Thinking Like a Scientist

Thinking Like a Scientist What is Science?

1. Observing • Using your sense to gather information • See, taste, touch, feel, hear • 1. Qualitative • 2. Quantitative Dealing with “quality” or descriptions that can’t be numbers. Ex: blue, chilly, sour Dealing with numbers. Ex: 8 books, 4 inches long, 10 miles away

2. Infer • To explain or interpret things that you observe using reasoning and experience • Not always correct. Ex: Your dog is barking. He usually barks when someone is at the door. You observe the barking, and then you INFER that someone is at the door. You may be wrong! Perhaps a squirrel just ran by the window or you dog wants to be let outside.

3. Predicting • Using past experience or evidence to make a forecast of future events. • You are INFERRING about what WILL happen. Ex: You predict your dog will bark the next time a squirrel runs by the window. However, maybe he will not care about the next squirrel!

4. Classifying • Grouping Items/information together that are alike in some way to stay organized • What are some things you classify?

5. Making Models • Making representations of things/processes that cannot be observed directly.

Scientific attitudes • Science = a way of learning about the natural world • Successful attitudes: • 1. curiosity • 2. honesty • 3. open-mindedness and skepticism • Skepticism = an attitude of doubt • 4. creativity

Thinking Like a Scientist