Pick a Side
Two sides. Back yours up.
Two per chapter. Students pick a side and back it with evidence from the chapter.
■ Green: evidence can settle it, so there's a best answer.■ Yellow: evidence matters, but values decide it.■ Red: mostly values or opinion, so argue respectfully.
Chapter 1 · Green
Is a scientific theory "just a guess"?
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Chapter 1 · Red
Should science class spend more time on experiments than reading?
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Chapter 2 · Yellow
Should schools still teach paper map reading now that phones have GPS?
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Chapter 2 · Yellow
Is the Mercator map unfair to Africa and South America?
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Chapter 3 · Red
Which sphere matters most for survival?
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Chapter 3 · Green
Could Earth still support life if one sphere disappeared?
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Chapter 4 · Yellow
Should Idaho open more mines for jobs?
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Chapter 4 · Yellow
Are lab-grown diamonds "real" diamonds?
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Chapter 5 · Red
Is granite or basalt more useful to people?
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Chapter 5 · Yellow
Should people be allowed to take obsidian or lava rocks from public land?
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Chapter 6 · Red
Should fossil hunters be allowed to sell dinosaur fossils?
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Chapter 6 · Red
Is marble a "better" rock than limestone?
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Chapter 7 · Green
Could a rock skip steps in the rock cycle?
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Chapter 7 · Green
Is the rock cycle still running today?
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Chapter 8 · Yellow
Should farmers be required to use soil-saving methods?
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Chapter 8 · Green
Is frost wedging or acid rain worse for Idaho's buildings and roads?
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Chapter 9 · Yellow
Should people be allowed to build homes on burned hillsides?
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Chapter 9 · Red
Should Bruneau Dunes allow sandboarding?
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Chapter 10 · Yellow
Should the Teton Dam be rebuilt for water storage?
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Chapter 10 · Yellow
Should towns ban building on floodplains?
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Chapter 11 · Yellow
Should Idaho limit how much farmers pump from the aquifer?
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Chapter 11 · Green
Is groundwater a renewable resource?
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Chapter 12 · Yellow
Should scientists try to drill all the way to the mantle?
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Chapter 12 · Green
Is the inner core liquid or solid?
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Chapter 13 · Yellow
Was it fair that scientists rejected Wegener?
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Chapter 13 · Green
Will the continents form a new supercontinent someday?
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Chapter 14 · Yellow
Should Idaho require earthquake-proof building codes for schools?
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Chapter 14 · Green
Can scientists predict exactly when an earthquake will hit?
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Chapter 15 · Yellow
Should people be allowed to live near active volcanoes?
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Chapter 15 · Green
Will Yellowstone have a super-eruption in our lifetime?
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Chapter 16 · Red
Are the Tetons or the Sawtooths the better mountains?
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Chapter 16 · Green
Is Mount Everest still growing?
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Chapter 17 · Yellow
Should ships be fined for losing cargo and plastic at sea?
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Chapter 17 · Green
Is the ocean more important to Idaho than people think?
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Chapter 18 · Red
Should we spend more money exploring the ocean or space?
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Chapter 18 · Green
Do seawalls protect beaches?
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Chapter 19 · Yellow
Was the ban on CFCs worth it?
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Chapter 19 · Green
Is the greenhouse effect good or bad?
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Chapter 20 · Red
Should weather forecasters be blamed when they're wrong?
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Chapter 20 · Green
Is a 10-day forecast reliable?
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Chapter 21 · Yellow
Should Idaho schools have tornado drills?
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Chapter 21 · Green
Is it safe to stand under a tree in a lightning storm?
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Chapter 22 · Green
Is current climate change mostly caused by humans?
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Chapter 22 · Yellow
Should Idaho pay to cut carbon emissions now?
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Chapter 23 · Red
Should the Hagerman fossil beds allow public digging?
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Chapter 23 · Green
Is carbon-14 good for dating dinosaur bones?
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Chapter 24 · Red
Should scientists try to bring back extinct animals like the woolly mammoth?
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Chapter 24 · Green
Did an asteroid wipe out the dinosaurs?
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Chapter 25 · Yellow
Should Idaho build more nuclear power plants?
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Chapter 25 · Yellow
Should Idaho build more solar or wind farms on open land?
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Chapter 26 · Yellow
Should single-use plastic bags be banned?
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Chapter 26 · Yellow
Should the dams on the Snake River be removed to help salmon?
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Chapter 27 · Red
Should the U.S. go back to the Moon or go to Mars first?
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Chapter 27 · Green
Do seasons happen because Earth gets closer to the Sun?
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Chapter 28 · Red
Is there life somewhere else in the universe?
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Chapter 28 · Yellow
Is Pluto a planet?
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