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Research 1
Quarter 1 – Module 1:
The Scientific Attitudes

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Introductory Message
Research 1 for Grade 7 is a course in the Special Science Program designed to equip
learners with essential scientific attitudes and science process skills that will prepare them
in conducting science investigations. These skills include observing, measuring, inferring,
classifying, predicting, communicating, formulating research problems, formulating
hypothesis, defining and identifying variables, describing relationships between variables,
designing an investigation, experimenting and writing simple scientific report. This simple
science investigation shall be confined within the school premises. This course provides an
excellent groundwork or pre requisite background for higher research work.

For the learner:

Welcome to the Research 7 Self-Learning Module (SLM) on Scientific Attitudes.

The following are some reminders in using this module:

1. Use the module with care. Do not put unnecessary mark/s on any part of the
module. Use your notebook in answering the exercises/activities.
2. Don’t forget to answer all the exercises/activities included in the module.
3. Read the instruction carefully before doing each task.
4. Observe honesty and integrity in doing the tasks and checking your answers.
5. Finish the task at hand before proceeding to the next activity.

If you encounter any problem or difficulty in answering the tasks, do not hesitate to consult
your teacher. Always remember that you are not alone.
I hope that through this material, you will experience meaningful learning and gain deeper
understanding of the most relevant competencies. You can do it.

CONTENT STANDARD
The learner demonstrates understanding of the scientific attitudes, applies appropriate
basic science process skills in designing simple science investigation.

PERFORMANCE STANDARD
The learner should be able to:
design simple science investigation applying scientific attitudes and basic science
process skills which are the inherent requirements in conducting simple science
investigation

LEARNING COMPETENCIES
The learner should be able to:
apply scientific attitudes in designing simple science investigation

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What I Need to Know

In studying Research, we cannot do away from science. It is simply a

studious inquiry or examination especially in the investigation or experimentation
aimed at the discovery and interpretation of facts, revision of accepted theories or
laws in the light of new facts or the practical application of it. Science therefore
involves a constant search for information about the universe in which we live. It
is human activity that can never be repressed for it is in the nature of human
beings to feel curious and to seek answer to questions.

This module will expose you to the world of scientists. How do scientists
work? How do they solve problems? Scientists are also ordinary and simple people
like us. However they are trained to possess special traits which distinguish them
from other people. Such special traits help scientists perform their work properly
since these qualities require them to follow orderly procedures in solving scientific
problems or questions.

After going through this module, you are expected to:

1. name and identify the desirable characteristics of a scientists
a. describe curiosity
b. tell when does one become curious
c. describe an intellectually honest, critical minded, open
minded, rational person

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What I Know

Hello! How are you? I hope you are fine. Are you excited to learn about
research? Well, to start, try answering the given questions below with all your
understanding.

Direction: The following are scientific attitudes and traits that a good scientist must
possess. Choose the proper terms from the box that describe the
following situations. Write your answer in your notebook.

creativity systematic curiosity

intellectual honest persistent rational

open-mindedness healthy scepticism humble

1. accepting the correct ideas of other scientist

2. making full use of available materials
3. willingness to change one’s ideas in the light of new evidence
4. not claiming the works of others as one’s own
5. belief in cause and effect
6. giving of unusual, uncommon and novel solutions or approaches to a problem
7. intense desire to know the “how” and the “why” of things
8. not jumping to conclusions
9. willingness to evaluate evidences presented in support of a conclusion
10. interpreting data on the basis of actual observations and experiments

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Lesson
Research 1
1 The Scientific Attitudes

Learning Objective:

1. name and identify the desirable characteristics of a scientists

a. describe curiosity
b. tell when does one become curious
c. describe an intellectually honest, critical minded, open
minded, rational person

What’s In

How are you doing? Can you still recall our session on superstitious beliefs and
practices? Have a short look on it again.

Activity 1: Am I Superstitious or Not?

Direction: Tell whether the following beliefs and practices have scientific
explanation or no scientific explanation at all. Write with scientific
basis or no scientific basis in your notebook.

