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On 9/29/2011 2:04 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
> What's missing from most education these days is teaching of the
> scientific method. Teaching students scientific facts just gives
> students something else to believe in. Teaching how those facts were
> determined to be most likely true (and what process exists to allow that
> to change to "you know what, we were wrong about that") is more important
> than the facts themselves.
>
I thought they still pretty much do that. Granted real scientists don't
follow the steps with absolute rigor. They may form an idea of what they
think should happen, then test by experimentation, record their results,
then try to repeat the results, then have peers repeat the results.
But I doubt they are as formal as:
Define a question
Gather information and resources (observe)
Form an explanatory hypothesis
Test the hypothesis by performing an experiment and collecting data
in a reproducible manner
Analyze the data
Interpret the data and draw conclusions that serve as a starting
point for new hypothesis
Publish results
Retest (frequently done by other scientists)
Some, and maybe all of that is happening, but it isn't done by filling
out scientific method worksheets like I had to do in school.
> In short, a skill that isn't taught often enough is that of critical
> thinking.
Definitely. Rote memorization teaches nothing, except how to memorize.
--
~Mike
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