The beginning of several inter-related posts on science

As I said in a previous post, I’ve been doing a bit of research on the hierarchy of science.  I’ll use the word hierarchy in two ways- first, the skills of scientific study, and second, the topics to be studied.  Here is a summary chart of scientific skills, which is organized in a hierarchical manner.

Now I’m faced with a harder task- organizing science, yes, the entire body of human discovery as we know it, into something that works like building blocks- basic concepts first, more advanced concepts later.  Ideally, I see a science curriculum that works like a math curriculum, with a stair-step approach.
  

Last weekend, we took Eliot to the vivarium.  This was a last-minute decision- it was raining, we were bored…  The vivarium was a small reptile and amphibian house, not any larger than our apartment.  We had a fantastic time.  

For the whole car ride home, I was berating myself because I could not remember how to classify reptiles and amphibians.  Was a turtle a reptile or an amphibian?  Argh!!!  Ultimately, this little inner monologue developed into, what I’m going to call, my Best Biology Project Ever, and talk about in another post.

But now, back to hierarchy.  An example of working out of order would be to discuss the genetic bottleneck situation of Cheetahs before discussing biodiversity, genetic diversity, conservation, population, isolation…  I mean, I could probably tell Eliot that Cheetahs were in danger of inbreeding and extinction, and he could probably be made to memorize a catchy phrase or make a poster about it, but he would not get it.  

So I began to wonder, what is the very bottom level of science?  One that uses basic science skills (observation, classification, comparison, measurement) to gather data and begin to make inferences into upper levels of science?  

The answer I came up with is Natural History, especially taxonomy.  All children can do basic taxonomy from very early on.  Ivy can clearly indicate that an animal is a cat, whether it be a gray cat, and orange cat, or a brown cat with stripes.  She also knows that cats are not dogs, and dogs and cats are not birds, nor are they snakes.  At 18 months, she has an inborn ability and desire to identify and classify.  As she gets older, she will start to compare and contrast like Eliot, and continue to build on her natural skills of animal (and plant) classification.  

And it all makes perfect sense, as a basis for future scientific learning, biology especially.  I’ll explain why in my next post, with my Best Biology Project Ever.