Scientists share certain methods and approaches to understanding the nature of the world around them.

They use a systematic approach to observing and studying the world. They ask questions, look for patterns, and try to find general rules for the way life works.

Scientists also assume that the universe, and all that is in the universe, is part of a single system where the rules can be applied and followed in similar ways. Knowledge learned from studying one part of the universe should be applicable to other parts of the universe. There are certain “big rules” or “laws” that scientists expect to see followed in all of nature. These are things like gravity and the principles of motion. These laws help explain why items fall instead of float on Earth, and why the planets revolve around a star like our sun.

Scientists follow certain procedures when they analyze or study the world. This procedure is often called the scientific method. There isn’t one set rule for this study. The scientific method is a process or path that scientists use to try to understand how things work.

A simple version of the “scientific method” includes these processes. When trying to understand how things work, scientists:

• Carefully observe the thing that they’re studying. To make these observations, they use their senses that are “safe to use” and any tools that might help make this observation more precise. They record their observations so that they can be shared with others. And, scientists avoid including their own personal opinions in their observations.
• Use observations to lead to simple descriptions or explanations of what’s been observed. This is often called a hypothesis.
• Look for evidence, or what they see as facts, to help explain what they’ve observed. To gather evidence, scientists may need to set up experiments.
• Design experiments to test their hypotheses and gather more evidence.
• Sort the evidence looking for patterns and trends.
• Make general statements or rules if supported by evidence. If consistent evidence is gathered, a hypothesis may become a theory or law of nature.

There are many skills, or processes, that scientists use as they study and analyze the world around them. These include:

• Observing and describing
• Classifying
• Measuring and using numbers
• Inferring
• Designing experiments
• Controlling variables
• Formulating models
• Analyzing
• Communicating
• Working cooperatively
• Questioning
• Hypothesizing
• Predicting
• Interpreting data
• Problem solving

There isn’t only one path to understanding the world of science -- any one of these processes may lead to another process and another and back again. One scientist might leap to an explanation and then test her hypothesis. Another scientist may make many observations before forming a hypothesis. Hypotheses must be continually checked against new observations and perhaps modified to explain the new results. Science is a continually evolving process.

As Barkley and Ted learn, everyone can be a scientist and use the scientific method to study and better understand the world.