The history of science is in part the history of how scientists came to look at the world they study. Scientific experimentation and observation have come to be defined by the exercise of a process called the scientific method. The underlying skills and premises which govern the scientific method are referred to as science process skills. Science process skills refer to the following six actions, in no particular order: observation, communication, classification, measurement, inference, and prediction. These basic skills are used in the experiments of scientists and students, as well as into the everyday life of average person, to a degree. They allow everyone to conduct objective investigation and to reach conclusions based on the results. The first of the science process skills, observation, involves noting the attributes of objects and situations through the use of the senses. Classification goes one step further by grouping together objects or situations based on shared attributes. Measurement involves expressing physical characteristics in quantitative ways. Communication brings the first three skills together to report to others what has been found by experimentation.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Jun 2013 07:28:16 +0000