What is science Three natures o A description Observations data that have been collected by individual conducting scientific study o An explanation them o Defines a purpose or a goal to explanation Explains the data and observations understanding the pattern of Based on the process of method that takes you from description Purpose The purpose is to seek increasingly accurate natural explanations for understanding the natural world Assumptions Natural phenomena have natural explanations that follow natural patterns rules o Something that can be observed in some shape or form over time o Patterns and rules are unchanged through space Gravity that pattern of gravity will hold true no matter where you are or the time era o We can uncover understand those natural rules explanations descriptions using some common method The Scientific Method Science The body of knowledge regarding the natural world A systematic process of acquiring organizing and communicating knowledge Science also must be o Based upon the best available evidence o Objective Being unbiased Allows us to trust for later interpretation o Verifiable testable and repeatable Benefits self correcting as new work is done accuracy and knowledge increase bias decreases o Acquired through the scientific method The Scientific Method first essay applying the Scientific Method Observation data single or multiple o Must be objective have to avoid being bias o Restricted to the use of our senses Can be improved using measurement devices instruments Question formed or generated based upon our observations data that have been collected Hypothesis A tentative explanation in what is seen in the data points o NOT a random guess o Based on inductive or deductive reasoning Induction going from specific observations to generate a broader idea An observation That dog has hair o Hypothesis All dogs have hair In order to prove this hypothesis correct you must find every dog ever Deduction Apply a general principle idea to predict specific results outcomes If A B B C then A C Every dog has hair o This organism is a dog o Therefore this organism has hair o Only takes one objection to prove a hypothesis incorrect o Used to make clear and focused predictions Not vague but very specific The more general it is the more difficult it is to test Can be tested by further data collection most popular Has to be testable way o Experiments are the most rigorous test Experiment manipulation of different factors or variables in a system that we might suspect is driving that particular pattern of interest Measurement of effect of the experimental treatment Should account for most if not all variables influencing effect you are measuring Experiments must be repeatable Interpret experimental outcome relative to hypothesis Hypothesis Experiment Results compare to hypothesis o If the results don t support the hypothesis then reject the hypothesis If the hypothesis is rejected then We can stop OR repeat the experiment OR design new experiments to test the same idea If this is done you must revisit and revise the hypothesis If the results do not support the hypothesis then it is definite If the results support the hypothesis then You can re do the experiment to verify the outcomes OR stop and move on to something else OR conduct a new experiment An accepted hypothesis does NOT proof SCIENCE DOES NOT PROVE ANYTHING SCIENCE DOES NOT DETERMINE TRUTH All results in science are viewed as tentative can be improved upon o Based on current understanding of the best available evidence All we do is scientists is improve the world around us
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