KBLOG 61: Kurtz Academy, My Dream School: Unlocking Discovery: Rethinking the “Standard” Scientific Method.
The Challenge:
We teach the scientific method to students in the early grades and as students get older, we teach it the same way. It is usually reduced to 6 steps:
1. Define a question to investigate.
2. Do some research.
3. Make Predictions/form a hypothesis.
4. Gather Data through experiments with independent and dependent variables.
5. Analyze the data.
6. Draw conclusions.
At Kurtz academy we will focus training students to apply “scientific” thinking across disciplines to solve problems. The 6 step version of the scientific method is “so simplified and rigid that it fails to accurately portray how real science works.” This 6-step version of the scientific method, with a defined start and end point, gives the impression that once you go through the steps and reach a conclusion, its done, its fixed. But scientific ideas are not static; ideas can change, they are often proven wrong or are added to. The scientific method cannot be strictly defined; there is no cookbook of science. Unfortunately, so much of “school” science is comprised of overused favorite experiments with pre-known results sprinkled with lots of fill-in-the black questions, following the 6-step cookie cutter scientific method. At, the future Kurtz Academy we want to teach our students to observe the world and phenomena around them and develop their own questions and design experiments to explore those questions using a realistic scientific process.
Solutions:
Teman Cooke, an educator in Lancaster, PA calls the scientific method the Cycle of Scientific thinking which emphasizes the cyclical nature of scientific discovery. Teman’s describes an approach to the scientific method that is realistic, flexible and adaptable for students. Available open-ended challenges and observations are great ways for students to apply Teman’s realistic scientific process.
Below is a diagram representing Teman’s ideas.
For details watch this Ted Video
For text details of the below diagram
Resources:
Ideas for scientific method from KBLOGS
KBLOG 8: Freedom to Design an Experiment -
https://www.k12stemspace.com/k-blog/freedom-to-design-experiments
KBLOG 52: Radish Seeds Experiment -
https://www.k12stemspace.com/k-blog/radish-seed-experiments
Understanding Science - https://undsci.berkeley.edu/understanding-science-101/how-science-works/
Problems with the Scientific Method -
https://www.snexplores.org/article/problems-scientific-method
