Identifying Science Ideas

Science ideas are important in science education because they form the foundation of scientific understanding. By learning key concepts and theories, students gain a deeper appreciation of how the natural world works, and are better equipped to ask questions, make predictions, and draw evidence-based conclusions. Additionally, a strong foundation in science ideas helps students understand the relevance of science in their daily lives. Science ideas build the foundation for scientific explanations of phenomena our students will encounter throughout their lives. The science ideas in our curriculum have been developed over centuries to help us make sense of the world. 

For example, the idea 'carrying capacity' is not "real" in the sense that I can point to it or put it in your hand. It's just an idea that helps us understand what we're seeing in ecosystems. Carrying capacity helps us make sense of the vast amount of details and uncertainly we see in ecosystems by identifying and naming certain patterns we see. Understanding carrying capacity is important in everyday life because it provides a basic principle for how human activities and populations can impact the environment and its resources. Carrying capacity refers to the maximum number of individuals, or level of resource use, that an ecosystem can sustain over time without degrading its ability to support life and thrive. By understanding carrying capacity, individuals can make informed decisions about resource use and conservation that help to maintain the health and viability of ecosystems and ensure that they can continue to provide essential resources and services in the future, while also beginning to develop care and responsibility for the more-than-human and the relations therein. For example, understanding carrying capacity can inform decisions about urban development, agriculture, water usage, and other human activities that impact the environment.

Science ideas are more than the vocabulary terms found at the start of a chapter (although they can be a great place to start!). We have found the best way to identify the important science ideas at play in a unit is to begin by writing an example scientific explanation (like in Part C of the template). 

Here is an example evidence-based explanation from the example Axial Seamount unit designed for an 8th grade Earth Science class. The driving question the students were answering was: How did the Axial Seamount come to be where it is today? 

Azial volcano is located 250 miles off the coast of Portland, Oregon. By looking at earthquakes we know that it is only a boundary of the Juan de Fuca and Pacific plates. This boundary is a divergent boundary, meaning the two plates are moving apart. Divergent boundaries are typically found in the ocean. Magma seeps out through the boundary onto the seafloor and cools into basalt, creating new seafloor and building up to form seamounts, like Axial. These are called spreading centers. Spreading centers occur because of the earth's core. We know this because of the magnetic data on the seafloor which shows the youngest rocks at the boundary and older rock moving away.

The Juan de Fuca plate is denser and more compact because it is oceanic, compared to the less dense continental plate. Juan de Fuca is dense so it pushes under the North American plate, creating a subduction zone. We know this by mapping earthquakes at the boundary. The earthquakes show that the Juan de Fuca plate is going underneath the North American plate. These form a convergent boundary.

In the asthenosphere, there are convection cells. Magma is heated up near the core, and it becomes less dense, causing it to rise near the crust. The crust is cool, so the magma becomes cooler and denser, causing it to sink. These up and down movements are called convection currents. The convection currents push magma up and out of the boundary, creating a volcano.

These subduction zones along with other tectonic plate movements create geological changes in Earth including volcanoes, mountains, earthquakes, and underwater mountain ranges.

From this example explanation, we can identify a number of important science ideas for this 8th grade plate tectonics unit:

With the important science ideas identified, we can use them to begin to structure the MBI unit in a way that introduces the science ideas they will need to construct a scientific explanation of the phenomenon.