Abstract
Humans by their nature are observers. Before we are even born we are sensing our environment. As we grow older, we acquire crucial information mainly by observing the environment directly or through our peers’ interactions with the environment. There is a natural connection between observation and how we learn and understand the world. We have evolved to use observations to build up our own representation of reality. As the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the National Science Foundation have acknowledged, the “practices of observation,” particularly “observing nature,” are essential to build the ability to apply the process of science in biology (Brewer and Smith 2011).
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© 2012 Rafe Sagarin and Aníbal Pauchard
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Sagarin, R., Pauchard, A. (2012). Opening Nature’s Door to a New Generation of Citizens and Ecologists. In: Observation and Ecology. Island Press, Washington, DC. https://doi.org/10.5822/978-1-61091-230-3_10
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