ABSTRACT
How do scientists solve problems? How does their thinking differ from that of non-scientists facing a problem? By using ideas as generative models for interpreting observations and events, scientists and other experts see meaningful patterns in problems regardless of the subject matter (Bransford et al, 2000). Besides being a body of epistemological ideas and facts, science is a way of perceiving and interpreting experiences and natural phenomena. Thus, learning the process of scientific problem solving has value to all and applies to any field. A goal in the USA and in many other countries is to educate all citizens to achieve a scientifically literate society (National Research Council, 1996).
