The history of science is in part the history of how scientists came to look at the world they study. Scientific experimentation and observation have come to be defined by the exercise of a process called the scientific method. The underlying skills and premises which govern the scientific method are referred to as science process skills. Science process skills refer to the following six actions, in no particular order: observation, communication, classification, measurement, inference, and prediction. These basic skills are used in the experiments of scientists and students, as well as into the everyday life of average person, to a degree. They allow everyone to conduct objective investigation and to reach conclusions based on the results. The first of the science process skills, observation, involves noting the attributes of objects and situations through the use of the senses. Classification goes one step further by grouping together objects or situations based on shared attributes.
• The foundation of the scientific method • Six basic skills: observation, communication, classification, measurement, inference, and prediction • Observation • The beginning of all scientific investigations • Using the five senses to gather information • Collecting data before and during an experiment • Communication • Sharing observations with someone else • Describing your observations • Verbal, written, or illustrated • Classification • Organizing information into groups • Similarities and differences • Identifying characteristics (color, size, texture, temperature, order, etc.
Science Process Skills take part in one of the three dimensions of science. These three dimensions of science are all important. The first of these is the content of science, the basic concepts, and our scientific knowledge. This is the dimension of science that most people first think about, and it is certainly very important. The other two important dimensions of science in addition to science knowledge are processes of doing science and scientific attitudes. The processes of doing science are the science process skills that scientists use in the process of doing science. Since science is about asking questions and finding answers to questions. Below you will find each science process skills with a description of each. Feel free to go “mad” about it!