to complete activity.

Lesson Structure • Explain an issue • Present two or more competing claims with “supporting” information that deals with a specific aspect of that issue. • Students perform a task that involves: • Interpreting and evaluating information. • Deciding to support one of the claims based only on the information that was provided to justify each claim. • Explaining what additional information would be needed for them to fully believe the claim they supported. • What information would be needed for them to believe the claim they refuted

Example with Global Warming • GLCE standards that could be covered: • P.EN.06.41 Explain how different forms of energy can be transferred from one place to another by radiation, conduction, or convection. • L.EC.06.41 Describe how human beings are part of the ecosystem of the Earth and that human activity can purposefully, or accidentally, alter the balance in ecosystems. • P.EN.07.62 Explain how only a tiny fraction of light energy from the sun is transformed to heat energy on Earth. • E.ES.07.12 Describe the relationship between the warming of the atmosphere of the Earth by the sun and convection within the atmosphere and oceans. • E.ES.07.13 Describe how the warming of the Earth by the sun produces winds and ocean currents. • E.ES.07.42 Describe the origins of pollution in the atmosphere, geosphere, and hydrosphere, (car exhaust, industrial emissions, acid rain, and natural sources), and how pollution impacts habitats, climatic change, threatens or endangers species. • E.ES.07.72 Describe how different weather occurs due to the constant motion of the atmosphere from the energy of the sun reaching the surface of the Earth.

Example with Global Warming • HSCE standards that could be covered: • E5.4A Explain the natural mechanism of the greenhouse effect, including comparisons of the major greenhouse gases (water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone). • E5.4C Analyze the empirical relationship between the emissions of carbon dioxide, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, and the average global temperature over the past 150 years. • E5.4D Based on evidence of observable changes in recent history and climate change models, explain the consequences of warmer oceans (including the results of increased evaporation, shoreline and estuarine impacts, oceanic algae growth, and coral bleaching) and changing climatic zones (including the adaptive capacity of the biosphere). • E5.4g Compare and contrast the heat-trapping mechanisms of the major greenhouse gases resulting from emissions (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, fluorocarbons) as well as their abundance and heat- trapping capacity • B3.4C Examine the negative impact of human activities. • B3.4d Describe the greenhouse effect and list possible causes. • B3.4e List the possible causes and consequences of global warming.

Example with Global Warming • A contentious debate exists surrounding the earth's climate since the industrial revolution. • Some people believe the earth has been warming. • Solar radiation powers the earth's climate system.

The radiation balance of the earth could change due to the: • Amount of incoming solar radiation (by changes in Earth’s orbit or in the Sun) • Fraction of solar radiation that gets reflected instead of absorbed (by changes in cloud cover or atmospheric particles) • Amount of thermal radiation sent from Earth back towards space (by changing greenhouse gas concentrations). • People have made claims for each of these as the cause of global warming.

Claims • Global warming has not occurred since the time of the industrial revolution. • The main cause of global warming from the time of the industrial revolution to the present has been natural changes in the amount of solar radiance from solar flares and the amount of aerosols in the atmosphere from volcanic eruptions. • The main cause of global warming from the industrial revolution to the present has been an increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere during that time.

Activity • Consider three claims regarding global warming. • Examine information as it relates to these claims, which includes: • Interpreting the information • Evaluating the relevancy of the information • Evaluating the reliability of the information • Decide which claim to support based on the given information. • Determine what additional information is needed (if any) to convince you to believe that claim. • Class discussion at conclusion of activity

Implementing this activity into the classroom • Is this type of activity useful in your classroom? • What general content areas could you apply this format to? • How much time should the activity take up for it to be most useful? • Detailed activity to be covered over multiple classes or quick activity similar to the Data Nugget format? • What is appropriate for each grade level?

Complexity of the task • Easiest: One piece of information is supplied to support each claim. The info is easily interpretable. One claim is clearly supported by the information provided with it while the information provided with the other claim does not relate to the claim at all. The reliability of the information is not in question. • Mid-level: Two pieces of info are presented. Students decide which piece of info supports which claim. The info is fairly easy to interpret. The relevancy of the information as it relates to the claims is easily distinguished. The reliability of the information is not in question. • Hardest: Several competing claims are provided. Students must interpret information that is quite complex. Some of the information will be directly relevant to a specific claim, some will be somewhat useful to one or more claims, and some will be irrelevant. The information will vary in its reliability. Students will have to support a claim based on the given information and determine how confident they are that the claim is true. Students must offer additional information that could totally convince them to believe the claim and explain why it would convince them.

The basis of belief