BIOL 1050 Lecture 2 Outline of Last LectureI. Course DescriptionII. What is BiologyOutline of Current LectureI. Process of Sciencea. What is science?b. Hypothesisc. Ways science is conductedd. Scientific TheoryII. VariablesCurrent LectureI. Process of Sciencea. What is Science?i. A way of knowingii. “How do we know that something is true?”1. Limited to observations and measurements2. Natural not supernatural3. New facts take precedence4. Influences society (positive/negative)iii. Important when thinking scientifically:1. Imperical 2. Rational3. Testable4. Reproducible5. Self-correcting iv. Scientific Method1. Comes from observation and leads to hypothesis2. Includes imagination, observation, intuition, chance, logic, experiment, previous scientific results, scientific theory3. Steps of the scientific methoda. Make observationsb. Formulate a hypothesisc. Devise a testable predictionThese notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.d. Conduct a critical experimente. Draw conclusions and make revisionsb. Hypothesisi. Hypothesis is an answer to a questionii. Must be 1. Testable2. Falsifiable iii. Example1. “My dog runs to the door when I get home because he loves me.”a. This is not a good hypothesis because you cannot base a scientific hypothesis off of emotioniv. Null Hypothesis: opposite of a hypothesis v. Important: a hypothesis cannot be proven true, it can only support the claimc. Ways Science is conductedi. Descriptive1. Inductive reasoningii. Experimental1. Deductive reasoning iii. Science depends on 1. Ability to be observed2. Repeatability d. Scientific Theoryi. Over time, and after many experiments have repeatedly confirmed related hypotheses, a theory may be formed that offers a broad-ranging explanation for some aspect of the physical universeii. Is not the same as an hypothesis iii. A big ideaiv. Serves as a “model for reality” but can still be proven wrongv. Examples1. Einstein a. Theory of relativity (still true)2. Ptolemya. Model of earth as the center of the universei. Provided a testable way to predict the position of the stars, planets, etcii. Later proved to be wrong II. Variablesa. Dependent variablei. The response variable you are measuringb. Independent variablei. Predictor variable you hypothesize is responsible for the variation in the response variablec. Control subjects do not have a predictor variable while experimental subjects
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