Criteria

Cliff Notes

I. criteria: a standard of judgment or criticism; a rule or principle for evaluating or testing something

II. Purpose: to make sure that scientific statements or explanations are valid

III. Seven criteria for scientific statements (CCPLOTS):

1. Consistent-repeated experiments/trials share the same results

2. Communicated-results are clearly communicated to the public (e.g. in magazines, online, etc.)

3. Predictable-predictions and conclusions are based on natural causes

4. Logical-conclusions are sensible and based on facts from the experiment

5. Observable-the event can be observed using at least one of the 5 human senses

6. Tentative-results are open to revision

7. Supported-the event is supported by historical or current scientific knowledge

IV. All seven criteria must be met for a statement to be considered scientific!

Attachments

Malleable Intelligence article - Student Friendly - an article explaining what people used to think "smart" meant. It has lots of great scientific statements to analyze!