Applying the Scientific Method to Learn from Mistakes and Approach Truth

In its simplest form, the scientific method can be thought of as learning from our mistakes and trying to correct them. True scientists try to think rationally, never adopt dogmatic opinions and are always willing to listen to opposing views. They never claim to know the absolute truth but are relentless in their search for it. In this timely book, the author describes the fundamentals of critical scientific thinking. The book further examines the correct use of the scientific method and how to apply it to current events and scientific topics to obtain honest assessments. Current controversies discussed include climate change and COVID-related lockdowns. Additional Features include: Demonstrates the use of the scientific method to assist with objective analysis of issues. Addresses that induction plays a role but the true method for advancing knowledge is hypothesis-deduction. Explores current hot topics within the framework of the scientific method. Outlines common misunderstandings of the scientific method. Applying the Scientific Method to Learn from Mistakes and Approach Truth is approachable enough for the general public and recommended for university and advanced high school science educators and their students.

Contents Preface ................................................................................................................. ix About the Author ............................................................................................ xiii Chapter 1 The Importance of Building Resilience ................................... 1 Chapter 2 Scientific Thinking and How It Can Be Applied ................. 21 Chapter 3 Our Failing Education System ................................................. 35 Chapter 4 How Political Debate Should Work in a Democracy .......... 47 Chapter 5 Fairness and Equality ................................................................ 61 Chapter 6 Education, Schooling, and the Curriculum ........................... 67 Chapter 7 Where Have We Been Going Wrong in Our Society? .......... 77 Chapter 8 How Do We Fix What Has Been Going Wrong? ................... 97 Chapter 9 Summary and Hopes for the Future ..................................... 111 Chapter 10 What Are Some of the Mistakes and Can They Be Corrected? ............................................................................ 115Index ................................................................................................................. 121

Finlay MacRitchie was a professor in the Department of Grain Science and Industry, Kansas State University from 1997 to 2009. He is presently Professor Emeritus in that department. Prior to this, he was a research scientist in the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) of Australia. He has spent short periods of time as Visiting Professor at the University of Chile and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and as Senior Research Fellow at the Agricultural University, Wageningen, The Netherlands, the University of Paris V, the University of Lund, Sweden, and the University of Tuscia, Italy. Professor MacRitchie has published more than 150 papers in refereed journals and four textbooks – Chemistry at Interfaces (Academic Press, 1990), Concepts in Cereal Chemistry (Taylor & Francis, 2010), Scientific Research as a Career (Taylor & Francis, 2011), and The Need for Critical Thinking and the Scientific Method (Taylor & Francis, 2018). He is listed as an Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) highly cited researcher and is included in a list of the top 2% of researchers in the world by a recent Stanford University survey. He has been a member of the editorial boards of Advances in Colloid and Interface Science, Cereal Chemistry, and Journal of Cereal Science and Editor- in- Chief of Journal of Cereal Science. Professor MacRitchie’s awards include the F.B. Guthrie Medal of the Cereal Division of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) and the Thomas Burr Osborne Medal and George W. Scott Blair Memorial Award of the American Association of Cereal Chemists (now Cereals and Grains Association).