At some point in your life, you have heard an adult say that "attitude is everything". This is also true in science. This week physical science will be exploring the attitudes of scientists and the scientific method. Some words you will be learning to describe these attitudes are skepticism, ethics, bias, objectivity, subjectivity, honesty, and creativity. Take the example of a man named Spencer Silver. Mr. Silver worked for a company called 3M. He was supposed to be working on inventing a strong glue. Well, his experiments did not turn out the way he expected them to and his glue was incredibly weak. In fact, the only thing it would hold is a piece of paper. He might have actually been laughed at by those around him.
Well four years later one of his fellow scientists was singing in the church choir. His name was Arthur Fry. Mr. Fry was annoyed at the fact his bookmark kept falling out of his choir book and he continued to lose his place while singing. Remembering the weak glue invented by his colleague (fellow worker), he tried some on his bookmark. The POST IT was born. Think of how popular this little sticky note is today. Very Creative of you Mr. Fry!!
A scientists attitude is important to make sure the research that is being done is honest and has no personal bias or opinions in it. Scientists should not give up easily. The work of science is more about proving that something is not happening than proving that something is happening. We call it disproving a hypothesis. Spencer Silver's hypothesis that his glue was very strong was disproved by his experiments. Even though he may have considered it a failure, it was a great success used in a different way. Throughout history scientists have been influenced at times by their personal opinions, religion, or cultural upbringing. This is called bias and it is not an attitude that good scientists have. I want us to talk about bias this week on the blog. So the question is - Describe a time when you have been biased in a decision you made. It has happened to all of us one time or another - we are human after all. I am looking forward to talking to you about examples of when scientists have been biased in history. I just love a good story. Lets hear some of yours!
Well four years later one of his fellow scientists was singing in the church choir. His name was Arthur Fry. Mr. Fry was annoyed at the fact his bookmark kept falling out of his choir book and he continued to lose his place while singing. Remembering the weak glue invented by his colleague (fellow worker), he tried some on his bookmark. The POST IT was born. Think of how popular this little sticky note is today. Very Creative of you Mr. Fry!!
A scientists attitude is important to make sure the research that is being done is honest and has no personal bias or opinions in it. Scientists should not give up easily. The work of science is more about proving that something is not happening than proving that something is happening. We call it disproving a hypothesis. Spencer Silver's hypothesis that his glue was very strong was disproved by his experiments. Even though he may have considered it a failure, it was a great success used in a different way. Throughout history scientists have been influenced at times by their personal opinions, religion, or cultural upbringing. This is called bias and it is not an attitude that good scientists have. I want us to talk about bias this week on the blog. So the question is - Describe a time when you have been biased in a decision you made. It has happened to all of us one time or another - we are human after all. I am looking forward to talking to you about examples of when scientists have been biased in history. I just love a good story. Lets hear some of yours!
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