 Linear  Promotes direct experimentation as the only method of generating data  Presents steps as discrete events that are completed and never revisited

Beyond the Scientific Method: Model-Based Inquiry as a New Paradigm of Preference for School Science Investigations MARK WINDSCHITL, JESSICA THOMPSON, MELISSA BRAATEN Science Education 2008

 Arbitrary  Random  Purely exploratory

 Based on observations and previous knowledge to…  …form a model that is:  Testable  Revisable  Explanatory  Conjectural  Generative

 Organizing we know and what do we want to know (informs an initial model)  Creating a hypothesis  Gathering data  Constructing a scientific argument

 Describes a potential explanation  Uses data collected as evidence  Acknowledges any other explanations that fit the data  Describes how you modified your original explanation

 The true test of an argument is whether it is backed up by the evidence. This is what I mean when I say your arguments and models must “fit the world”.  Example: One could argue that we do not find road killed mountain lions because they are elusive, but that isn’t how the world works (based on the fact that dead mountain lions show up in the West and Florida)

 1/3 of reports to DEC are of black mountain lions, yet not a single museum sample of one exists  How do we use this data as evidence in our argument?

 There is no need to spend any time arguing that they COULD exist  What if someone’s argument was that they are a different species. Doesn’t that fit?