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Hallmark Guides - Scientific Literacy

Anna Van Wie

Director, Learning Outcomes Assessment

School of Undergraduate Studies

Published: July-August 2011

Category: » Online-pedagogy » Teaching-strategies

Definition

Graduates will be able to apply scientific principles and concepts from the natural, social, and behavioral sciences to form relevant and reasonable questions and critically weigh evidence to make decisions about the validity and the reliability of data about the world and their place in the world.

Graduates will be able to:

1. Describe basic concepts, principles, and common themes of the natural, social and behavioral sciences.
2. Cite the strengths and limitations of scientific methods of inquiry.
3. Form relevant, reasonable, and sound scientific questions.
4. Think critically to recognize and weigh alternative scientific evidence, explanations, and theories.

Sample Assignments

Phototropic plants

1. You observed that the leaves on your favorite house plant are open wide some mornings and on others are nearly closed.
2. Based on your observations, construct a hypothesis or prediction about why this might be happening.
3. Design an experiment to test your hypothesis/prediction.

Organizational behavior

1. You've noticed that largely the same people eat in the cafeteria each day. You are curious about how often regular attendees buy lunch versus bring lunch.
2. Over the period of two months, you collect data about the purchasing routines of cafeteria visitors.
3. Design a data collection form to score the purchasing behavior of regular visitors. Remember to ensure that
   confidentiality requirements are met when collecting the data.
4. Following data collection, create a bar graph or table for presenting the results.
5. Interpret the data and draw reasonable, evidence-based conclusions

Newton's Laws of motion and Law of Universal Gravitation

A magician dropped a ball from his hands but the ball went up into the air rather than going down. Additionally, the ball became fixated in mid-air. Discuss how the behavior of this ball violates Newton’s Laws of Motion and the law of Universal Gravitation.

Origins of Life, Human Evolution, and Greenhouse Gases

Your friend has declared that humans caused the existence of greenhouse gases and that, because of this, humans are destroying the earth. Your friend is expressing a serious misconception about the origin of greenhouse gases. To help your friend overcome this misconception, your task is to frame the geologic timescale in the context of the origin of life on Earth, development of Earth's atmosphere, and the evolution of humans.

Resources/Links

• Curriculum Materials from the American Association for the Advancement of Science - http://www.project2061.org/research/curriculum.htm
• Benchmarks for Science Literacy - http://www.project2061.org/publications/bsl/default.htm
• National Academies of Science - http://www.nationalacademies.org/

Have Questions?

For more information on the Scientific Literacy Hallmark, contact Debra McLaughlin, SUS, at dmclaughlin@umuc.edu