Discovery (observation)

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Discovery" observation – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (December 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (December 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Discovery is the act of detecting something new, or something previously unrecognized as meaningful. In sciences and academic disciplines, discovery is the observation of new phenomena, new actions, or new events and involves providing new reasoning to explain the knowledge gathered through such observations, using knowledge previously acquired through abstract thought and from everyday experiences.^[1] Some discoveries represent a radical breakthrough in knowledge or technology. Others are based on earlier discoveries, collaborations or ideas. In such cases, the process of discovery requires at least the awareness that an existing concept or method could be modified or transformed. New discoveries are made using various senses, and are usually added to pre-existing knowledge. Questioning plays a key role in discovery; discoveries are often made due to questions. Some discoveries lead to the invention of objects, processes, or techniques.

Within scientific disciplines, discovery is the observation of new phenomena, actions, or events that helps explain the knowledge gathered through previously acquired scientific evidence. Discovery is made by providing observational evidence and attempts to develop an initial, rough understanding of some phenomenon.

Within the field of particle physics, there is an accepted requirement for defining a discovery: a five-sigma level of certainty.^[1] This level defines how statistically unlikely it is that an experimental result is due to chance. The combination of a five-sigma level of certainty, and independent confirmation by other experiments, turn findings into accepted discoveries.^[1]

This section possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. (December 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Within the field of education, discovery occurs through observations. These observations are common and come in various forms. Observations can occur as observations of students done by the teacher or observations of teachers done by other professionals. Student observations help teachers identify where the students are developmentally and cognitively in the realm of their studies. Teacher observations are used by administrators to hold teachers accountable as they stay on target with their learning goals and treat the students with respect.

Teachers observe students throughout the day in the classroom. These observations can be informal or formal. Teachers often use checklists, anecdotal notes, videos, interviews, written work or assessments, etc. By completing these observations, teachers can evaluate at what 'level' the student is understanding the lessons. Observations allow teachers to make the necessary adaptations for the students in the classroom. These observations can also provide the foundation for strong relationships between teachers and students. When students have these relationships, they feel safer, more comfortable in the classroom and are more willing and eager to learn.^[2] Through observations teachers discover the most developmentally appropriate practices to implement in their classrooms.^{[citation needed]} These encourage and promote healthier learning styles and positive classroom atmospheres.

There are a set of standards set in the education system by government officials. Teachers are responsible for following these academic standards as a guideline for developmentally appropriate instruction. In addition to following those academic goals, teachers are also observed by administrators to ensure positive classroom environments. One of the tools that teachers could use is the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) tool. After using this tool, "over 150 research studies prove that students in classrooms with high-CLASS scores have better academic and social outcomes."^[3][4] The tool itself is known for encouraging positive classroom environments, regard for the students' perspectives, behavior management skills, quality of feedback, and language modeling. The administrators rate each of the ten categories on a scale of one to seven. One being the lowest score and seven being the highest score that the teacher may receive.

Western culture has used the term "discovery" in their histories to lay claims over lands and people as "discovery" through discovery doctrines and subtly emphasize the importance of "exploration" in the history of the world,^[5][6][7][8] such as in the "Age of Discovery", the New World and any frontierist endeavour even into space as the "New Frontier". In the course of this discovery, it has been used to describe the first incursions of peoples from one culture into the geographical and cultural environment of others. However, calling it "discovery" has been rejected by many indigenous peoples, from whose perspective it was not a discovery but a first contact, and consider the term "discovery" to perpetuate colonialism, as for the discovery doctrine^[9] and frontierist concepts like terra nullius.

Discovery and the age of discovery have been alternatively, particularly regionally, referred to through the terms contact, Age of Contact^[10] or Contact Period.^[11]

• B Barber (1 September 1961). "Resistance by scientists to scientific discovery". Science. 134 (3479): 596–602. Bibcode:1961Sci...134..596B. doi:10.1126/science.134.3479.596. PMID 13686762.
• Merton, Robert K. (December 1957). "Priorities in scientific discovery: a chapter in the sociology of science" (PDF). American Sociological Review. 22 (6): 635–659. doi:10.2307/2089193. ISSN 0003-1224. JSTOR 2089193. S2CID 147253305. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 January 2021.
• Carnegie Mellon University Artificial Intelligence and Psychology Project; Yulin Qin; Herbert A Simon (1990). "Laboratory replication of scientific discovery processes". Cognitive Science. 14 (2): 281–312. doi:10.1016/0364-0213(90)90005-H. OCLC 832091458. (preprint)
• A Silberschatz; A Tuzhilin (December 1996). "What makes patterns interesting in knowledge discovery systems". IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering. 8 (6): 970–974. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.127.8150. doi:10.1109/69.553165. S2CID 11430349.
• Tomasz Imielinski; Heikki Mannila (November 1996). "A database perspective on knowledge discovery". Communications of the ACM. 39 (11): 58–64. doi:10.1145/240455.240472. S2CID 7530194.

• A Science Odyssey: People and discoveries from PBS.
• TED-Education video - How simple ideas lead to scientific discoveries.
• A Guide to Inventions and Discoveries: From Adrenaline to the Zipper from Infoplease.