M1 Science - Introduction to Science and Technology - Lesson 1
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M1 Science Book - Introduction to Science and Technology
The Nature of Science - Unit 1
1) TERMS TO UNDERSTAND FOR THIS UNIT:
a) Characteristic
b) Synthesis
c) Explanation
d) Logical/illogical
e) Reasoned
f) Testable/Reproducible/Testibility
g) Measurable
h) Science
i) Pseudoscience
j) Field
k) Science explanations versus non-science explanations
l) Events
m) Conditions
n) Community
o) Consensus/Agreement
p) Evidence/Empirical Evidence/Proof
q) Gather
r) Belief/Opinion
s) Observations/Observers/Observant
t) Data
u) Conclusion/Evaluation
v) Curious
w) Creative
x) Skeptical
y) Objective/non-objective
2) What is Science - Lesson 1 (pp 4-14)
a) What are the Characteristics of Science? (pp 4-5)
b) Object: List the characteristics of science, scientific explanations, and pseudoscience
3) Page 5
a) 1: Predict (p 5)
i) Science is the logical study of the natural world
ii) Scientific explanations are logical and testable
iii) Scientific methods can be used in other fields - such as business and art
iv) Scientific explanations do change - Westerners thought the solar system moved around
the earth until scientists learned that the Earth and other planet move around the Sun.
v) Creativity is important in scientific investigations - creativity is needed to solve problems
and come to a logical explanations of the natural world.
b) 2: Compose - The movement of the shapes in a lava lamp
i) Scientific questions
(1) What is in the lamp, why does it move, how is it heated, how much energy is used,
how much does it cost.
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ii) Non-scientific questions
(1) Is there a genie or a ghost in the lamp. Was it made by a unicorn? Did aliens bring
them to the Earth?
c) 3: Synthesis - Understanding a word by understanding parts of the word
i) Pseudoscience
(1) Pseudo - Fake or pretending to be
(2) Science - the logical study of the natural world
(3) Pseudoscience - The fake study of the natural world or Pretending to be the logical
study of the natural world.
4) Character Witness - Pages 6-7
a) Science is the logical study of the natural world
i) Natural events and conditions - actions and things
ii) Includes living things and non-living things
b) Science can be separated into life science, Earth science, and physical science
i) some scientific studies may include two or three of these areas - such as environmental
science - the study of living and non-living things in a habitat or region including
investigations needing information about physics and chemistry.
c) Community Consensus
i) Community - a group of people joined either by place, characteristics, or interests. In
the book, "community" means scientists of a type of science - like chemists.
ii) Consensus - a general agreement. In the book it means the type of scientists agree (or
mostly agree) about what the scientific evidence means.
d) Use of Empirical Evidence (p 7)
i) Evidence - proof, sign, or indication
ii) Empirical - gathered
iii) Empirical Evidence - proof or indication that is gathered - not a guess or a conclusion. By
"gathered" that means through scientific investigation or testing - like an experiment.
Also, the proof or indication is measurable.
e) Scientific ideas must be testable and reproducible
i) The scientific tests must be able to be done again by other scientists OR other scientists
must be able to find the scientific evidence.
5) "Give me an explanation..." - p 8 - 9
a) What is a scientific explanation?
i) Scientific Explanation - An idea of how something in the natural world works or a
description of something in the natural world
ii) Based on observations and data (empirical evidence)
(1) NOT based on beliefs or opinions
iii) Scientists create a scientific explanation by logically thinking about how all empirical
evidence makes an idea (like what is in the smoke coming out of a volcano) true or false.
(1) The empirical evidence may be testing the gas in the smoke for what elements and
compounds are in it and testing the smoke for solid particles and testing the
particles to find out what are the particles. A particle is a small solid piece of
something.
b) How is a scientific explanation evaluated? (to evaluate: To determine how good or bad
something is)
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i) EVIDENCE: Gather all empirical evidence related to the explanation
ii) LOGIC: Evaluate if the explanation is logical and reasoned based on the evidence
iii) MORE TESTING OR INVESTIGATION: Think about and maybe run more tests to get more
empirical data
iv) CONCLUSION: Evaluate again
6) Common Habits - pp 10-11
a) Scientists have common characteristics - common habits - BOOK HAS 6 OF THEM!!
i) Careful Observers - investigate and record empirical evidence in a logical and complete
way
ii) Curious - Like to know about the natural world - or some parts of it, like chemistry
iii) Creative - Come up with solutions to problems and look at evidence to come up with
new explanations
iv) Logical - Reasoned thinking supported with evidence
v) Skeptical - Asks questions and do not believe the answer until the evidence is given to
them or the scientists investigates and find evidence
vi) Objective - Look at data logically and without emotion
(1) example of non-objective reasoning: All my students are geniuses because they are
my students.
(2) example of objective reasoning: Since all of my students earned excellent grades on
O-NET tests, they are geniuses
7) "Space Aliens built the Pyramids - pp 12-13
a) Pseudoscience: Making conclusions based on a non-scientific method
b) CAUTION
i) Pseudoscience can look like real science as it tries to explain the natural world in terms
used by scientists.
ii) Pseudoscience may be use empirical evidence in a wrong way or ignore some empirical
evidence that does not help the pseudoscience conclusion or idea
iii) Pseudoscience conclusions may be based on vague evidence or evidence that cannot be
tested or checked by other scientists
iv) Pseudoscience conclusions may be based partly or only on personal experiences (the
aliens took me to their mother ship in space)
v) Use illogical (not logical) reasoning - PROVE ME FALSE - PROVE I DID NOT GO UP IN A
SPACE SHIP).
(1) Logical reasoning and scientific conclusions would be based on evidence of going up
into a ship - a movie of going up into the ship and inside the ship and an little green
alien saying to the world, "Yup, we took T.DJ up into the ship."
c) SCIENTISTS GIVE EXPLANATIONS THAT CAN BE TESTED
i) A pseudoscientist may say "Aliens built the pyramids and prove me wrong."
(1) A pseudoscientist might say that since science CANNOT explain how man built the
pyramids, then Aliens must have built them.
ii) Right now, today, science cannot prove that aliens built the pyramids in Egypt so, in
good science terms, aliens did not build them.
iii) However,
(1) IF good science evidence, good empirical evidence is found that Aliens did build the
pyramids,
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(2) AND the evidence is evaluated by other scientists (community), and more
investigations were made (testability), and they agreed that the evidence proved
Aliens built the pyramids (consensus),
(3) THEN it would be a logical and reasoned scientific conclusion that Aliens built the
pyramids.
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