Thinking like a Scientist Vocabulary

Skeptism•Having an attitude of doubt

Skeptism

• Example: Jason was skeptical when he saw the green cat.

• Skeptism helps to balance open mindedness. Keeps Scientist from accepting things that are untrue.

Ethics•Rules that enable people to

know right from wrong

Ethics

• Example: Scientist have ethics when they test medicines before they sell them to the public.

• It is ethical to think of how research will affect living things and environment before you do it.

Personal Bias•Comes from a person’s

likes or dislikes

Personal Bias

• Example: Jane likes strawberry jelly beans and thinks that is everyone’s in the class favorite jelly bean as well.

• When experimenting it is important to be aware of your own bias so that it does not interfere with the experiment.

Cultural Bias• Stems from the culture in

which a person grows up

Cultural Bias

• Example: Culture that regards snakes as bad might overlook how well snakes control pests.

Our Cultural Bias will sometimes intefer with our outlook on an experiment and we should be aware the it could affect the big picture.

Experimental Bias• Is a mistake in the design of

experiment that makes a particular result more likely.

Experimental Bias

• Example: Suppose you wanted to determine the boiling point of pure water. You use water that has some salt in it your experiment may be biased.

• When experimenting you want to be sure you design it with no bias so that you can receive accurate results

Complete Flow Map Pg. 12

•Write in you own words what each of the Scientist Attitudes mean.

Objective

•Means that you make decisions and draw conclusions based on available evidence.

Objective

• Example: Scientist used to think chimps ate only plants. However Jane Goodall observed chimps eating meat. Based on this evidence she concluded that chimps ate meat and plants.

• It is always good to be objective when performing an experiment. Do not assume anything only what you can prove and see.

Subjective

• Personal feelings have entered into a decision or conclusion.

Subjective

• Example: If you see a clear stream in the woods. You might take a drink because you think clear water is clean. However you have not objectively tested the waters quality and the water might contain microorganisms you can not see and be unsafe to drink.

• APPLY IT PG. 14

Deductive Reasoning

• A way to explain things by starting with a general idea and then applying the idea to a specific observation.

Deductive Reasoning

• Think of it as being a process. First you state a general idea. Then you relate it to a specific case you are investigating. Then you reach a conclusion.

• Earthquakes should happen mostly where plates meet

• California has many earthquakes• California must be near a place where plates

meet.

Inductive Reasoning

• Uses specific observations to make generalizations

Inductive Reasoning• Example: Suppose you notice that leaf cutter ants

appear to follow other ants along specific paths. The ants follow the paths to sources of food water and nest material. They they return to their nest. The observations about the leaf cutter ants are specific. From these specific observations you can conclude that these ants must communicate to be able to always follow the same path. This conclusion is a gernalization about the behavior of leaf cutter ants based on your observations. Scientist frequently use inductive reasoning. They collect data and then reach conclusion based on data.

Complete Figure 4 pg. 16