The How Science Works Flowchart

from the University of California Museum of Paleontology at

UC Berkeley

In the first two sessions, you explored a few of the causes and consequences of global climate change,
specifically related to the carbon cycle. As you learn about what scientists know about global change, it is
also important to understand how we build knowledge about the natural world. Science is both a body of
knowledge and a process. Science is exciting, useful, ongoing, and a global human endeavor. The
experiences of the National Geographic explorers highlighted in this course will give you insight into how
science really works. Take a minute and write down some aspects of the scientific process you noticed in the
video about Topher White in Session 2.

As you learn about the National Geographic explorers studying global change, you can document their
scientific process using the How Science Works Flowchart developed by the University of California Museum
of Paleontology (UCMP) at UC Berkeley. The flowchart is a tool that can also be used by you and your
students to journal the inquiry process as you engage in activities, laboratory experiments, and research
projects. This flowchart provides a more accurate depiction of how science works than “the scientific
method,” which is often described in textbooks.

Testing ideas by gathering and interpreting data (evidence) is at the heart of the process of science.
However, many other activities often take scientists on a winding path as they test their ideas. For example,
these activities could include identifying societal needs and getting feedback from colleagues. Science relies
on individual researchers and the larger scientific community.

Science is a non-linear, dynamic process, and there are four essential components:

● Exploration and Discovery: Making observations and asking questions can be key to starting a
scientific investigation, but inquiry can also be motivated by other factors and events.
● Testing Ideas: This component is the heart of the process, the testing of ideas with evidence from
the natural world.
● Community Analysis and Feedback: All scientists must share their ideas with the scientific
community. This is important for generating new ideas, critiquing ideas, and evaluating evidence.
● Benefits and Outcomes: Scientists’ understanding of the world can benefit and influence society.

The UCMP, in partnership with Howard Hughes Medical Institute BioInteractive, developed the
Understanding Science Interactive, which allows you to document and reflect on your own or others’
scientific research process.

1
Explore the Understanding Science How science works
Interactive to learn more about the How
Science Works Flowchart and explore how to
create maps of pathways through the
scientific process: EXPLORATION
AND
https://undsci.berkeley.edu/interactive/ DISCOVERY

You may want to try to map Topher White’s

research process on the interactive, and
then see below for an example flowchart.

Download the flowchart here:

https://undsci.berkeley.edu/teaching/teachi TESTING
ngtools.php IDEAS

COMMUNITY
BENEFITS
ANALYSIS
AND
Instructional Use of the How Science Works OUTCOMES
AND
FEEDBACK
Flowchart

To use this flowchart with students, you

could first ask them to individually, or in
groups, construct an initial model of what
they think it means to engage in science.
After discussing the similarities and www.understandingscience.org
© 2008 The University of California Museum of Paleontology, Berkeley, and the Regents of the University of California

differences among student models, you can

guide students to think about how aspects their models align with the four components of the How Science
Works Flowchart: Exploration and Discovery, Testing Ideas, Community Analysis and Feedback, and Benefits
and Outcomes. Then, students can map a National Geographic explorer’s scientific process on the flowchart.
This activity can be done on paper or using the online interactive. After students are familiar with the
language in the flowchart, it can be used to map their own inquiry experiences.

For downloadable versions of the flowchart adapted for various grade levels, please visit the UCMP
Understanding Science website: https://undsci.berkeley.edu/teaching/teachingtools.php

Example How Science Works Flowchart

Reflecting on the work of National Geographic Explorer Topher White, you can map his path through the
process of science. Topher started by making observations about a large problem—deforestation. He
learned that much of this problem was caused by illegal logging in the rainforests. This inspired him to find a
solution to prevent illegal poachers and loggers from cutting down trees. He hypothesized that if local
people could monitor the forest and hear the sounds of illegal logging in real time, then people could
confront and stop loggers.

By building new technology utilizing tools that already existed, he developed an alarm system out of
recycled cell phones and figured out ways to keep the system powered and

protected. This new technology (called the Guardian) was placed in trees and tested. Topher expected that
he could stop illegal removal of trees if people could hear logging activities in the forest and went to stop
the loggers as they worked. He gathered data about how well the technology was working. His results
confirmed this hypothesis that the Guardian could to pick out the sounds of chainsaws, logging trucks, and

2
gunshots from the sounds of the forest, and then send an alert to locals about the logging activity.

Once the Guardian could filter the relevant sounds and send alerts, Topher could apply this tool to solve the
problem of illegal logging. He worked with the local partners to gather feedback from the indigenous
communities in the forest about how to best to receive and respond to the alerts. Topher builds Guardians
which then are sent to be used by communities in the rainforests to fight illegal logging, and this technology
has been tested and is used in many places (replication).

Topher’s work helps to address a complex, global environmental and societal issue. He continues to share
and discuss this approach with colleagues and increase public awareness about the impacts of
deforestation.

The arrows on the flowchart represent Topher’s path through the processes of science, from gathering data
to testing his technology to helping reduce illegal logging. Topher’s journey was not a simple, linear path.
You can see where Topher started this work (the step outlined in light grey) and where he is now (the step
outlined in a dashed line). As you progress through the course, you can use the How Science Works
Flowchart to map the process of science experienced by the National Geographic explorers.