How does a scientist think?

This is a very broad question as every scientist alone is different, but depending on what field you're in you'll think differently as well. You can say scientists generally are skeptical, analytical thinkers. Scientists generally think in a paradigm, which is the knowledge that's currently in the field (so what you learned in classes). Like if you were to guess what would happen if you threw a ball in the air, you'd think it'd fall to the ground because of gravity. The law of gravitational force is part of the paradigm of science. Specifically you can say it's in the paradigm of physics, but the idea is used by most scientists.