QUARTER 1- LESSON 1:

SCIENTIFIC ATTITUDES
What I Need to Know

At the end of this lesson, you are expected

to:
1. Identify the scientific attitudes of a
scientist/researcher; and
2. Apply scientific attitudes in designing
simple scientific investigations.
 LESSON 1:
SCIENTIFIC ATTITUDES
What’s In

What are the scientific attitudes of a

scientist?
What’s New

Activity 1
Read the paragraph below and identify the scientific
attitudes that made scientists to uncover the life’s mysteries.
Scientists all over the world are usually driven to uncover
more of life’s mysteries through careful observation,
experimentation, and sound analysis. They base their
preliminary processes on models or ideas, some of which are
products of accidental discoveries. A valid and systematic
method of investigation is the result of alertness, curiosity,
and persistence of the scientific method.
 Scientists are known to be curious about occurrences in the
environment. Their curiosity leads them to be critical and seek
answers to the “how’s” and “why’s” of things around them. Scientists
are also able to draw out their hypotheses by being open-minded
about observable facts and possible explanations to their questions.
They put more emphasis to establishing a rational basis to support
their ideas by experimenting. They are patient enough to hold
judgement until their hypotheses are proven true. If proven,
otherwise, these false hypotheses are discarded by scientists who once
again exhibit their open-mindedness. However, they are persistent
enough to undertake another set of experiment until they arrive at a
satisfactory result. Being intellectually honest, scientists all over the
world also respect each other’s works.
Guide questions:
1. Identify the scientific attitudes
that are stated in the paragraph.
2. Organize your answers by using a
concept map.
3. Aside from the scientific
attitudes that are stated from Scientific
Attitudes
the paragraph, what are other
scientific attitudes of a
scientist/researcher must have?
Remember:

As a researcher, one must be equipped with

essential scientific attitudes that will help him/her
prepare in conducting scientific investigations. The
common attitudes of a researcher include curiosity,
intellectual honesty, open-mindedness, skepticism,
objectivity, and perseverance.
What is It

Scientific Attitudes
1. Curiosity- is a desire to seek out and consume scientific
information just for the pleasure of doing so. People who are
science curious do this because they take satisfaction in seeing
what science does to resolve mysteries.

Example: A curious researcher may look at a salt marsh and

immediately ask, “What’s that plant? Why is it growing in an
environment like this?”
Scientific Attitudes

2. Intellectual Honesty- is an applied method of problem solving,

characterized by an unbiased, honest attitude.
What does an intellectual honest researcher do?
• Reports truthfully, acknowledge sources of information
• Does not claim the works of others to be his/her own
• Facts are presented in an unbiased manner, and not twisted to
give misleading impressions or to support one view over another;
• References, or earlier work, are acknowledged where possible,
and plagiarism is avoided.
Scientific Attitudes

3. Open-mindedness- willing to accept different ideas

that may not agree with their hypothesis. It is a
willingness to try new things or to hear and consider new
ideas.
An example of an open minded person is one who
listens to her opponent in a debate to see if the
information makes sense or if she can change her mind.
Scientific Attitudes

4. Skepticism- questions beliefs on the basis of scientific

understanding and empirical evidence.
Being a skeptic researcher, one must be:
• Humble to accept and say that they do not have all the answers
to every query
• Does not underestimate others
• Checks out or verifies sources of data
• Not arrogant of any achievement
Scientific Attitudes

5. Objectivity- a scientist must be objective in declaring results

of his/her experiments and judgement is based on observable
phenomena and not influenced by emotions or personal
prejudices.
• Not biased, mind is free from prejudice
• Willing to change ideas in the light of new evidentiary support
• Openness to old and new ideas and technology
Scientific Attitudes

6. Perseverance- is not giving up. It is persistence and tenacity,

the effort required to do something and keep doing it till the
end, even if it's hard.
• Always ready to experiment again
• Never gives up when dealing with problems and unexpected
things
• Records notes and is patient in observing
 What’s More

Activity 2. Briefly discuss the importance of the following scientific

attitudes in conducting a scientific investigation and real-life situations.
Scientific Attitudes Importance
Curiosity
Intellectual Honesty
Open-mindedness
Skepticism
Objectivity
Perseverance
 What I Have Learned
Identify the scientific attitude that is being described in the following
statements. Choose the correct answer from the box at the right. Skepticism
________1. Openness to old and new ideas and technology.
Open-mindedness
________2. Reports truthfully, acknowledges sources of information.
Intellectual honesty
________3. Checks out or verifies sources of data.
Curiosity
________4. Humble to accept and say that they do not have all the
answers to every query. Perseverance
________5. Always ready to experiment again. Objectivity
________6. Does not claim the works of others to be his/her own.
________7. Not biased, mind is free from prejudice.
________8. Willing to change ideas in the light of new evidentiary
support.
________9. Does not underestimate others.
________10. Always have questions in mind.
What I Can Do

1. Do you know who this person is?

2. What was his greatest contribution in
the history?
3. What do you think are his attitudes that
made him become successful as a
scientist?
4. Do you think you also have scientific
attitudes just like him?
5. What scientific attitudes do you posses?
Why?
Assessment