Processing skills
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The document discusses important process skills for science learning. It identifies 12 key process skills: observing, communicating, measuring, comparing, contrasting, organizing, classifying, analyzing, inferring, hypothesizing, predicting. These skills allow students to carry out scientific investigations and help them learn science by engaging in activities like collecting data, identifying relationships, developing explanations, and predicting outcomes. Mastering these process skills is essential for conducting science.
Processing skills
- 1. Name Date Class 1 of 2 PROFESSIONAL REFERENCE FOR TEACHERS Process Skills Process skills are a means for learning and are essential to the conduct of science. Perhaps the best way to teach process skills is to let students carry out scientific investigations and then to point out the process skills they used in the course of the investigations. Look for and encourage the use of the following skills in your classroom: Observing An observation is simply a record of a sensory experience. Observations are made using all five senses. Scientists use observation skills in collecting data. Communicating Communicating is the process of sharing information with others. Communication can take many different forms: oral, written, nonverbal, or symbolic. Communication is essential in science, given its collaborative nature. Measuring Measuring is the process of making observations that can be stated in numerical terms. All scientific measurements should be given in SI units. Comparing Comparing involves assessing different objects, events, or outcomes for similarities. This skill allows students to recognize any commonality that exists between seemingly different situations. A companion skill to comparing is contrasting, in which objects, events, or outcomes are evaluated according to their differences. Contrasting Contrasting involves evaluating the ways in which objects, events, or outcomes are different. Contrasting is a way of finding subtle differences between otherwise similar objects, events, or outcomes. Organizing Organizing is the process of arranging data into a logical order so the information is easier to analyze and understand. The organizing process includes sequencing, grouping, and classifying data by making tables and charts, plotting graphs, and labeling diagrams.
- 2. Name Date Class 2 of 2 PROFESSIONAL REFERENCE FOR TEACHERS Process Skills continued Classifying Classifying involves grouping items into like categories. Items can be classified at many different levels, from the very general to the very specific. Analyzing The ability to analyze is critical in science. Students use analysis to determine relationships between events, to identify the separate components of a system, to diagnose causes, and to determine the reliability of data. Inferring Inferring is the process of drawing conclusions based on reasoning or past experience. Hypothesizing Hypothesizing is the process of developing testable explanations for phenomena. Testing either supports a hypothesis or refutes it. Predicting Predicting is the process of stating in advance the expected result of a tested hypothesis. A prediction that is accurate tends to support the hypothesis.