Critical Thinking Skills and Doing Science

1. Critical Thinking Skills and Doing Science Elements of the scientific method: Observe patterns 2. Ask questions 3. Formulate hypothesesthat make specific predictions 4. Performexperiments or observations to test hypotheses Adapted from “Learning How To Do Science” 3/12/2011 Frontiers in Science Presentation by Fred C. Dyer, Department of Zoology

2. Starting Point: OBSERVATIONS • Description of PATTERN and PROCESS • You see a pattern in nature • You also observe other information that may help you understand the processes underlying it • To understand processes, ask • focusedQUESTIONS Adapted from “Learning How To Do Science” 3/12/2011 Frontiers in Science Presentation by Fred C. Dyer, Department of Zoology

3. Questions Write three questions based on your observations.

4. Refining questions about pattern • Sometimes it helps first to find out more details about the thing we are trying to understand: • Often this involves asking quantitative questions • What percentage of times do fish jump vs. shoot? • What is success rate for jumping vs. shooting? • Just how accurate are the fish? • It may also be useful to ask qualitative questions • For example: make a detailed list of the prey types that the animal feeds on, or the habitats where it feeds • It will not be possible to get the information needed to answer ALL the questions. Adapted from “Learning How To Do Science” 3/12/2011 Frontiers in Science Presentation by Fred C. Dyer, Department of Zoology

5. Answering the questions • Formulatehypotheses: • A hypothesis is a plausible guess as to answer • Hypotheses are in the form of statements • Usually it is possible to generate several reasonable hypotheses • Why do archer fish sometimes jump and sometimes shoot? Write down at least three distinct hypotheses that would answer that question Adapted from “Learning How To Do Science” 3/12/2011 Frontiers in Science Presentation by Fred C. Dyer, Department of Zoology

6. Testing Hypotheses A hypothesis is a possible explanation for a phenomenon To “explain” something means you understand the cause What does it mean to say that A causesB? • It means that B’s occurrence depends upon A occurring • It also means that there is some material connection that mediates the causal relationship between A and B Testing a hypothesis means gathering evidence to determine whether the hypothesis is correct. Adapted from “Learning How To Do Science” 3/12/2011 Frontiers in Science Presentation by Fred C. Dyer, Department of Zoology

7. Steps so far…. • In the following example, write down: • Observations about particular natural patterns • Questions about the causes/explanations for these patterns • Hypotheses about the possible causes of the phenomenon • Predictions that each hypothesis makes if it is true • An additional observation or experiment that you could do that would allow you to test this prediction Adapted from “Learning How To Do Science” 3/12/2011 Frontiers in Science Presentation by Fred C. Dyer, Department of Zoology

8. Generalizations About Scientific Hypotheses • A good hypothesis: • Is consistent with other known facts about nature • Can potentially be falsified (proven wrong) • Uncertainty always exists: • You can’t prove a hypothesis right, you can only fail to falsify it: other hypotheses might make same prediction • But you may not be able to falsify it with absolute certainty: failure to see effect predicted by hypothesis may occur because experimental conditions weren’t present • Value of considering multiple hypotheses: • There are often multiple causes for phenomena • Considering multiple causes helps in designing experimental controls Adapted from “Learning How To Do Science” 3/12/2011 Frontiers in Science Presentation by Fred C. Dyer, Department of Zoology

9. Critical Thinking Skills Critical thinking skills are valuable tools that will help students be successful in all aspects of their lives.