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Century of Science scavenger hunt
Students will use the clues provided and the Science News Century of Science website to explore how science advances. After making connections across scientific subtopics, student groups will research and present highlights of discoveries from an assigned decade.

The Age of Dinosaurs May Have Ended in Springtime
In this guide, students will answer claim, evidence and reasoning questions about how scientists used the bones of ancient fish to determine during what season an asteroid wiped out nonavian dinosaurs. They will then explore the physical properties of human bones and how bones offer evidence to support scientific claims.
Dig into bones
Students will discuss the physical properties of human bones and how bones can offer evidence to support scientific claims. Then students can search Science News for examples of how bones have been used as evidence.
Defying expectations
Students will answer questions about the online Science News article “Why do some people succeed when others fail? Outliers provide clues,” which describes how research into communities that defy expectations can reveal ways to help others.
Examining bias through fossils
Students will learn about early evidence for human evolution, discuss how interpretations of data can be influenced by scientists’ biases and develop a framework for analyzing the physical features of hominin fossils.

Mental Gymnastics
In this guide, students will learn about psychological tools that are helping elite athletes in competitions and everyday life, analyze data visualizations and discuss how the psychological tools might be applied to students' own lives.
Grappling with graphs and other data visualizations
Students will discuss the uses of data visualizations, analyze visualizations from a Science News article, and think about how psychological tools used by elite athletes might benefit their own lives.
Being mindful of mental health
Students will answer questions about the online Science News article “How mindfulness-based training can give elite athletes a mental edge,” which explores new research into psychological tools to improve mental health. A version of the article, “Mental gymnastics,” appears in the January 29, 2022 issue of Science News.

- Educator Guide:Educator Guide
- Topic:Science & Society
- Category:Research & Design
- Category:Coronavirus
When Fans Are Away, Home Teams Lose Their Sway
In this guide, students will learn about scientific research into bias in sporting events that was made possible by the coronavirus pandemic. Then, students will define and discuss the role of questions in the scientific method before brainstorming a scientific question of their own.
Investigating bias with ‘ghost games’
Students will answer questions about the online Science News article “‘Ghost games’ spotlight the psychological effect fans have on referees,” which describes research into a phenomenon in sports known as home field advantage. A version of the story, “When fans are away, home teams lose their sway,” appears in the September 25, 2021 issue of Science News.
Why ask scientific questions?
Students will discuss the definition and importance of scientific questions, explore questions that scientists were able to investigate because of the coronavirus pandemic and brainstorm their own scientific questions.
- Exercise type:Activity
- Topic:Health & Medicine
- Category:Coronavirus
- Category:Data Analysis
- Category:Diversity in STEM
A fair shot
Students will analyze a graph to identify inequities in COVID-19 vaccine access among nations based on wealth, discuss how affluence affects access to and distribution of vaccines as well as how disparities in vaccine distribution affect global pandemic recovery. Students will then work in groups to research COVID-19 vaccine access and distribution in their state or local area, identify potential inequities in vaccine access and distribution and construct a graph of their own.