You are on page 1of 2

Categories of Skills and Abilities In Science Class

This outline identifies the types of skills that science students ought to be able to do better after having taken
middle and senior high school science. We have listed five categories of skills: acquisitive, organiz ational,
creative, manipulative, and communicative. No attempt is made to rank these categories in order of importance, or
even to imply that any one category may be more important than any other. Within each of the categories,
however, specific skills are listed in order of increasing difficulty. In general, those skills that require only the use of
ones own unaided senses are simpler than those that require use of instruments or higher orders of manual and
mental dexterity.
Acquisit ive: skills and abilities of gathering information
1. Listeningbeing attentive, alert, questioning
2. Observingbeing accurate, alert, systematic
3. Searchinglocating sources, using several sources, being self-reliant, acquiring library skills and the
ability to use computer search programs
4 . Inquiringasking, interviewing, corresponding
5. Investigatingformulating questions
6. Gathering datatabulating, organiz ing, classifying, recording
7. Researchinglocating a problem, learning background, setting up investigations, analyz ing data,
drawing conclusions
Organiz at ional: skills and abilities of putting information in systematic order
1. Recordingtabulating, charting, working systematically, recording completely
2. Comparingnoticing how things are alike, looking for similarities, noticing identical features
3. Contrastingnoticing how things differ, looking for dissimilarities, noticing unlike features
4 . Classifyingidentifying groups and categories, deciding between alternatives
5. Organiz ingputting items in order, establishing a system, filing, labeling, arranging
6. Outliningemploying major headings and subheadings, using sequential, logical organiz ation
7. Reviewingidentifying important items
8. Evaluatingrecogniz ing good and poor features, knowing how to improve grades
9. Analyz ingseeing implications and relationships, picking out causes and effects, locating new
problems
Creat ive: skills and abilities of developing new approaches and new ways of thinking
1. Planning aheadseeing possible results and probable modes of attack, setting up hypotheses
2. Designingidentifying new problems
3. Inventingcreating a method, device, or technique
4 . Synthesiz ingputting familiar things together in a new arrangement, hybridiz ing, drawing together
Manipulat ive: skills and abilities of handling materials and instruments
1. Using an instrumentknowing the instruments parts, how it works, how to adjust it, its proper use for
a given task, its limitations
2. Caring for an instrumentknowing how to store it, using proper settings, keeping it clean, handling it
properly, knowing its rate capacity, transporting it safely
3. Demonstratingsetting up apparatus, describing parts and functions, illustrating scientific principles
4 . Experimentingrecogniz ing a question, planning a procedure, collecting data, recording data,
analyz ing data, drawing conclusions
5. Constructingmaking simple equipment for demonstrations and investigations
6. Calibratinglearning the basic information about calibration, calibrating a thermometer, balance, timer,
or other instrument
Communicat ive: skills and abilities of transferring information correctly from one experimenter to another
1. Asking questionslearning to formulate good questions, to be selective in asking
2. Discussinglearning to contribute ideas, listening to ideas of others, keeping on the topic, arriving at
conclusions
3. Explaningdescribing to someone else clearly, clarifying major points, exhibiting patience, being

4.
5.
6.
7.

willing to repeat
Reportingorally reporting to a class or teacher in capsule form the significant material on a science
topic
Writingwriting a report of an experiment or demonstration; describing the problem, method of
attack, data collected, methods of analysis, conclusions drawn, and implications for further work
Criticiz ingconstructively criticiz ing or evaluating a piece of work, a scientific procedure, or conclusion
Graphingputting in graphical form the results of a study or experiment, being able to interpret the
graph for someone else

Excerpt from Teaching Secondary School Science: Strategies for Developing Scientific Literacy, by R.W. Bybee,
J.C. Powell, L.W. Trowbridge, 2008 edition, p. 230-231.
______ 2008, Allyn & Bacon, an imprint of Pearson Education Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The
reproduction, duplication, or distribution of this material by any means including but not limited to email and blogs is
strictly prohibited without the explicit permission of the publisher.

You might also like