PRE-PUBLICA TION EDITION - Nelson Education

3Scientific Inquiry Skills3.A. Thinking as a ScientistImagine that you are planning to buy a new personalelectronic device. First, you write a list of questions.Then you check print and Internet sources, visitstores, and talk to your friends to find out which isthe best purchase. When you try to solve problemsin this way, you are conducting an investigation andthinking like a scientist.• Scientists investigate the natural world todescribe it. For example, climatologists study thegrowth rings of trees to make inferences aboutwhat the climate was like in the past (Figure 1).• Scientists investigate the natural world to testtheir ideas about it. For example, biologists askcause-and-effect questions about the impact ofclimate change on water in the Arctic (Figure 3).They also propose hypotheses to answer theirquestions. Then they design investigations to testtheir hypotheses. This process leads scientists tocome up with new ideas to be tested and morequestions that need answers.Figure 3 Water samples can be tested for pH, dissolvedsubstances, and other impurities.Figure 1 Looking at and measuring tree rings tell scientistshow climate affects the growth of trees.• Scientists investigate objects to classify them. Forexample, chemists classify substances accordingto their properties (Figure 2).Figure 2 These compounds are similar because they areinsoluble in water.3.B. Scientific InquiryYou need to use a variety of skills when you doscientific inquiry and design or carry out anexperiment. Refer to this section when you havequestions about any of the following skills andprocesses:• questioning• hypothesizing• predicting• planning• controlling variables• performing• observing (Figure 4)• analyzing• evaluating• communicating610 Skills Handbook NEL