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| Detective Using knowledge to solve problems |
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 In this role you will use knowledge to solve particular problems. If explorers are great searchers - detectives are great re-searchers; they go over things carefully again and again to get the details exactly right. They search out patterns and relationships. They are sceptical and test everything. It is the tiny detail that no one else has noticed that lets Sherlock Holmes solve the case! |
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What detectives need: Curiosity - about how to solve problems and puzzles Carefulness -attention to detail, searching for patterns and anomalies, filtering out irrelevant information Patience - to collect information and consider all the possibilities, re-testing theories against reality Scepticism - checking for themselves rather than taking other people's words as fact Contacts - gaining information from or trading information with a network of other people |
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Identifying
an insect, measuring how fast water evaporates from a puddle or piecing together
a broken pot - this is detective work. You will need to think hard about what
are the right questions to ask, and how you will plan to gather and evaluate
your evidence. You will require different tools
depending on what sort of detective-work you are doing – a magnifying-glass, a
microscope, a telescope, a computer, a light-meter – all sorts of different
devices for measuring and examining things. You may need to search the library,
the Internet or the sea-shore. You may need to perform experiments to test out
your ideas and make careful notes of what you find.
Can you construct a clear explanation of what you have found out? - does this
lead you to make predictions about how other things might work? - does it make
you think of other things you could test? |
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What kinds of
people are detectives? |
