Thinking Like A Scientist

Day 9

Thinking Like a Scientist

If you let your emotions rule your thinking, you might think a thumping noise was ghost. If you think like a scientist, however, you ask questions and make observations. You'd observe the shutters are loose and blowing in the wind.

Modern science is a way of understanding the physical world, based on observable evidence, reasoning, and repeated testing. If they develop new ideas about the way the world works, they set up a way to test the new ideas.

How can you think like a scientist? Thinking like a scientist is based on asking and answering questions. Scientist ask questions, and then make detailed observations to try to ask more specific questions, and develop a hypothesis. They may design and perform an experiment to try to answer their question. From their result of their experiment to try to answer their question. From their results of their experiment, scientists draw conclusions.

Scientists ask questions: The key to being a great scientist is to ask questions. Imagine you area scientist in the African Congo. While in the field, you observe one group of healthy chimps on the North side of the jungle. On the other side of the jungle, you find a group of chimps that have mysteriously been dying. What questions might you ask?

1.  What differs in behavior between the two groups of chimps?
2. Are there differences in behavior between the two groups of chimps?

Scientist make detailed observations: To observe means to study and watch attentively. A non-scientist may only say, "The chimps on one side of the jungle are dying, while chimps on the other side of the jungle are healthy." A scientist, however, will make more detailed observations, "While all seven adult females and three adult males on the north side are healthy and show normal behavior, four female and five male chimps under the age of five on the south side have died." From these observations, a scientist will develop a hypothesis to explain the observations. A hypothesis is the scientist's proposed explanation for his observations.

Then scientist's find their needed answers using tests. Evidence is made up of the observations a scientist makes during an experiment.

However, when the scientist get answers, they still question the answers. Good scientist are skeptical. Scientists never use only one piece of evidence to form a conclusion. They (should) always constantly question their own conclusions. They also find other scientist to confirm or disagree with their evidence.

STEPS OF A SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION:

1. Make Observations
2. Ask a Question
3. Form a Hypothesis
4. Test the Hypothesis
5. Draw Conclusion
6. Communicate Results
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