HOW TO THINK LIKE A SCIENTIST: Answering Questions by the Scientific Method

The author has used his training as a biologist and his experience as a junior-high teacher in writing a book on the scientific method. His method is short sketches followed by Socratic dialogues, leading the reader to understand what the rigors of the scientific method are and why they are important. The approach is didactic, although undoubtedly useful in the classroom. The examples, too, are not fully satisfactory: in the attempt to use everyday experiences, the application of the scientific method seems forced. A useful addition might have been the description of one of the early scientific breakthroughs to give the reader a sense of the excitement of the discovery of order in a disorderly world. Curious, too, is the lack of any definition or even description of the word ""hypotheses""--a cornerstone of the scientific method. As a primer, an acceptable book, but it lacks spark.