The root of any scientific discovery is the curiosity to pursue the unanswered questions. The scientific method involves steps like observation, hypothesis, carrying out an experiment, and then drawing out a conclusion. The beginning of the scientific method comes from observation. An inquisitiveness to figure out something new. There is a reason that not everyone is a scientist, being a scientist is a Discourse, not all can enter. Not everyone has this “inquisitiveness”. Many scientists can root their passion for science sprouting up when they were a child, science becoming apart of their primary Discourse. “We acquire this primary Discourse, not by overt instruction but by being a member of primary socializing groups”(Gee 8). Family members, friends, and even teachers are all influences on our primary Discourse. They could have given scientists the inspiration they needed to pursue their passion.
The method of observation is well written about in Haas’s Learning to Read Biology. Haa’s entire experiment on Eliza, watching her grow from a timid freshman to a well informed senior is entirely based off of observations. In her experiment Haa’s watches how a student (Eliza) grows educationally throughout college. Haas observed how Eliza used tools she learned in freshman year, putting the knowledge to use all the way up till senior year. How subjects Eliza struggled with eventually became easy due to Eliza putting in the extra effort. “Eliza showed a level of awareness of the activity and agents of discourse that seldom was obvious in the texts she wrote”(Haas 47). Haas is saying that we do not realize we are mastering something. Through observations, Haas has come to understand that Eliza is growing and understanding the concepts she is learning thoroughly that she can now apply it to other subjects.
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