WHAT IS RESEARCH?

Take a moment and brainstorm the parts of research:

Take a moment and brainstorm the parts of research:

The Scientific Method (TSM)

Everyone has at least heard of The Scientific Method

“The” ???

The Scientific Method

Problems with TSM: Linear Promotes direct experimentation as the

only method of generating data Presents steps as discrete events that are

completed and never revisited

Alternative:Model-Based Inquiry

Beyond the Scientific Method: Model-Based Inquiry as a New

Paradigm of Preference for School Science Investigations

MARK WINDSCHITL, JESSICA THOMPSON, MELISSA BRAATEN

Science Education 2008

“MBI” is not: Arbitrary Random Purely exploratory

“MBI” is: Based on observations and previous

knowledge to… …form a model that is:

Testable Revisable Explanatory Conjectural Generative

Windschitl calls the steps“conversations”

Organizing we know and what do we want to know (informs an initial model)

Creating a hypothesis Gathering data Constructing a scientific argument

One way I use this

Forming aScientific Argument

Describes a potential explanation Uses data collected as evidence Acknowledges any other explanations

that fit the data Describes how you modified your original

explanation

Forming aScientific Argument

The true test of an argument is whether it is backed up by the evidence. This is what I mean when I say your arguments and models must “fit the world”.

Example: One could argue that we do not find road killed mountain lions because they are elusive, but that isn’t how the world works (based on the fact that dead mountain lions show up in the West and Florida)

Example: Black mountain lion reports

1/3 of reports to DEC are of black mountain lions, yet not a single museum sample of one exists

How do we use this data as evidence in our argument?

Example: Black mountain lion reports

There is no need to spend any time arguing that they COULD exist

What if someone’s argument was that they are a different species. Doesn’t that fit?

Questions?