How Scientists Think

Tutor Use Topic/Objective:______Full Name: ______Only: ______Class: ______Period: ______Date: ______Essential Question:

Chapter 2 Qualities of Scientific Thinking

1. Scientists make obserrvations___. 2. They ask _questions_ about what they observe. 3. They make predictions___ about the cause of the things that they observe. 4. Their predictions are based on evidence_ that can be measured and tested. (Prediction= hypothesis) 5. They test their hypothesis_. 6. They communicate their results to their peers_.

Evidence: _material_ or _data_ that can be measured or tested to verify a prediction or hypothesis.

Hypothesis: is a tentative explanation for an observation or phenomenon (an “educated guess”)

How Scientists Think 1. Scientists are _skeptical_. 2. They question _long-held ideas_. 3. They try to prove _new ideas_ and _disprove_ others. 4. As a result, only “correct” interpretations of “reality” stand the “test of time”.

Scientific Enquiry Scientific Inquiry is a two-component problem-solving process of generating and testing of the hypothesis. The organization of this problem-solving process is called the Scientific Method. (Process-Framework)

How Scientists Approach Questions

1. State the problem. 2. Initial Research. 3. Form a Hypothesis or Prediction. 4. Test the Hypothesis. 5. Record and Analyze the data. 6. State a conclusion. 7. Decide whether to repeat or redesign the experiment. 8. Report results to peers and the public.

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Essential Question: Peer Review

Scientists make the results of their studies available to others for the purpose of: Validating the results of the experiment.

Scientists publish their ideas in scientific journals_. In order to have their research published, scientists have to submit their work for peer review_.

Testability separates scientific knowledge from unscientific knowledge.

Scientific explanations are supported by evidence, and be able to be tested.

Theory: an explanation for observable events or facts for which no exception has been found

An example of a theory is: The Big Bang Theory

Law: generalizations about how the natural world behaves under certain conditions. No exceptions to these generalizations have ever been found.

An example of a theory is: The Law of Gravity

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