An explanation of observational studies

The author did an excellent job explaining how observational studies can lead to interesting scientific discoveries. He also makes a plea to teachers to make sure they include observational... See More

The author did an excellent job explaining how observational studies can lead to interesting scientific discoveries. He also makes a plea to teachers to make sure they include observational studies and not just experiments when teaching students the nature of science. He gives several suggestions that would be appropriate for not only middle school studies, but also freshmen and sophomores in high school.

The importance of observational studies

The author makes a plea to those who do science fair projects to encourage students to consider doing observational studies as well as empirical ones. He provides an example from his own bac... See More

The author makes a plea to those who do science fair projects to encourage students to consider doing observational studies as well as empirical ones. He provides an example from his own background of how he discovered a discrepancy on a map of fault movement from a photograph and then walks through the experience of proving his hypothesis. Nice example of how good observations can lead to new knowledge AND on how earth science works.