Process Skills and the Nature of Science

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Process Skills and the Nature of Science
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Objectives

• Students will define the Nature of Science and
  suggest ways to implement it into classroom
  experiences
• Students will define the various process skills
  and implement them into classroom experiences

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What science is not

• Science does not find the answers to questions
• Science does not state cause
• Sample is irrelevant to science
• Evidence, in science, can definitely confirm a
  hypothesis
• Scientists are always open to new ideas
• Peer acceptance of results is unimportant in
  science
• Science operates independently of society
• Science precedes technology
• Science and technology are driven by the same
  goals
• Ethical questions are the same for science and
  technology

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Nature of Science

• What is science?
• Science is a particular way of understanding the
  natural world. It extends the intrinsic curiosity
  with which we are born. It allows us to connect
  the past with the present, as with the redwoods
  depicted here.

This, and the following slides on the Nature of
Science were retrieved from http//evolution.berke
ley.edu/evosite/nature/index.shtml
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What does science do?

• Three basic questions
• Whats there?
• How does it work?
• How did it come to be this way?

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Science Works in Specific Ways

• Science relies on evidence from the natural world
  and this evidence is examined and interpreted
  through logic.
• Creative flexibility is essential to scientific
  thinking, however science follows a process
  guided by certain parameters.
• Science is embedded within the culture of its
  times.

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Science has principles

• Science seeks to explain the natural world and
  its explanations are tested using evidence from
  the natural world.
• Science seeks to explain the natural world and
  its explanations are tested using evidence from
  the natural world.

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Science is a process (1/2)

• Scientific ideas are developed through reasoning.
  
• Scientific claims are based on testing
  explanations against observations of the natural
  world and rejecting the ones that fail the test.
• Scientific claims are subject to peer review and
  replication.

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Science is a process (2/2)

• In the marketplace of ideas, the simplest
  explanation has the advantage. This principle is
  referred to as parsimony.
• There is no such thing as THE Scientific
  Method.
• Theories are central to scientific thinking.

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Characteristics of Science

• Conclusions of science are reliable, though
  tentative.
• Science is not democratic.
• Science is non-dogmatic.
• Science cannot make moral or aesthetic decisions.

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Science exists in a cultural context

• Science is not always a direct ascent toward the
  truth.
• Science corrects itself.
• Science is a human endeavor.
• Falling in love with ones own hypothesis
• Being drawn in by preconceptions
• Read more http//www.project2061.org/publication
  s/sfaa/online/chap1.htm

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Scientific Literacy

• The scientifically literate person is one who
  is aware that science, mathematics, and
  technology are interdependent human enterprises
  with strengths and limitations understands key
  concepts and principles of science is familiar
  with the natural world and recognizes both its
  diversity and unity and uses scientific
  knowledge and scientific ways of thinking for
  individual and social purposes
• American Association for the Advancement of
  Science. (1989). Science for all Americans. New
  York Oxford.

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Process plus content
Content the knowledge of science
Process skills to do science
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Observing

• Qualitative
• Using the five senses to describe and collect
  data
• Quantitative
• Use instruments such as balance, rule, clock, and
  graduated cylinder
• Consider the variable time to expand data
  collection

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Communication

• Graphs
• Charts
• Maps
• Photographs
• Pictures
• Diagrams
• Reports

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Classifying

• Arbitrary
• Abstraction of a quality
• Types of classification systems
• Serial ordering
• Binary system
• Multistage

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Measuring

• Determination of extent, dimensions or quantity
  by comparing to a unit of measure
• Children master this skill through repetitions
• Use the SI (metric) system

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Relating Objects in Space and Time

• Symmetry
• Motion
• Rate of Change
• Conceptualization of size of objects viewed
  through microscope/telescope

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Predicting

• Forecasting a future event

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Inferring

• A tentative explanation of an observation
• Makes use of inductive reasoning--multiple
  observations for a set of events lead to the
  statement of a rule

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Controlling Variables

• Independent
• Dependent
• Controlled

DRY
MIX
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Defining Operationally

• A statement defining variables and procedures
• Used to narrow the possibilities in
  interpretations

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Experimenting

• Used sparingly
• Not to be confused with "activities"
• Involves the testing of a formal hypothesis
• May incorporate many of the previous skills
• "Experimenting" versus "Activities"

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Elements of Experiments

• State a question
• Form an hypothesis
• Operationally define variables
• Design a test of the hypothesis
• Perform the test and collect the data
• Organize and interpret data
• State a conclusion
• Report the conclusion

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Discrepant Events

• Use of unexpected outcome to provoke deeper
  thinking about the operating principles
• Use with discretion