Japan's NHK documentary "Think Like a Crow" is a popular science program for children, mainly to teach children scientific thinking. For example, the question was once asked: How does a turtle shell that grows with a turtle grow?
The experimenter counted the scales at the edge and middle of the shell, and then compared them with those of their childhood, and found that the number of turtle scales did not change.
This shows that the shell of the turtle does not grow in circles like annual rings.
The experimenter enlarged the photograph of the turtle as a child to the size of the turtle shell now, and compared the two, they found that although they were similar, they were not exactly the same.
Now there are more black parts of the shell, and if you look closely at these black parts, you will see some very fine lines, while there are very few lines when you were a child.
So they came up with a new hypothesis: the reason the shell became larger was because of these lines.
Does this hypothesis hold?
If it is only a change in the pattern, then the middle part of the grain should be the same as in the past. So the experimenter printed out a picture of the grown turtle, cut the part down and put it together, and compared it with the turtle when he was a child. It turned out that the two were almost the same size.
That is to say, the secret of the growth of the turtle shell is that the pattern on the shell of the turtle is true in the final hypothesis.
This process of observation-hypothesis-experiment-evaluation is scientific thinking. In fact, this is also the scientific thinking necessary for the logical thinking system of scientists. How Scientists Think: Darwin and the Origin of Species is also a book that teaches children to think scientifically. The difference is that this book is based on the important experiences and research of Darwin's life, integrating the way scientists think; and will tell us that scientists must not only have scientific thinking, but also theoretical support, but also have a perfect knowledge system and interdisciplinary literacy.
In simple terms, the logical thinking system of scientists is: observation-hypothesis-theory-experiment-evaluation, and interdisciplinary literacy integration.
For children, it is very valuable to learn the way scientists think by taking a great scientist like Darwin as an example, of course, Darwin's experience is told in the form of a story, which is more interesting to children.
Let's take a brief look at Darwin's logical system of thinking.
For Darwin, the foundation of his life was a five-year trip to the Southern Hemisphere. During the trip, he would record what he saw and heard every day, and every time he landed, he would collect a variety of specimens, and the diversity of people, animals and plants in different regions aroused his great interest.
For example, in the Patagonia Plateau, Darwin found fossils of the extinct giant mammal Carodontis, and after careful observation and comparison, he found that the fossils of the glyptodonts were very similar in appearance and skeleton to modern armadillos. For example, they all have a layer of dorsal armor on their backs, which are made up of scales and have sharp claws.
From How Scientists Think
However, there is also a big difference. For example, the dorsal carapace of a griffin is a whole piece, and the dorsal carapace of an armadillo is composed of several large pieces connected by joints. Armadillos have scales on all fours, but griffins do not. The griffin is 3 times longer than the armadillo and weighs much heavier than the armadillo.
Filmed from "How Scientists Think"
For example, the Galapagos Islands are a group of volcanic islands with hundreds of craters. Darwin found that there are many black-brown finches here, and although the finches on each volcanic island are about the same size, the beaks of the finches on each island are different, some are long and short, some are thin and thick, and some are very similar to the birds of the South American continent.
For example, in the Cocos Islands, there are many coral reefs around. There are few flora and fauna on small islands formed by coral reefs. Polyps live underwater at a depth of no more than 60 meters, relatively close to the surface of the sea, and the reefs built by the polyps are in a circular shape, with lagoons in the middle and sand.
Observing the difference between animals and plants, Darwin began to think, but his thinking was not a shallow taste, but a deep thinking and analysis.
For example, the fossilized glyptodon and the modern armadillo, although he knew that these animals may have died from disasters such as floods and earthquakes, he did not count it out, and he further thought: How did these mammals die? What is the relationship between them? Why are there any similarities?
On this basis, he boldly hypothesized that the two were related and that modern armadillos were likely to be descendants of glyptodonts. This means that species are not static, and biological characteristics change over time.
For example, the beak of the bird looks different, ordinary people can see it and see it, but Darwin thinks, why is it different? Why does it look like a bird from a neighboring continent? If it was from the South American continent, why did the beak change?
Another example is the coral reefs of the Cocos Islands. Darwin saw the coral scene and thought, how did the coral reef build the coral reef? How do you resist the onslaught of the waves? Why is the reef in a circular shape with a lagoon in the middle? Where does the sand come from?
Finally, after unremitting observation, Darwin solved the mystery of the coral atoll.
After returning to England, Darwin began to sort out the logbook, and found that there was too much to say, and there were many mysteries that had not yet been solved. For example, why do all living things continue to multiply, but none of them over-reproduce? How does nature achieve ecological balance? However, he needed a theory to support all his research.
In the end, he summed up the laws of nature– the theory of the origin of species, "natural selection, survival of the fittest."
For example, the story of the giraffe.
At the beginning, when the wind and rain were smooth, no matter whether the giraffe's neck was long or short, it could eat the leaves and survive. However, when the drought comes, the tree only has high leaves to grow out, then the giraffe with a short neck will be naturally eliminated, the giraffe with a long neck will breed more offspring, and pass on the characteristics of this long neck, after a few generations, there will be more and more giraffes with long necks, and fewer with short necks.
Through seed experiments, Darwin discovered the theory of species evolution, from animals to plants.
Botanists studied the plant specimens brought back by Darwin and found that some plants, although thousands of kilometers apart, were very similar. How do they do it?
Darwin and his son began experimenting together to study seeds. They put 87 plant seeds into the seawater and spent more than a month doing a series of experiments. As a result, all seeds end up sinking to the bottom of the water and cannot cross the ocean.
They thought, what if it was a fruit? So the whole fruit was put into the seawater. It turned out that the larger the fruit, the longer it floated. Dried fruits can float for three months, plant them in the soil, and germinate.
In the end, Darwin concluded that 10 percent of plant seeds were able to float across 1450 kilometers of ocean after dehydration and then re-sprout.
Seeds can travel over long distances. Are there other ways of transmission? By observation, there is. As shown in the figure:
Darwin loved nature from an early age, and at a very young age, he became a naturalist in the mouth of the people, and studied natural sciences and geology at university. His travels to South America, as well as his research after his return, show that he has a multidisciplinary knowledge reserve and is well integrated. This is also the extraordinary thing about Darwin. I have to admit that scientists like Darwin are really good idols, so worthy of our learning.
How Scientists Think: Darwin and the Origin of Species ¥10.9 Buy
Reading the book "How Scientists Think", I remembered a text I learned when I was a child, as if it was called "The Crow Drinks Water". I remember that at that time, the teacher told us that to learn the little crow, we should use our brains more when encountering difficulties. Now, it doesn't stop there. In fact, the crow drinking water is also a good example of teaching children to learn scientific thinking methods, and they can think in observation, because this is the process of observation, hypothesis, experimentation, and research.