We want students to engage from the earliest ages in science and engineering practices with sincere curiosity and purpose. Science investigations can be viewed as “working through uncertainty.” However, 3D instructional materials often try to support engagement in science practices by making them very explicit and scaffolding the process to make it easy to accomplish—arguably, too easy. An alternative approach that emphasizes productive uncertainty focuses on how uncertainty might be strategically built into learning environments so that students establish a need for the practices and experience them as meaningful ways of developing understandings.
Manz, E., Arnold, S., Bazinet, C., Beckert, B., Garity, D., George, G., O'Brien, P, & Reilly, L. (2019, May). Designing ‘Productive Uncertainty’ into Investigations to Support Meaningful Engagement in Science Practices. STEM Teaching Tools.