The primary goal of STEM club is to introduce primary school
students to the scientific method and different braches of science. Two goals
of our education process in the scientific method are to develop a casual
understanding of justification of knowledge and an initial understanding of
correlation (events are coincidental) and causation (events trigger other
events to occur).
Over time, more advanced students will begin to discern
systems/processes, formulate models, determine effects (from the manipulation
of variables), identify outliers (and other forms of experimental errors), and be
able to support these conclusions with relevant discussion. The most advanced
primary students may be able to use statistical analysis to support their
conclusions or their research design process.
Towards the goal of developing an initial taxonomy for the
justification of knowledge, two types of research are introduced:
- Experimental research: Research that involves the direct control and manipulation of variables. The results from experimental research are sufficient to show causation, but the way that the research is performed could limit the applicability of the results.
- Non-experimental research: Research conducted where direct control and manipulation of variables either does not happen or is impossible. Events can be observed and may be found to be coincidental, but generally causation cannot be concluded from non-experimental research (note that causation from non-experimental research is still a very actively debated topic).
Today’s environment is rife with dubious information and
unsupported conclusions. Even taking away unintentional misinformation,
students need to evaluate information in light of the context of the
information and the source’s motivations and incentives (consider information
provided by media, marketers, politicians, and others).
A key skill in the 21st century deducing true (or
plausible, logically consistent, and externally verifiable) knowledge from
biases, opinions, and pseudoscientific findings by thinking critically and
confirming information reliably and independently.
The scientific method is presented in an abbreviated form that
maintains commonalities between experimental and nonexperimental research and
maintains a level of depth that should be accessible to most primary school
students:
Emphasis is placed on the process of using information
gained to update an a priori model or theory. The four step procedure for level
1 is summarized as the following:
- Identify what is being studied
- Identify existing model(s) and theories where they exist
- Develop one or more hypotheses
- Perform the study and identify what happened
- Consider the results of the study and how they might change a priori models and theories
Where might the scientific method (or variations of the
process of inquiry) be used? Many fields use the scientific method and students
who find that they do not like a particular field have many choices of
alternative fields to explore. Science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics touches virtually all facets of modern life. The figure below shows
some of the branches of science(note that many other
disciplines/sub-disciplines exist):
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