Class content > Introduction to the class > Thinking about thinking and knowing

A big part of what we hope you will learn in this class is to be able to reason scientifically -- but also to be able to talk about what it means to reason scientifically and to be aware of the broad, general tools that science uses to make sense of the world. We will therefore specifically identify some of these tools and point out to you when we are using them by the use of some "knowing-how-we-know" icons.  Here's the list. Go to each link to see the icon with a brief explanation.

• Choosing a channel on cat television (limiting the scope of exploration)
• Shopping for ideas
• Choosing foothold ideas
• Playing the implications game
• Seeking coherence (building a safety net)
• Sense making
• Refining intuitions
• Representation translation
• Dangerous bend

Joe Redish 7/3/11