Sample Formulas for the Scientific Method
Many of our top educational leaders are not including the scientific method in national education reform plans. They often claim that the scientific method doesn’t exist or give some other excuse.
Early in my research of the scientific method I examined many science textbooks and found that approximately 65% of them included a few or more pages about the scientific method. None of the formulas given were as good as SM-14, which can be viewed at www.scientificmethod.com. However, some of them were fairly good. Here are three examples.
Elementary School Textbook
Steps of a scientific method:
Identifying a problem.
Gathering data (facts and observation).
Form a hypothesis.
Perform experiments to test hypothesis.
Form conclusions (from results of experiments).
Secondary School Textbook
A scientific method:
Defining the problem.
Collecting background information.
Formulating a hypothesis.
Testing the hypothesis.
Making and recording observations.
Drawing conclusions.
College Textbook
Scientific Method:
Observation (1st step).
Generalize about observations: inductive reasoning.
Make statement: hypothesis.
Deduce consequences of hypothesis and make prediction about future observations: deductive reasoning.
Test prediction of hypothesis by experiments.
Hypothesis becomes theory if supported by a great deal of data.
We should salute the textbook authors and publishers who have included a formula for the scientific method. During the decades that the controversies have existed, they have been the principal source for any knowledge students have obtained.
