I will offer two ideas about how erroneous scientific method came about
and/or is propagated. The first I am sure of, from personal experience.
The second is something I have heard, and makes some sense, but it is a
generality I cannot verify.
(1) It was already stated that "science fair" is a promoter of erroneous
"scientific method." This is certainly true around Ohio. I have been a
judge at local and regional science fairs. Printed guidelines for judging
state that the student must show a hypothesis, then show methods and data
that yield a confirmation or rejection of the hypothesis. A project cannot
receive a superior rating if there is no hypothesis and hypothesis testing.
Often this idea is debated in the judges meeting prior to judging. On some
occasions I have heard the judges told that those are the rules and judges
should abide by them. Other times I have heard the judges told that they
can exercise considerable leeway on this. But even when leeway has been
allowed, the printed rules require a hypothesis, and it is clear that
teachers stressed this during the periods the students proposed, carried
out, and completed their projects.
(2) I have heard that we have the biologists to thank for this mess. Rumor
is that biologists were too often put down as being the least systematic and
therefore "least scientific" of the sciences. To combat this they developed
"scientific methods" to demonstrate the were acting just as rigorously
scientifically as the more mathematical sciences.
This was explained to me by a biologist on our staff who also dabbles in the
history of science. The data I have to support this may be superficial, but
it turns out that most science fairs around here are run by biologists.
Biology is one science that most junior-high and high school students take
(99% of students take biology, 50% take chemistry, 20% take physics).
Therefore, the biology teacher is the only science teacher that half the
high-school students experience, and it is usually the biology teacher who
organizes and runs the science fair.
Disclaimer: This is not intended to be a put-down of biologists. I am just
stating what a good biologist told me, and what I personally have observed.
Michael Edmiston
Professor of Physics and Chemistry
Bluffton College, Bluffton, Ohio 45817