1. Farming during full moon will yield good fruits and increased harvest.
2. During wakes, it is bad to sweep the floor because another member of the family
will die.
3. Chewing guava leaves controls diarrhea.
4. Sleeping with wet hair may cause blindness or blurred vision.
5. Waving a broomstick to the sky will keep the dark clouds away

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What’s New

Well done! How do scientists work? How do they behave? These are the
questions often asked by students at the start of the classes in science. In this
particular session you are going to find out the answers to these questions. Are
you ready?

Activity 2: How Keen Are You?

Direction: Read the story below and answer briefly the questions in your notebook.

STORY OF DARIO

One day, Dario saw his grandmother gather an herb called MAKABUHAY
(manunggal) from their backyard. He followed his grandmother into the kitchen
and asked what she was about to do with herb. She said that she would cook the
herb in coconut oil and then use it as a poultice on the wound on her leg.

Later, Dario noticed that his grandmother’s medicine did not stick long enough on
the wound. It either dripped or dried up and peeled off. His grandmother had to
apply the preparation again and again. After five days, the wound healed. Dario
thought that the wound have had healed faster if the medicine had stuck to the
wound much longer. His inquisitive mind began its task of finding some way of
making the poultice stay on the skin longer.

Dario recalled that when melted candle dripped on the skin and cooled, it stayed in
place. He then considered mixing melted candle wax into the oily poultice to find if
it could be made to stay longer on the wound. He told his grandmother about this
and was further told that the medicine could be easily applied while still hot.

Subsequently, they experimented on the preparation only to find out that when the
medicinal preparation cooled off, it soon hardened and was soon difficult to apply.

In school, Dario consulted his science teacher. She suggested that he try using
beeswax instead of candlewax because beeswax is softer. At home, Dario eagerly
applied heat to the oily medicine and gradually mixed in the beeswax. The result
was a substance that managed to remain soft even when allowed to cool off. He
called this an ointment.

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He then proceeded to test by recommending its use to some persons who had skin
disorders. At the same time, he allowed others to use his grandmother’s oil
preparation. He advised his “patients” to apply the recommended medicine at the
same interval of time and in the same amount each time.

He diligently kept a record of the progress of his “patients”. Soon he noticed that
the skin disorders treated with the softer mixture healed faster than those treated
with his grandmother’s preparation.

On the recommendation of his class, Dario entered his study as an investigatory

project in his school’s Science Fair and landed the first place.

QUESTIONS

1, What initial observations prompted Dario to study the said problem?

2. What plans of action did he think of?
3. What plan of action did he finally choose? Why?

What is It

Good job! You are on the dot. This section tackles the traits or attitudes a scientist
should possess. There is no single formula on how to be a scientist. For one thing,
super intelligence is not an absolute prerequisite. Many scientists did not always
have high grades in school like Albert Einstein, Sir Isaac Newton, Thomas Alva
Edison and Florencio Medina Jr, known as the father of nuclear research in the
Philippines who was very poor in Mathematics in Grade 4. There are so many tools
or measures used to solve science and technological problems. One important
factors helping one succeed in solving problems in science and other related fields
is the development of positive attitudes and values. What attitudes and values
must a scientist possess?

Scientific Attitudes and Values

1. A scientist is curious about the world.

This attitude –curiosity- enables a scientist to try to discover more about the
things around him.
Galileo Galilei’s inquisitive nature led to his invention of the telescope with
which he observed outer space.

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2. A scientist is logical and systematic.
This attitude enables a scientist to plan his work in an orderly way.
Scientists record keeping. He employed a systematic way of studying became
fascinated with the structure of genes after Gregor Mendel formulated the
principles of heredity. These principles were a result of logical experimental
methods and accurate traits.

3. A scientist is open-minded.
Open-mindedness is an attitude that allows a scientist to look at other
possibilities.
Johannes Kepler was hired to establish proof that planets moved along perfect
circles. But being an open-minded person, he dropped the idea after 15 years of
work upon discovering evidence that planets followed an elliptical orbits.

4. A scientist is intellectually honest.

This attitude allows the scientist to recognize the work done by other
scientists before him. It also shown by reporting data truthfully.
Isaac Newton acknowledged the fact that he built his laws of motion on the past
work of Galileo and other scientist. Newton gave credit to the contributions of
Galileo and earlier physicists saying that he was able to expand his horizon by
standing on the shoulders of giants.

