30-AO3.1

Students will be encouraged to: seek and apply evidence when evaluating alternative approaches to investigations, problems and issues; e.g.  • consider the social and cultural contexts in which a theory developed  • appreciate how scientific problem solving and the development of new technologies are related • insist on evidence before accepting a new idea or a new explanation  • assess, critically, their opinion of the value of science and its applications  • question arguments in which evidence, explanations or positions do not reflect the diversity of perspectives that exist • criticize arguments that are based on faulty, incomplete or misleading use of numbers  • recognize the importance of reviewing the basic assumptions from which a line of inquiry has arisen  • insist that the critical assumptions behind any line of reasoning be made explicit so that the validity of the position taken can be judged  • evaluate inferences and conclusions, being cognizant of the many variables involved in experimentation  • ask questions and conduct research to ensure understanding  • expend the effort and time needed to make valid inferences  •seek new models, explanations and theories when confronted with discrepant events.