Thinking like a scientist about real-world problems: The Cornell Institute for Research on Children Science Education Program

We describe a new educational program developed by the Cornell Institute for Research on Children (CIRC), a research and outreach center funded by the National Science Foundation. Thinking Like A Scientist targets students from groups historically underrepresented in science (i.e., girls, people of color, and people from disadvantaged backgrounds), and trains these individuals to reason scientifically about everyday problems. In contrast to programs that are content based and which rely on disciplinary concepts and vocabulary within a specific domain of science (e.g., biology), Thinking Like A Scientist is domain-general and attempts to promote the transfer of scientific reasoning. Although the full evaluation of Thinking Like A Scientist must await more data, this article introduces the conceptual basis for the program and provides descriptions of its core themes and implementation. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier Inc.