5. A scientist works hard and is persistent.

This attitude enables a scientist to continue with a project despite obstacles
and failures.
Marie curie together with her husband Pierre Curie, worked long and hard
on their research on radioactivity. They had to work on several thousand of
kilograms of uranium ore to get a tenth of a gram of pure radium.

6. A scientist is creative and critical thinker.

This enables the scientist to come up with the new concepts which lead to
discoveries that traditional scientists have overlooked.
Albert Einstein was a 26 year old clerk in the Swiss patent office when he
challenged Newton’s fundamental assumptions of space and time. He developed
his theory of relativity because he dared to go beyond what was acceptable then.
He viewed things from different perspective.

7. A scientist is humble and practice healthy scepticism.

A good scientist must be humble enough to accept that one does not have
the answer to every question. A scientist admits mistakes.
Scientists do not accept things simply because someone said so. Healthy
scepticism protects scientists from the dangers of accepting everything with
absolute certainty. They check out or verify the sources of their information and
usually practiced by students performing experiments to verify theories in the
laboratory. They do not accept claims to knowledge without critical analysis.

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8. A scientist perseveres at his work until he is sure of the results.
For five decades, Dr. Luz Oliveros Belardo pursued her research on natural
products and Philippine essentials oils. Through her logical and systematic
study, more natural products were developed and herbal medications further
improved. She continued her work until satisfactory results were attained.

9. A scientist tries new approaches to arrive at better solutions.

Almost every day, advances in science and technology enable people to
improve ways of doing things. From these new ideas and concepts, a scientist is
able to determine what methods or techniques are best adopted.

10. A scientist is rational.

This enables scientist to work or do things based on reason or logic. They
believed in cause and effect and not in superstitious beliefs.
Dr. Ricardo Lantican is a Filipino scientist who is an expert in the plant
breeding. He recognized the need to address the worldwide problem of food
sufficiency.

11. A scientist must not jump to conclusion.

This attitude enables scientist to withhold his judgment until the tests have
been completed. This means that scientists do not accept ideas until after an
exhausted investigation has been performed.

What’s More

Activity 3: Guess Me

Direction:
Rearrange the jumbled letters inside the oval to make out the desirable
attitudes or traits that a scientist should possess. Clues are given below each
number while the underlined letter is the first letter of the word. Write your
answer in your notebook. The first one is done for you.

example:
S O T I R Y I
U CU

- continuous desire to know the whys and hows of thing

_CURIOUSITY

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1.
S A E C T Y I S M T

- plans work in an orderly manner

_____________________________________

2. M T U H I L I Y

- the trait of not boasting about one’s achievement

______________________________________

3.
T V I R A C E Y T I

- the ability to create solutions and innovations out of things experienced or

observed
_________________________________________

4.
S P E I D N N O E N S
M D E

- tolerance not to reject ideas that are in conflict with one’s own

_________________________________________________

5.

T NP I S S E R E T

- does not give up easily or surrenders to a work or task he is doing even if it

takes a long time

____________________________________________________

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What I Have Learned

Congratulations! You did it well. But there’s more.

Activity 4: Tell Me My Name

Direction: Identify the other desirable traits of a scientist as described

below. Some letters are provided as clues. Write your answer
in your notebook.

1. The trait enables the scientist to come up with the new concepts which lead to
discovery that traditional scientists have overlooked. (two words)

C __ I T __ __ A __ M __ __ D __ __
2. The attitude of a scientist to give reports truthfully without claiming the work of
others. (two words)
I __ T __ __ __ __ C __ __ A __ H __ __ E_ __ __ Y

3. The ability to remain undaunted in spite of several failures.

P __ __ __ __ N __ E

4. The skill for finding substitutes for materials or equipment that are not available.
R __ __ __ U __ __ __ F __ __ __ __ S S

5. The belief in cause and effect and not in superstitions.

R __ __ I __ __ __ L I __ Y

What I Can Do

Job well done! Are you excited to know the next activity? It’s very simple.

Activity 5: What will I Do?

