Thinking techniques and practices relevant to the scientific field
Educators should encourage and inspire students to develop thinking techniques and practices relevant to the scientific field. Scientists naturally evaluate data with cynicism; they also critique their data and other’s experiments (Brownell et al., 2015). Thus, educators should teach and install such skills to the students. From this, students will develop detection kits that they can apply to different claims in the workplace. Thus, group discussions and evaluating their arguments results in focused scientific thinking. An educator can ensure this by encouraging students to analyze their lab test results and apply their acquired knowledge to analyze their results or other results. They should be able to examine and predict what went wrong.
Brownell et al., (2015) research shows that science involves collaboration between scientists and that they mostly work as a group, encouraging group work when students are doing assignments or conducting lab experiences, makes them think like scientists. Also, Scientists seek opportunities from their peers through communicating findings via written reports or posters. Education curriculum should include some of these basics to enhance learners’ communication skills and broaden their community network, enabling them to develop a scientific commonality Schmaltz et al., (2017). Furthermore, suppose educators need students to think like scientists. In that case, they should provide accurate consumer information and should encourage schools to include scientific thinking in the curriculum and a component of critical thinking.
Schools should have equipped science classrooms that enable students to explore global problems. The curriculum should offer a global focus to engage students in problem-based tasks (Stroupe, 2014). This gives students a broader knowledge of scientific literature. Besides equipping the classroom with the relevant reading materials and information, educators should aim to deliver more than just passing information. The twenty-first century needs require students who are knowledgeable and technologically driven Ab Kadir, (2018). This calls for advanced skills that are only attainable through teaching critical thinking in schools and outside schools. More so, the challenges facing the current generation call for broader participation from students, communities, and workplaces.
Critical thinking requires having both general skills and personal belief components. Although some studies provide proven evidence on how to develop critical thinking, Burke, Sears, Kraus, and Roberts-Cady (2014) argue that no sufficient studies measure needed for critical thinking. Therefore, there is no outlined best educational practice or approach to teaching scientific thinking skills at different levels. Consequently, for an institution to offer skills relevant for making students think like scientists, there needs to be educational approaches that foster scientific thinking. Also, educators need to encourage evidence-based measures that are appropriate for each level of study. School curriculum need to abandon traditional critical thinking attempts but focus on teaching the students on real-world scientific matters. Consequently, educators should develop fundamental elements for critical thinking on scientific approaches that focus on mental progression and problem-solving behaviors. This does not mean-making students memorize facts but to develop structured processes that will enable them to think like scientists.