| NSES Content Standard A
Science as Inquiry: Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry Grades 9-12, page 175 Formulate and revise scientific explanations and models using logic
and evidence. Student inquiries should culminate in formulating an explanation
or model. Models should be physical, conceptual, and mathematical. In the
process of answering the questions, the students should engage in discussions
and arguments that result in the revision of their explanations. These
discussions should be based on scientific knowledge, the use of logic,
and evidence from their investigation.
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Benchmark 1B The Nature of Science: Scientific
Inquiry
Grades 9-12, page 13
Hypotheses are widely used in science for choosing what data to pay
attention to and what additional data to seek, and for guiding the interpretation
of the data (both new and previously available).
Benchmark 1B The Nature of Science: Scientific
Inquiry
Grades 9-12, page 13
There are different traditions in science about what is investigated
and how, but they all have in common certain basic beliefs about the value
of evidence, logic, and good arguments. And there is agreement that progress
in all fields of science depends on intelligence, hard work, imagination,
and even chance.
Benchmark 9E The Mathematical World:
Reasoning
Grades 9-12, page 234
To be convincing, an argument needs to have both true statements and
valid connections among them. Formal logic is mostly about connections
among statements, not about whether they are true. People sometimes use
poor logic even if they begin with true statements, and sometimes they
use logic that begins with untrue statements.
Benchmark 9E The Mathematical World:
Reasoning
Grades 9-12, page 234
Logic requires a clear distinction among reasons: A reason may be sufficient
to get a result, but perhaps is not the only way to get there; or, a reason
may be necessary to get the result, but it may not be enough by itself;
some reasons may be both sufficient and necessary.
Benchmark 9E The Mathematical World:
Reasoning
Grades 9-12, page 234
Wherever a general rule comes from, logic can be used in testing how
well it works. Proving a generalization to be false (just one exception
will do) is easier than proving it to be true (for all possible cases).
Logic may be of limited help in finding solutions to problems if one isn't
sure that general rules always hold or that particular information is correct;
most often, one has to deal with probabilities rather than certainties.
Benchmark 9E The Mathematical World:
Reasoning
Grades 9-12, page 234
Once a person believes in a general rule, he or she may be more likely
to notice cases that agree with it and to ignore cases that don't. To avoid
biased observations, scientific studies sometimes use observers who don't
know what the results are "supposed" to be.
Benchmark 11B Common Themes: Models
Grades 6-8, page 269
Models are often used to think about processes that happen too slowly,
too quickly, or on too small a scale to observe directly, or that are too
vast to be changed deliberately, or that are potentially dangerous.
Benchmark 11B Common Themes: Models
Grades 9-12, page 270
The usefulness of a model can be tested by comparing its predictions
to actual observations in the real world. But a close match does not necessarily
mean that the model is the only "true" model or the only one that would
work.
Benchmark 12D Habits of Mind: Communication
Skills
Grades 9-12, page 297
Use and correctly interpret relational terms such as if . . . then
. . . , and, or, sufficient, necessary, some, every, not, correlates with,
and causes.
Benchmark 12E Habits of Mind: Critical-Response
Skills
Grades 6-8, page 299
Notice and criticize the reasoning in arguments in which (1) fact and
opinion are intermingled or the conclusions do not follow logically from
the evidence given, (2) an analogy is not apt, (3) no mention is made of
whether the control groups are very much like the experimental group, or
(4) all members of a group (such as teenagers or chemists) are implied
to have nearly identical characteristics that differ from those of other
groups.
Benchmark 12E Habits of Mind: Critical-Response
Skills
Grades 9-12, page 300
Suggest alternative ways of explaining data and criticize arguments
in which data, explanations, or conclusions are represented as the only
ones worth consideration, with no mention of other possibilities. Similarly,
suggest alternative trade-offs in decisions and designs and criticize those
in which major trade-offs are not acknowledged.