Direction: Answer the given situation truthfully. Rubrics are given below as your
guide. Write your answer in your notebook.

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Suppose you are a poor student who cannot afford to continue your studies
in college. What attitude/s should you display in order to pursue your dream of
becoming a successful professional?

RUBRICS
Element Needs Improvement Fair Good Very Good
1 2 3 4

Clear Claim Answer is unclear. No Answer is clear, Answer and Answer is

with clear reasons are given. but the reasons reasons are clearly stated
Reasons are unclear, clearly stated and the
absent, or reasons are
incomplete. strong.

Explanation Contains little to no Attempts to Clearly Clearly,

explanation or analysis explain and explains and concisely, and
of the information analyze the analyzes most thoroughly
presented. information, but of the explains and
the explanation information analyzes the
is unclear or presented. information
inaccurate. presented.

Conclusion Abrupt or absent Ends with a Ends with a Ends with a

ending. No concluding concluding concluding strong or
statement. statement that statement compelling
does not clearly about the concluding
relate to the answer. statement
answer that clearly
relates to the
answer

Mechanics Distracting spelling Spelling and A few errors Spelling and

(Spelling & and grammar grammar present, but grammar are
Grammar) throughout. distract at they do not exactly
times. distract. correct

Assessment

Direction: Choose the letter that corresponds to the correct answer. Write your
answer in your activity notebook.
For numbers 1-10, determine which of the following characteristics of a scientist is
exemplified in the situations given.

a. curiousity f. healthy skepticism

b. intellectual honesty g. open-mindedness
c. perseverance h. creativity

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d. persistent i. rational
e. humility j. resourcefulness

1. A student closely observes how ants gather food.

2. In a TV commercial, the baby is shown fixing a leaking hose by wrapping his

disposable diaper around the hose.

3. A student of science saw a TV commercial about a detergent that cleaned better

than their household detergent. The student performed the same experiment to
verify the claims advertised on TV.

4. A scientist was asked by his employer from a tobacco manufacturing firm to

produce fraudulent data that would dispel claims of cancer related to cigarette
smoking. The scientist refused and he lost his job.

5. Paul is working with their group task. He had been working for it for 15 days
only to find out that it is not the best so far. One of the members of the group
corrected Paul and he agreed with it.

6. Thomas Alva Edison worked so hard before he had invented the incandescent
bulb. He got many bulbs busted in the process doing the same procedures over
and over again. Yet, he did not lose hope. He continued experimenting until he
became successful.

7. British ethologist, Jane Goodall, is an expert on chimpanzees, discovering

through the years such behaviour patterns as their ability to use strawa for
extracting termites from nests.

8. Doing scientific research is like a steep climb. You just have to keep going and
face the adversities in order to succeed.

9. Scientist believed that nothing happens without a cause.

10. Thomas is leading a group in working with a research on organic fertilizer. They
are supposed to add an odorant however Thomas accidentally add a colorant
without the notice of the group. Yet, Thomas seek the apology of the group for
the wrong doing he has done.

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Additional Activities

Congratulations. You have made it! Perform the next activity to test your
ability in comprehension. Good luck!

Activity 6: What Makes a Scientist?

Direction: Refer your answer to the story of Dario in Activity 2. Write your
answer in your notebook.

What particular traits of a scientist did Dario show when

1. he asked his grandmother what to do with the makabuhay leaves?
2. he consulted his science teacher?
3. he observed his grandmother applying poultice on the wound?
4. he performed the experiment at home?
5. he tested the ointment to person with skin disorder?

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Answer Key

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References

BOOKS
Lastimado, Arturo V, Sabido, Gemma T & Tanora, Vicentius Invictus M, (2005),
Science & Technology 1 Integrated Science pp. 8-9
Bayquen, Aristea V, Darvin-Faraon, Genevieve, Ferriols-Pavico, Josefina Ma, &
Silverio, Angelina A, Ramos, John Donnie A (Author-Coordinator) (2013), Exploring
Life Through Science Series pp. 33-40
Amasol, Teresita A, Balce, Marina, Galvez, Elvira & Lozano, Lourdes F., (2003),
Science & Technology for the Future 1 pp.13-15

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