Lesson Plan

The Search for Critical Questions

Curated and Reviewed by Lesson Planet

A puzzle isn't about the individual pieces, but how they work together. Scholars assemble a puzzle and discover missing pieces. They write a description of what they expect these pieces to look like, including as many details as possible. When they find the pieces, they compare their descriptions to reality. The entire activity connects how scientists use available data sets to fill in the missing pieces.

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CCSS: Adaptable
Additional Tags
Instructional Ideas
  • Extend the lesson by mixing up the few extra pieces from each puzzle into one large pile and having pupils sort through to find their missing pieces
  • Challenge advanced pupils by having them read the description of the missing pieces written by another group and try selecting them from a mixed batch
Classroom Considerations
  • Prepare the puzzles before class, as this part is time consuming
Pros
  • Requires very little class time and no technology
  • Encourages independent thinking and problem solving without feeling burdensome 
Cons
  • None