Scientists use key skills like observing using senses, inferring explanations from observations, predicting future events based on evidence, classifying items into groups, and making models to represent complex ideas. These skills include quantitative and qualitative observation, reasoning from prior knowledge to infer, distinguishing inferring past events from predicting future ones, grouping alike items, and creating simplified representations.

1. Chapter 1, Section 1 – The Nature of Science & TechnologyThinking Like A Scientist

2. ObservingInferringPredictingClassifyingMaking ModelsScientists use several skills to learn about the world. These include:

3. Using one or more of your senses to gather informationTwo types of observations:Quantitative: deals with a number or amountQualitative: deals with descriptions that cannot be expressed in numbers OBSERVING

4. Explaining or interpreting the things you observeThis is NOT making a wild guess It is based on reasoning from what you already knowINFERRING

5. Making a forecast of what will happen in the future based on past experience or evidenceCLOSELY related to inferring however, note the differenceInferring attempts to explain what IS happening or HAS ALREADY happenedPredicting is a forecast of what WILL happenPREDICTING

6. The process of grouping items together that are alike in some wayMAKING MODELSCreating representations of complex objects or processesCLASSIFYING

7. Scientists possess several attitudes:CuriosityHonesty Open-MindednessSkepticismCreativity SCIENTIFIC ATTITUDES