Use Detective Stories to Teach the Scientific Method
Look at the similarity between science and detective work! Both use the scientific method.
Dr. Jerry D. Flack, Professor of Education at the University of Colorado, wrote an article entitled “Put Some Mystery in Your Classroom” (Teaching K-8, Nov-Dec 1991). It points out that teachers interested in teaching thinking skills should consider the many possibilities available in mystery literature.
In Introduction to Logic (6th edition), Dr. I.M. Copi says:
“As the term ’scientific’ is generally used today, it refers to any reasoning which attempts to proceed from observable facts of Experience to reasonable (that is, relevant and testable) explanations for those facts. The scientific method is not confined to professional scientists: anyone can be said to be proceeding scientifically who follows the general pattern of reasoning from evidence to conclusions that can be tested by experience. The skilled detective is a scientist in this sense, as are most of us - in our more rational moments, at least. The pervasive pattern of all scientific inquiry is expressible in terms of the steps illustrated in the preceding section.”
In the preceding section, Copi described how Sherlock Holmes used the general pattern of scientific research in solving cases.
In David Workman’s “Science, Society and the Future” class at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, students practice solving a murder by applying what they learned in biology, chemistry, and genetics classes.
