Students learn the rules of the scientific method through notes or a funding-based modeling task.
This digital lesson teaches the scientific method through a differentiated, two-track structure designed for classrooms with a wide range of skill levels. Students learn the same core principles through two different instructional routes, allowing teachers to match task type to student readiness without changing learning goals.
Rather than delivering one set of notes to all students, this resource divides instruction into two complementary experiences that lead to the same scientific method rules.
Students are divided into two groups:
Researcher Path
Students work through visually structured notes pages that introduce and explain six core rules of the scientific method. They identify patterns, extract principles, and construct understanding through guided analysis.
Committee Path
Students evaluate a series of experimental proposals and decide which researchers should receive limited resources. Through this decision-making process, they infer and apply the same six scientific method rules by judging the quality of experimental design.
Both groups arrive at the same concepts using different cognitive routes: one through structured explanation, the other through application and evaluation.
• Identifying valid experimental design
• Recognizing variables and controls
• Evaluating scientific claims
• Applying scientific method rules
• Using evidence to justify decisions
• Comparing strong and weak investigations
Each rule is followed by targeted practice tasks to reinforce understanding.
• Differentiates without creating separate content
• Keeps advanced students challenged
• Supports struggling students with structure
• Works for co-teaching or solo instruction
• Builds conceptual understanding of inquiry
• Easy to run over one or two class periods
• Minimal prep required
This resource is a hyperlinked digital Google Slides lesson.
Includes:
✔ Two complete instructional pathways
✔ Guided notes and analysis tasks
✔ Practice activities for each rule
✔ Teacher answer key
✔ Exit ticket
• Middle school science
• High school biology or physical science
• Scientific method units
• Inquiry skill building
• Mixed-ability classrooms
• Sub plans or digital learning days
To preview this product, click here.
Grade & Course Recommendation:
Middle School: Ideal for Grades 6–8 during early scientific inquiry or lab-skills units.
High School: Excellent for Grade 9 Biology or Physical Science review at the beginning of the year.
Cross-Curricular Connections:
ELA Integration: Reinforces writing hypotheses, summarizing results, and supporting claims with evidence.
Math Integration: Students interpret data and calculate averages, percentages, or simple statistics.
STEM Integration: Emphasizes the shared scientific method across all STEM disciplines.
MS-ETS1-2: Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem. (connection: students assess experimental setups and determine valid tests of variables)
MS-ETS1-4: Develop a model to generate data for iterative testing and modification of a proposed object, tool, or process. (connection: students model the experimental process and refine hypotheses)
HS-LS1-3: Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence that feedback mechanisms maintain homeostasis. (connection: higher-level students apply the scientific method to authentic biological questions)
HS-ETS1-2: Design a solution to a complex real-world problem by breaking it down into smaller, more manageable problems that can be solved through engineering. (connection: evaluating and improving experimental design mirrors engineering optimization)
Science & Engineering Practices: Asking questions and defining problems; Planning and carrying out investigations; Analyzing and interpreting data; Constructing explanations.
Crosscutting Concepts: Cause and effect; Systems and system models; Patterns.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.3 / RST.9-10.3: Follow precisely a multistep procedure when carrying out experiments, taking measurements, or performing technical tasks.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.7 / RST.9-10.7: Integrate quantitative or technical information expressed in words with a version of that information expressed visually (e.g., in a table or graph).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.6-8.1 / WHST.9-10.1: Write arguments focused on discipline-specific content. (connection: forming and justifying hypotheses and conclusions)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.6-8.2 / WHST.9-10.2: Write informative/explanatory texts, including scientific analyses or experimental summaries.
Students learn the rules of the scientific method through notes or a funding-based modeling task.
This digital lesson teaches the scientific method through a differentiated, two-track structure designed for classrooms with a wide range of skill levels. Students learn the same core principles through two different instructional routes, allowing teachers to match task type to student readiness without changing learning goals.
Rather than delivering one set of notes to all students, this resource divides instruction into two complementary experiences that lead to the same scientific method rules.
Students are divided into two groups:
Researcher Path
Students work through visually structured notes pages that introduce and explain six core rules of the scientific method. They identify patterns, extract principles, and construct understanding through guided analysis.
Committee Path
Students evaluate a series of experimental proposals and decide which researchers should receive limited resources. Through this decision-making process, they infer and apply the same six scientific method rules by judging the quality of experimental design.
Both groups arrive at the same concepts using different cognitive routes: one through structured explanation, the other through application and evaluation.
• Identifying valid experimental design
• Recognizing variables and controls
• Evaluating scientific claims
• Applying scientific method rules
• Using evidence to justify decisions
• Comparing strong and weak investigations
Each rule is followed by targeted practice tasks to reinforce understanding.
• Differentiates without creating separate content
• Keeps advanced students challenged
• Supports struggling students with structure
• Works for co-teaching or solo instruction
• Builds conceptual understanding of inquiry
• Easy to run over one or two class periods
• Minimal prep required
This resource is a hyperlinked digital Google Slides lesson.
Includes:
✔ Two complete instructional pathways
✔ Guided notes and analysis tasks
✔ Practice activities for each rule
✔ Teacher answer key
✔ Exit ticket
• Middle school science
• High school biology or physical science
• Scientific method units
• Inquiry skill building
• Mixed-ability classrooms
• Sub plans or digital learning days
To preview this product, click here.
Grade & Course Recommendation:
Middle School: Ideal for Grades 6–8 during early scientific inquiry or lab-skills units.
High School: Excellent for Grade 9 Biology or Physical Science review at the beginning of the year.
Cross-Curricular Connections:
ELA Integration: Reinforces writing hypotheses, summarizing results, and supporting claims with evidence.
Math Integration: Students interpret data and calculate averages, percentages, or simple statistics.
STEM Integration: Emphasizes the shared scientific method across all STEM disciplines.
MS-ETS1-2: Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem. (connection: students assess experimental setups and determine valid tests of variables)
MS-ETS1-4: Develop a model to generate data for iterative testing and modification of a proposed object, tool, or process. (connection: students model the experimental process and refine hypotheses)
HS-LS1-3: Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence that feedback mechanisms maintain homeostasis. (connection: higher-level students apply the scientific method to authentic biological questions)
HS-ETS1-2: Design a solution to a complex real-world problem by breaking it down into smaller, more manageable problems that can be solved through engineering. (connection: evaluating and improving experimental design mirrors engineering optimization)
Science & Engineering Practices: Asking questions and defining problems; Planning and carrying out investigations; Analyzing and interpreting data; Constructing explanations.
Crosscutting Concepts: Cause and effect; Systems and system models; Patterns.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.3 / RST.9-10.3: Follow precisely a multistep procedure when carrying out experiments, taking measurements, or performing technical tasks.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.7 / RST.9-10.7: Integrate quantitative or technical information expressed in words with a version of that information expressed visually (e.g., in a table or graph).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.6-8.1 / WHST.9-10.1: Write arguments focused on discipline-specific content. (connection: forming and justifying hypotheses and conclusions)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.6-8.2 / WHST.9-10.2: Write informative/explanatory texts, including scientific analyses or experimental summaries.
