Science and Engineering Practice 1 Asking Questions and Defining Problems

Ask questions first! Science and engineering both seek to ask questions! The best scientists and engineers ask questions that can be verified using scientific and engineering processes!

Step 1: Make accurate observations using your senses. Are your observations free from error or opinion? Are they true?

Step 2: State your observations with clarity and precision. Would anyone reading your observation understand what you are describing? Are you being exact or vague? Have you described with enough detail?

Step 3: Think about your observations in depth looking for connections. Have you gone deep enough? Are their connections you haven’t thought about ? Do you observations make sense? Is there something going on you cannot see?

Step 4: State your thoughts so that they are understandable for anyone who may read them. Are you making assumptions? Did you clarify any science content or engineering terms in a way that anyone would understand?

Step 5: Ask relevant questions with a purpose in mind Step 5: Ask relevant questions with a purpose in mind. Are you trying to; seek more information. clarify the results of an experiment. identify or clarify evidence. determine relationships between independent and dependent variables.

Step 6: Be sure that each question… requires evidence to answer can be investigated using reasonable resources. can be used to solve a problem.

Step 7: Define the problem What problems have your questions uncovered? Do you need to conduct an investigation? Do you need to use the engineering process to solve a problem?

Step 8: Decide which science/engineering practice you will need to discover the answer to your question? Do you need to Develop a model? Plan and conduct an investigation? Use mathematical or computational thinking?