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Some students have been given the impression by their teacher that wild guessing is a part of science. I have observed middle school students at the science center in response to a question give a series of wild guesses. They would look at my eyes in an effort to detect which guess is correct. Apparently, they had been conditioned to respond to a stimulus. Because when they saw something that indicated to them that they had guessed correctly, they would then look for an expected reward. Well, the scientific method is not wild guessing and I really doubt if a scientist can be created using operant conditioning. Sir Isaac Newton said, "I saw further than others because I raised myself onto the shoulders of giants such as Galileo Galilei and Johannes Kepler." Your students should understand that people such as Newton and Einstein studied and understood the intellectual giants of their day and then built upon what they had learned and corrected what was discovered wrong. If you want your students to become scientists, they should understand what it means to 'stand on the shoulder's of giants', to build on what the current scientist have discovered, to correct their errors, to understand what it means to expand knowledge using the scientific method and publish. (This certainly does not apply to young students. They would first need to have the prerequisite knowlege to understand and that, in most cases, would not happen until high school.) |
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Stephen W. Lyons May 2003 Copyright 2003 Education Resource Group. All Rights Reserved. The scientific method is simply a self correcting process for finding answers to questions. Also, the inductive form of the scientific method can be thought of as focused child's play. It takes two forms: deductive and inductive. deductive method: The deductive form arrives at a conclusion by reasoning (the application of principles may substitute for testing) where the conclusion follows necessarily from a premise. It is the mental process of thought experiments and mathematical reasoning. Rene Descartes, French mathematician and philosopher, 1596-1650, reduced his method of determining the truth into four steps. He was careful to preface by stating that this was his personal method and he was not suggesting at anyone should follow his lead. His caution was likely from a concerned that he may offend those in power and thus suffer the consequences. First, never accept anything as true that I did not know evidently to be so; that is, carefully to avoid precipitous judgment and prejudice; and to include nothing more in my judgments than what presented itself to my mind with such clarity and distinctness that I would have no occasion to doubt it. Second, to divide each of the difficulties I was examining into as many parts as possible and as is required to resolve them best. Third, to conduct my thoughts in an orderly fashion, starting with the simplest and easiest to know object, to rise gradually, as by degrees, to the knowledge of the most composite things, and even supposing an order among those things that do not naturally precede one another. Fourth, everywhere to make enumerations so complete and reviews so general that I would be sure of have omitted nothing. Source: Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy, Rene Descartes, 1637 inductive method: The inductive method begins with observations. From these observations a hypothesis is created that is then tested. A conclusion is then made that is next taken though a confirmation process. The conclusion may then be subjected to additional observations and thus another cycle of the inductive method begins until all questions are resolved. Sir Francis Bacon, 1561-1626, was an English philosopher, scientist and author. Bacon is recognized as the first person to clearly explain induction. The following is Sir Francis Bacon's comment regarding the alchemist's method. "If a man were to look closely into the works of the alchemists or magicians, he would be in doubt whether he should laugh over them or weep, for the alchemist nurses eternal hope. And when the experiment fails, he lays the blame on some error of his own, feeling that he has insufficiently failed to understand the words of his art or his authors or in his manipulations, he has made some slip of a scruple in weight or a moment in time where upon he repeats his trials to infinity." Bacon went on to state that from time to time the alchemist will stumble upon some discovery. This is only through pure chance and pure chance is no way to undertake science intelligently. It is from the stumbling of the alchemist that Bacon was motivated to clarify a method that is known now as the inductive method. Sir Francis Bacon said, "There are and can be only two ways (inductive and deductive methods) of searching into and discovering truth. The one (deductive) flies from the senses and the particulars to the most general axioms and from these (principles); the truth it takes as fore settled and immovable proceeds to judgment and to the discovery of middle axioms and this way is now in fashion. The other (inductive) derives axioms from the senses and particulars rising by a gradual and unbroken assent, that it arrives at the most general axiom last of all. This is the true way." Bacon went on to explain that the inductive method begins with observation. From these observations, one draws a tentative conclusion, but then instead of trying to make everything else fit the conclusions; the conclusions become the source of further experiments to test their validity and range of application of each conclusion. This leads to further tentative conclusions that are likewise tested and thus the process of scientific induction proceeds indefinitely. These five steps are called the scientific method.Scientific Method Example The Nature of Scientific Inquiry ******* 1. Whimsy: a. Whimsy has no prior purpose nor intent. If purpose or
intent exist within whimsy, it b. The whimsical process is chaotic. Consequently, it is not repeatable by
others and c. The whimsical process is capricious. i.e. The process
is subject to sudden unpredictable d. Whimsy is not science nor is it whimsical. 2. Scientists using the inductive form of the scientific method have already created a verified knowledge base that answers the fundamental questions. It is this knowledge that can be taught to students and students can be thus expected to learn it. 3. Students can be caused to use the scientific method to discover what scientist has determined to be true for the purpose of practicing the scientific method. i.e. It would be like rediscovering the wheel, where the intent is not the discovery of the wheel but rather practicing the process of discovery. 4. The scientific method is simply a self correcting process for finding answers to questions. 5. The inductive form of the scientific method at its simplest level is focused child play. Scientific Method BibliographyScientific Method Glossary of Terms Click here to download the Scientific Method white-paper. 
