What is Science A. What Science Is and Is Not 1. Science is not a collection of unchanging beliefs about the world. 2. Science is an organized way of gathering and analyzing evidence about the natural world. 3. Science deals with the natural world 4. Scientists collect and organize information, looking for patterns and connections 5. Scientists propose explanations based on evidence and try to test those explanations 6. Science is about understanding what we know and what we don’t know. B. Scientific Methodology: The Heart of Science 1. Scientific method involves observing and asking questions, making inferences and forming hypotheses (假設), conducting controlled experiments, collecting and analyzing data, and drawing conclusions a. Controlling Variables (變量): factors or things that change in experiments are called variables b. Controlled experiments try to allow for only one variable to change. c. the variable that is deliberately changed is the independent variable d. the variable that changes in response to the independent variable change is the dependent variable e. gathered information is either qualitative data (descriptive) or quantitative data (numbers obtained from measurements) 1. Research Tools: charts, graphs, meter-sticks, calculators, computer sensors, etc. 2. Sources of Error: a. some equipment may be more/less accurate than other equipment b. having small sample size (not many objects/subjects studied). c. human error 3. When Experiments Are Not Possible a. some hypotheses cannot be tested ethically (道德), or practically (務實)
