Benchmark 1B The Nature of Science: Scientific Inquiry

Benchmark 1B
The Nature of Science: Scientific Inquiry
Grades K-2, page 10

When people give different descriptions of the same thing, it is usually a good idea to make some fresh observations instead of just arguing about who is right.

NSES Content Standard A
Science as Inquiry: Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry
Grades K-4, page 122
Use data to construct a reasonable explanation. This aspect of the standard emphasizes the students' thinking as they use data to formulate explanations. Even at the earliest grade levels, students should learn what constitutes evidence and judge the merits or strength of the data and information that will be used to make explanations. After students propose an explanation, they will appeal to the knowledge and evidence they obtained to support their explanations. Students should check their explanations against scientific knowledge, experiences, and observations of others.

NSES Content Standard G
History and Nature of Science: Nature of science
Grades 5-8, page 171
In areas where active research is being pursued and in which there is not a great deal of experimental or observational evidence and understanding, it is normal for scientists to differ with one another about the interpretation of the evidence or theory being considered. Different scientists might publish conflicting experimental results or might draw different conclusions from the same data. Ideally, scientists acknowledge such conflict and work towards finding evidence that will resolve their disagreement.