Click here to download the
PDF version of the Scientific Method.
Glossary Terms sometimes interfere with or even block understanding, especially when communicating a concept to students that don't have the terms in their vocabulary. There is also a problem when terms that belong to another method are used to explain the subject method. Consequently, the educator should understand the terms that are unique to the subject and then substitute language that the student understands, being always careful not to interject terms that do not belong. If you understand that the inductive form of the scientific method is focused child's play. Then you will know that you do not need to explain the inductive form. You only need to stage it and then monitor the process. When you see that a student has strayed, it is then that you correct the student. If you know the deductive form, then you will know that you can skip it. Furthermore, knowing will give you the required insight to know which terms are unique to each method. You will also know which terms to use and which ones to avoid. You can avoid confusing your students by not mixing terms unique to the deductive method with the inductive method. Also, It is best to begin young students with the inductive method, since it is similar to focused child's play [Don't confuse it with whimsy.]. Lastly, the deductive method requires reasoning skills that are beyond the ability of most young students and consequently best not taught until late secondary. attention noun : the act or state of attending, especially through applying the mind to an object of sense or thought : syn. FOCUS awareness noun : having or showing realization, perception or knowledge : syn. COGNIZANT, CONSCIOUS, AWAKE cause and effect : the relationship between events when the first causes the second : syn. CAUSAL conclusion noun 1: a final summing up 2 : the act or instance of concluding : syn. RESULT or OUTCOME constant noun something that does not change or is prevented from changing control noun : a part of an experiment that is held as a constant and used to compare with the variable. control experiment noun : an experiment to check the results of other experiments control group noun : the part of an experiment that contains the constant doubt adjective 1: the condition of being objectively uncertain 2 : uncertainty of opinion experimental group noun : the part of an experiment that contains the variable focus verb : the center of activity, attraction or attention : syn. CONCENTRATE hypothesis noun : a tentative assumption that is then tested to determine if it is true or false. mathematics noun: the language of science observe verb 1: to inspect or take note of 2: to make a scientific observation on or of question noun : an interrogative expression used to test knowledge prejudge verb transitive : to draw a conclusion before full and sufficient testing principle noun: a comprehensive and fundamental law, doctrine or assumption proposition noun: something proposed or offered for consideration or acceptance : syn. PROPOSAL question noun1: the beginning point for scientific discovery 2: an interrogative question : syn. INQUIRY reasoning noun : the process of drawing an inference or conclusion through the use of reason repeatable adjective : able to go though or experience again result noun 1: something that is a consequence or conclusion 2: something this is obtained by calculation or investigation tenacious adjective : holding fast to a behavioral path : syn. PERSISTENT test verb : a critical examination observation or evaluation theory noun 1: the analysis of a set of facts in their relation to one another 2: the general or abstract principles of a body of fact or science 3: a plausible or scientifically acceptable general principle or body of principles offered to explain phenomena. variable noun : a known change within an experiment that the scientist is testing. verify verb 1: a process for determining if the experiment is reliable 2: a process to determining if the results are true 3: checking the process for reliability whimsy noun 1: a sudden turn or start of the mind 2: a disposition to change one's mind impulsively 3 : a fanciful or fantastic device, object, or creation Glossary of Terms Unique to the Deductive Method axiom noun : a general truth widely accepted on its merit : syn. PRINCIPLE conclusion noun 1: to reach and end to reasoning; especially : the inferred proposition of a syllogism 2: the act or instance of concluding posit verb transitive : to dispose or set firmly : syn. POSTULATE postulate noun : a hypothesis advanced as an essential presupposition or premise of a train of reasoning : syn. AXIOM, HYPOTHESIS premise noun : a proposition antecedently supposed or proved as a basis of argument or inference; specif : either of the first two proposition of a syllogism from which the conclusion is drawn reductio ad absurdum noun : disproof of a theory or an explanatory conclusion by showing an absurdity to which it leads when carried to its logicalconclusion syllogism noun 1:a deductive scheme of a formal argument consisting of a major and a minor premise and a conclusion (as in "every virtue is laudable; kindness is a virtue; therefore kindness is laudable") 2 : deductive reasoning Source: Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, A Merriam-Webster |
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