Thinking Like a Scientist

Metacognition Tools using the Nature of Science

 

 

 

Nature of Science Concepts

 

 

Empirical evidence is used to support ideas

Knowledge production in science shares common factors

Science and technology impact each other but are not the same

Careful data recording is a habit of mind of scientists

Theories help to connect and explain scientific facts

Questions evoking metacognition in novice science students

·        How do you know something is true?

·        Is your observation clear to other people?

·        Check what you think against what you see (feel, hear).

·        What is the same about the items you are classifying?

·        What is different about the items you are classifying?

·        Would other people agree with your way of classifying?

·        Would other people understand your measurement method?

·        Could other tools be used to perform the measurement? How might that tool be more or less useful?

·        Could you understand what you did to get your data weeks or months from now?

·        Did you ignore any data/observations that happened?

·        What big ideas could your facts explain?

·        Is there something similar about the facts that you could describe?

·        Have expert scientists reported about the ideas you generated?

Questions evoking metacognition in expert science students

·        What evidence do you have to support your idea?

·        Can other people understand your observation out of context?

·        Is your observation free of any judgment?

·        Are your observations relevant to the purpose of  the investigation?

·        What categories make up the system you are using to classify? (For example: classifying by the system of color might result in the categories of red, blue and yellow)

·        Could other classification systems be more effective?

·        Does this classification system emphasize important features of the items?

·        Does your measurement method have a standard to compare against?

·        How does your measurement interrupt the phenomena you are measuring?

·        What technologies are available to better describe the phenomena?

·        What degree of accuracy can your measurement method offer?

·        Could you understand what you did to obtain your data weeks or months from now?

·        Is your data organized to clearly illustrate your point?

·        Have you ignored any factors in taking the data?

·        Are all factors accounted for?

·        What big ideas (theory) did you use to make sense of your observations?

·        What generalization did you develop because of your observations?

·        How do your observations support this generalization?

·        What do scientists understand about your generalization?

·        Has your thinking about the observations become more like an expert?