In “How the World Learns,” TIP’s Director of Research explains the process of publishing a scientific study and learning new things about the world. But you don’t need to be publishing in journals to learn new things. The thrill of figuring something out is still there, even if you’re working on a pretty small problem. (It’s all in the details, after all—just ask Sherlock Holmes.)
So we want to know: how have you gone through a similar process to learn something new?
You’re probably familiar with the scientific method, but it helps to review it. Khan Academy has a helpful article running through the basic steps, which are:
- Make an observation.
- Ask a question.
- Form a hypothesis, or testable explanation.
- Make a prediction based on the hypothesis.
- Test the prediction.
- Iterate: use the results to make new hypotheses or predictions.
It’s a method you can use in your everyday life, whether it’s fixing your toaster (as in the Khan Academy’s example), beating a tricky point in a video game, figuring out why your computer isn’t working, or even learning what it is you’re doing to make your sibling so mad at you.
So tell us the last time you used it, or how you plan to use it in the future!
Write an article breaking down each step, and submit it at our submission page. Whether it’s a problem small or large, unique or commonplace, we want to celebrate every time TIPsters learn something new.