New Topic on BrainPOP: Scientific Process
Posted by Dana Burnell on
There are many ways to teach science, from following the steps of the scientific method to performing cool science experiments. At BrainPOP, our mission has always been to spark students’ interest in a subject, inspiring them to learn more. With that goal as our north star, we looked for ways to create a topic on the process of science that’s accurate and exciting. So, when we came across the Understanding Science project, we were intrigued.
Run by the University of California, Berkeley and the UC Museum of Paleontology, Understanding Science is an online resource that describes what science is and how it works. The result of our collaboration is BrainPOP’s latest topic, Scientific Process. It tells the story of Walter Alvarez, a geologist whose fortuitous discovery of an unusual rock layer prompted a chain of events that solved the mystery of the dinosaur extinction.
But it’s more than just a story of one scientist. Our new topic explores the process of scientific discovery: the observations that pique curiosity, the collaborations that move science forward, the twists and turns that make science exciting. Scientific Process is meant to make kids wonder about the world and ask questions they want to know the answers to—that’s what scientific inquiry is all about and where the process begins. To find the answers means making and testing hypotheses, collaborating with classmates, experimenting, and sometimes discovering the unexpected!
How do you teach the scientific process in your classroom?
