(By Jeff Dunn)
Do you know what the scientific method is? If it’s been awhile since your last science class, you may be saying to yourself ‘oh yeaaa … a little help?’ That’s okay. Turns out you actually knew it as a baby, even if you don’t know it now. That’s because this little visual illustrates how babies know the scientific method in a pretty compelling fashion.
How Babies Know The Scientific Method
Step 1: babies make an observation – like finding a little green piece of plastic.
Step 2: babies form a hypothesis – you can see the gears turning in the second part of the image below.
Step 3: babies perform an experiment – for example, they lick the green piece of plastic and figure out if that piece is edible, toxic, worth further investigation, etc. It may not be the most ‘scientific’ experiment but hey, it’s a baby! Cut ‘em some slack.
Step 4: babies analyse the data – for example, they realise that ingesting part of the green piece of plastic made them turn green and choke. Not ideal. That’s some important empirical evidence that you can take to the bank.
Step 5: babies report the findings – they scream, yell, or basically just announce their findings with gusto. I wish more scientists would announce their findings like this. Could you imagine if a scientist screamed and threw a tantrum after an experiment ends up yielding less-than-stellar results? Okay, maybe that is what happens … just in a more adult manner. Maybe.
Step 6: invite others to reproduce the results – because checking your work and getting it verified is a key part of the scientific method. In this case, it’s as simple as handing the green piece of plastic that made you sick to the baby sitting next to you. Hope for similar results and you might be on to something!
