An article from Wired magazine was recently brought to my attention. The article is by Rhett Allain and is “What is wrong with the Scientific Method.”
The Scientific Method is often taught as
To quote Allain
“The first step is take down those silly posters about the scientific method. They just give the wrong idea about science. The second step would be to change the textbooks. In particular, start with the middle school level books. I don’t think this scientific method is focused on in high school levels and up (I could be wrong about that).
But what about the science fair? I think science fairs should be fine if not better without the scientific method. Have you been to one of these fairs? There are some great projects out there that are hindered by trying follow this scientific method.”
He suggest that we use a poster like:
He also refers to Chad Orzel who has an article from December entitled “How to Think like a scientist.” Orzel is the guy who wrote about Teaching Relativity to your Dog.
