Chapter 16: The Scientific Method Card Game: Applications for Any Educational Context

Utilizing active learning greatly enhances the cultivation of a scientific mindset, as it better represents the true nature of scientific problem-solving. This is especially true for addressing and understanding uncertainty as it allows for the learner to truly experience uncertainty versus only passively learning about it during lectures. The ability to immediately obtain answers on the internet and expectations that there is typically one “right” answer means that uncertainty can be an incredibly difficult concept for students to comprehend. Furthermore, because uncertainty is a key component of inferential reasoning and a scientific mindset, activities that address uncertainty are especially beneficial to the learner. Finally, interdisciplinary activities or those that can be broadly applied in multiple fields allow for the learner to gain insight into the working aspects of modern science, which requires the integration of various disciplines for problem-solving.