HOW ARE YOU BEING A SCIENTIST?

What do scientists and engineers do?

1. Ask questions and define problems
Throughout the whole investigation of this problem, we had to ask questions and define
problems to be able to move on to next iterations. We asked questions like, What should
we have done?, What are some improvements/adjustments that we could make so that our
results were more accurate and reliable?. These questions helped us better understand
what was wrong with what, so that we could adjust it so that we could have more reliable
results, and a better version of whatever we found had something wrong with it. Defining
problems also helped us with making improvements to have better results.

2.Develop and use models

To be able to have more accurate, or valid results we decided to use a model. We used
pennies to represent the cookies, and water to represent the filling. With a model, we were to
collect more accurate data.

3.Plan and carry out investigations

To be able to gather data, we had to test our models. To plan, we developed and modified
procedures to follow, so that in the end, our data would be similar. With this came more
reliable results to use to come up with one final answer. Our procedures always included,
applying water with the pipette to the surface of the penny until it spilled off the side. It
also included recording and observing the results. During our investigations, we had to follow
our procedure for that investigation. Our investigation always included using the model to
gather information. Without following through with investigations, we wouldnt be able to
gather data at all.

4.Analyze and interpret data

We analyzed data to determine similarities within the results. Then, we interpreted the data
to see what worked and what didnt. This helped us with deciding how we were going to
adjust our procedures and our model for our iterations to gather more reliable data. We
did these things by putting our results in a chart. Then, we looked over it and determined the
range of data and where most of the data points ended up to see if it was reliable. Last, we
used what we gathered from the information to decided what to do to allow our procedures
and models to provide more accurate/valid data.

5.Use math and computational thinking

We used math and computational thinking to be able to share our results. We used math by
making graphs and charts to have a visual of our data after we recorded our results. We
also used math/computational thinking when we were determining where most of the data
fell, and how wide the range of the data was.

6. Construct explanations and design solutions

We constructed explanations when we were determining why what went wrong, went wrong.
For example: a problem that we found was that, in our procedure, we did not specify which
side of the penny to apply the water to, which affected our data. Our explanation for this
was, the pennies did not all have the same engravings on both sides, therefore the water
could spill sooner or later depending on the engraving. Then we had to design a solution to
this problem. We decided that modifying the procedure, so that it specified that we needed to
apply the water to the heads side of the penny, was the best solution.

7. Engage in argument from evidence

We engaged in an argument when we were discussing our class procedure. We used evidence
from our results to support our claims for what we thought the step should be.

8. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information

As we were analyzing the data as a class, we had to communicate our results to each other
first. We had to evaluate the data collection to see where we had our highs and our lows.
This helped us decide what we should change to make our data collection better and more
accurate.

I like how you tried to be specific in your explanations of what you did.
Can you include actual evidence or examples from the work throughout
this Learning Set? Be sure to focus more on what YOU did, not just your
group or the class. (What did Iyanla do as we communicated our results
to each other to analyze data?)