Meet wth a Scientist, Present to A Scentist

Please post your team name, team members
As a comment to this post, indicate the scientist consultant and paper that you have received.

Activity
This year's presentation draws from Crease's book, The Great Equations.

Each team will present as a panel for 15-20 minutes to the class and scientists on the chapter that you received. You can prepare a one-page handout if you wish. You will not use PowerPoint as part of the panel presentation. A rubric for assessing the panel presentation, participation of each member of the team, the question/answer component, and your demeanor during the presentation is in the DropBox (to be updated).

Questions
Here are some questions that you can use in addition to your own:

1.     What is the “take away” point (main argument) of the chapter?  Why might this chapter be significant to the study and nature of science? 

2. How do the physical science models and theories that we studied apply to the content of the chapter (heat, atomic)?  Are there any models or theories presented in the chapter that we have not studied?  If so, do they seem like explanations for central concepts or concepts that are less crucial for understanding physical science? 
3. Describe 3 key features of the main model or theory presented in the article that would allow others to distinguish it from another competing model or theory.

4.      Can/Is the model represented mathematically and/or conceptually? What evidence do you have to support this claim?

5.      Identify any limitations of assumptions or boundaries of the model/theory identified in the chapter. How are they limitations of the model?

6.      What predictions, if any, can be made from the model/equation presented in the chapter?

7.      Can any predictions from an unrelated phenomenon be assessed from these models?

8.      What would you do to improve on these model/theory/equation?

9..  Find 5 physical science concepts that could be addressed in the chapter that are also identified in the National Science Education Standards.  Explain how each of the 5 concepts benefit from the equation in the chapter as well as more generally, how they relate to the natural world.   

10. What would you expect a middle school student to understand about these concepts and their relationship to “real life”?  How does this compare to what the middle school teacher should understand about these concepts and their relationship to “real life”?