What Is Science?

1-1 What Is Science?

¨ The goal of science is to:

Ø investigate and understand the natural world

Ø explain events in the natural world

Ø use those explanations to make useful predictions

¨ Science is an organized way of using evidence to learn about the natural world.

¨ Science starts with observation.

¨ Observation is the process of gathering information about events or processes in a careful, orderly way. It also involves using the senses:

Ø sight

Ø hearing

Ø touch

Ø smell

Ø taste

¨ Data is the information gathered from observations.

¨ Observations are classified into two types:

1) Quantitative – expressed by numbers and obtained by counting or measuring.

ex) There are seven birds at the feeder.

2) Qualitative – descriptive and involves characteristics that

can't usually be counted

ex) The bird has a red head.

¨ Inference is a logical interpretation based on prior knowledge and experience.

¨ Hypothesis is a proposed scientific explanation for a set of observations (“educated guess”)

¨ Scientists generate hypotheses using:

Ø prior knowledge, or what they already know

Ø logical inference

Ø informed, creative imagination

¨ In science, a hypothesis is useful only if it can be tested.

¨ A hypothesis is tested through a controlled experiment.

Science as a Way of Knowing

¨ Science is an ongoing process which involves:

Ø asking questions

Ø observing

Ø making inferences

Ø testing hypotheses

¨ Scientific understanding is always changing.

¨ Scientists continually question both existing and new hypotheses.

¨ The scientific way of knowing involves the view that the whole physical universe is a collection of parts and processes that interact.

¨ Biologists focus on living systems, which range from invisibly small to the size of our entire plant.

¨ Science involves not only the scientific communities but also the society in which we live and the economy that provides jobs, food, and shelter.

¨ Sometimes laws and morals need to be considered when making final decisions.