Transcript WHAT IS THE NATURE OF SCIENCE?

WHAT IS THE
NATURE OF
SCIENCE?
THEORIES ARE THE
SCIENTIFIC WORLD VIEW
1. The Universe Is Understandable.
2. The Universe Is a Vast Single System In
Which the Basic Rules Are Everywhere
the Same.
3. Scientific Ideas Are Subject To Change.
4. Scientific Knowledge Is Durable.
5. Science Cannot Provide Complete
Answers to All Questions.
WHAT IS THE NATURE OF
SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY?
• Inquiry is a way of understanding the
world/universe.
• The scientific method is a characteristic
of the work of professional scientists,
but anyone can use them to think
scientifically about many aspects of
everyday life
Science Demands Evidence
• The validity of scientific claims is
settled by referring to observations of
how the world works
• Therefore, scientists concentrate on
getting accurate data
THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
• Observations/Data ➔ Hypotheses ➔ Hypothesis
Testing ➔ Models ➔ Laws ➔ Theories
• At some point in time, each stage must be reported to
the larger scientific community by presentations or
publications
Hypothesis Testing
THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
• The scientific method does not allow any
hypothesis to be proven true
• Hypotheses can be disproven, in which case
those hypothesis are rejected as false
• A hypothesis which is accepted must show
level of probability (statistics) that the
hypothesis is true. The data can be used for
further predictions, subject is to further tests.
How a theory is formed?
Experiment 2
Experiment 3
Experiment 1
Experiment 4
Hypothesis Accepted
Theory
SCIENTIFIC LAWS AND THEORIES
• A Scientific Theory is an explanation of how
different parts of the world work based on:
– data and observations
– from many experiments
– verified many times by different researchers
• (One scientist cannot create a theory; s/he can only
create hypotheses)
SCIENTIFIC LAWS AND THEORIES
• As a result of our confidence in the
Scientific method, both scientific laws and
broader scientific theories are accepted to
be “true” (accurate) by the scientific
community as a whole
• A scientific law or a scientific theory is
used to make predictions of events or
relationships among data sets
SCIENTIFIC LAWS AND THEORIES
• The biggest difference between a law and a
theory is that a theory is much more complex
and changing.
• A law governs a single action or situation
• Theory explains an entire group of related
phenomena (Mendel’s Laws versus Darwin’s
Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection)
Note: Evolution is a Fact; Darwin’s Theory is the
scientifically accepted explanation for the fact(s)
and mechanisms of evolution.
SCIENTIFIC LAWS AND THEORIES
• When the scientific community accepts a Law
or Theory, it represents the best understanding
of the explanations for the properties of a given
system at that point in time = Theories Change
with new information
• A Scientific Theory represents our best
understanding of the “truth” about some aspect
of the universe, even though it is not proven as
absolute and is still understood to be subject to
future revision, or even to rejection
Exit Ticket
1. What are the steps of the scientific
method in order?
2. How is a scientific theory formed in
science?
3. What is the difference between a theory
and a law in science?