Is Experience the best teacher?

I've heard it said that "Experience is the best teacher" but maybe not. Maybe there's a better way to learn science. A classmate called for the adoption of a sexy new catchphrase for this different approach to teaching known as Scientific Inquiry. I agree, we ought to consider a ”cool slogan” that can be used to encompass the philosophy of Inquiry. Let’s look for a slogan that reflects the mystery of science but is broad enough to include the many facets of Scientific Inquiry.

Among other failures, it appears that we are not encouraging students to address their preconceptions nor are we nurturing the habit of thinking about thinking. My astronomy students just finished the “Reason for the Seasons” lab in which they first gave voice to their preconceptions, used measurements and reasoning to analyze the observations, and then revisited possible misconceptions.

Surprisingly, a significant number of my students accurately measured the apparent size of the Sun, organized the data, drew a graphic representation of the Earth’s orbit and still insisted that the Earth is closer to the Sun in the summer. We’ll need a slogan that embraces this reluctance to see the obvious.

Some of my students also wanted to know if their written descriptions of the observations were “right or wrong.” It appears that even in a university introductory astronomy course, we need to consider the pacing of student development of ideas about scientific knowledge. Let’s look for a slogan that reflects this experimental nature of science that’s so difficult for students to comprehend.

In TV shows such as CSI and MythBusters we see forensic experts and scientists solve mysteries using their qualitative understanding of nature. But not all of us are trying to solve mysteries. Many are just trying to survive day-to-day. Do members of the public really need a “qualitative understanding” of every concept? Maybe just knowing the right answers, the facts, the “quantitative relation” of scientific concepts, is enough for some people. Let’s find a slogan that embodies the mystery while acknowledging the mundane.

Students tend to think the purpose of controlled science experiments is to look for evidence that is consistent with their prior beliefs. While I’m not sure that’s a universally bad thing to do, we don’t really need to look far to find that same weakness in the practicing scientific community. Practicing scientists are also human too, and have all the strengths and weaknesses of that condition. We need a slogan that encapsulates this human tendency to see what we want to see.

Scientific Inquiry helps learners develop skills in collecting and analyzing evidence. It also encourages learners to address preconceptions. In addition, Scientific Inquiry guides the learners in think about thinking. A catchy slogan we might want to consider should probably address this multifaceted nature of Scientific Inquiry.

There are many ways to design a science course. Some teachers will need time and encouragement to learn more about Scientific Inquiry and think about science using this different approach.

Many children and adults assume that things are the way they appear and “science is about questioning the obvious.” Maybe we can get our slogan from a modern day version of a 19th century CSI. For Scientific Inquiry’s slogan I propose this phrase from the 2009 film “Sherlock Holmes” with Robert Downy Jr.:

“There’s nothing more elusive than an obvious fact.”