Nature of Science

1
Nature of Science

• Scientific methods and Processes

2
Goals of science

• To investigate and understand nature
• To explain events in nature.
• To use derived explanations to make useful
  predictions.
• NOT!! To use data to support a particular point
  of view!!!

3
Scientific Knowledge is..

• Tentative (Subject to change)
• Based on the most current data and technology
• Because technologies change and advance, our
  scientific knowledge can change.

4
Scientific Knowledge is..

• Empirically-based
• Based on and/or derived from the natural world
• Experimentally testable
• Collection of data

5
Scientific Knowledge is..

• Subjective
• Based on the personal opinions of individual
  scientists.
• Based on their prior knowledge and experiences.
• Different scientists can look at the same data
  and see different things.

6
Objective vs. Subjective

• Objective
• Subjective

7
Scientific Knowledge ..

• Necessarily involves human inference, imagination
  and creativity
• Experimental design
• Creative interpretation of the data
• Observations are related to inferences
• Human constructed relevancy

8
Scientific Knowledge is..

• Socially and culturally embedded
• Based on what we deem important.
• Based on what government finds important.

9
Science can be defined as.

• A body of knowledge
• A process/method and
• A way of constructing knowledge about the natural
  world that distinguishes it from other
  disciplines or ways of knowing.

10
The starting point..

• Scientists make observations about the world
  around them and based on their own prior
  knowledge they form a hypothesis.
• A valid scientific hypothesis must be testable.
• Therefore, a hypothesis is a testable prediction.

11
Validity!!

• A controlled experiment allows the scientist is
  isolate and test ONLY ONE variable.
• For example Redi varied the gauze in the
  experiment, but everything else was the same!
• The experiment must be able to be reproduced.
• They publish their work so that others can try
  and reproduce it.

12
Science theories and laws

• A scientific theory is an inferred explanation
  for observable phenomena.
• It answers the Why?
• A scientific law states, identifies or describes
  the relationships among observable phenomena.
• It states the What?

13
Common misunderstanding

• A theory does not become a law!
• A well supported hypothesis or hypotheses can
  become either a theory or a law

14
Why we have the misunderstandings.
Leno Grills Landis He Offers New Theory Talk
show host Jay Leno grills embattled cyclist
Landis, who offers new theory on drug
test BURBANK, Calif., Aug. 9, 2006By KEN PETERS
AP Sports Writer
(AP) Jay Leno didn't let Floyd Landis off easy,
and the embattled Tour de France champion
responded with yet another theory as to why he
flunked a drug test.Questioned by the "Tonight
Show" host Tuesday, Landis said he may have
unknowingly ingested something that made him test
positive for a high testosterone ratio.
15
Relationship of Scientific Theory and Law

• Scientific Law
• Boyles Law 1670
• Mendels Law of Inheritance 1866
• Newtons Law of Gravity 1666

• Scientific Theory
• Kinetic Molecular Theory 1850
• Chromosome Theory 1915
• None!!