Abstract
The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) explicitly calls out the Nature of Science (NOS) to be integrated within science education. NOS topics include understanding that scientific investigations use a variety of methods, that scientific knowledge is based on empirical evidence, that scientific explanations are open to revision in light of new evidence, understanding the nature of scientific models, laws, mechanisms, theories and hypotheses, and much more. Unless these topics are explicitly addressed, students will not be able to apply them to the concepts they are studying. This workshop reviewed the NOS topics and used a variety of astronomical and planetary activities to model how incorporating explicit NOS discussion into the activity can support increased understanding of scientific enterprise.
