WHAT IS SCIENCE? SCIENCE IS THE CONCERTED HUMAN EFFORT TO UNDERSTAND, OR TO UNDERSTAND BETTER, THE HISTORY OF THE NATURAL WORLD AND HOW THE NATURAL WORLD WORKS, WITH OBSERVABLE PHYSICAL EVIDENCE AS THE BASIS OF THAT UNDERSTANDING. IT IS DONE THROUGH OBSERVATION OF NATURAL PHENOMENA, AND/OR THROUGH EXPERIMENTATION THAT TRIES TO SIMULATE NATURAL PROCESSES UNDER CONTROLLED CONDITIONS. (UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA - HTTP://WWW.GLY.UGA.EDU/RAILSBACK/1122SCIENCE2.HTML ) TRANSLATED: SCIENCE IS PEOPLE WORKING TOGETHER TO LEARN HOW THE WORLD AROUND US WORKS BY USING PHYSICAL OBSERVATIONS. THESE OBSERVATIONS CAN BE OF THE NATURAL WORLD OR FROM A CONTROLLED MANNER.
DA SCIENTIFIC METHOD SCIENTISTS USE A FORM OF DEDUCTIVE REASONING KNOWN AS THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD. THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD HAS 8 STEPS: OBSERVATION ASK A QUESTION MAKE A PREDICTION COME UP WITH A HYPOTHESIS PERFORM AN EXPERIMENT RECORD DATA INTERPRET RESULTS DRAW CONCLUSIONS
DA SCIENTIFIC METHOD OBSERVATION IS THE FIRST STEP OF THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD. CURIOUS MINDS OBSERVE THE WORLD AROUND THEM. THEY FIND SOMETHING INTERESTING ABOUT WHAT THEY ARE OBSERVING. EXAMPLE: MONARCH BUTTERFLIES ARE COMMONLY FOUND WHERE THE PLANT MILKWEED GROWS. FROM THERE, THEY ASK A QUESTION ABOUT WHY WHAT THEY OBSERVE HAPPENS. WHY ARE MONARCHS MORE COMMONLY FOUND WHERE MILKWEED GROWS?
DA SCIENTIFIC METHOD IN ORDER TO USE THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD TO ANSWER THE QUESTION, IT MUST BE ABLE TO BE TESTED. IF IT CANNOT BE TESTED, THEN YOU CANNOT USE THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD. NEXT, A PREDICTION IS MADE OF THE ANSWER TO THE QUESTION. A PREDICTION IS AN INFERENCE OF WHAT YOU THINK IS THE REASON BEHIND WHAT YOU ARE OBSERVING. MILKWEED IS THE MAJOR FOOD SOURCE FOR MONARCH BUTTERFLIES.
DESIGNING YOUR EXPERIMENT AFTER MAKING YOUR PREDICTION, NOW, YOU MUST DESIGN AN EXPERIMENT TO TEST THAT PREDICTION. THERE ARE THREE PARTS IN DESIGNING AN EXPERIMENT VARIABLES OF THE EXPERIMENT THE HYPOTHESIS A.K.A. THE EDUCATED GUESS. TYPE OF EXPERIMENT
IT ALL VARIES ANY TYPE OF FACTOR THAT CAN CHANGE IN AN EXPERIMENT IS CALLED A VARIABLE. THESE VARIABLES CAN AFFECT THE OUTCOME OF THE EXPERIMENT. THERE ARE THREE TYPES OF VARIABLES INDEPENDENT (TEST) VARIABLE (IV) THE ONE VARIABLE THAT YOU ARE CHANGING/MODIFYING/TESTING YOURSELF IN THE EXPERIMENT. DEPENDENT (OUTCOME) VARIABLE (DV) THE VARIABLE THAT IS AFFECTED BY CHANGING THE IV. IT IS WHAT YOU MEASURE OR OBSERVE IN THE EXPERIMENT CONTROL (CONSTANT) VARIABLES (CV) VARIABLES THAT MUST BE KEPT CONSTANT DURING THE EXPERIMENT.
IT ALL VARIES WHAT ARE THE VARIABLES IN OUR MONARCH EXPERIMENT? IV TYPE OF PLANT. DV NUMBER OF MONARCH BUTTERFLIES AND CATERPILLARS ON PLANT LEAVES. CV LOCATION OF THE PLANTS, WATER, SUNLIGHT, SOIL, FERTILIZER.
IF A HAPPENS, THEN B WHAT IS A HYPOTHESIS? THE EXPLANATION OF A SET OF OBSERVATIONS, OR THE ANSWER TO A SCIENTIFIC QUESTION. THE HYPOTHESIS IS USED TO TEST YOUR PREDICTION. IT IS USUALLY MADE AS AN IF THEN SENTENCE USING YOUR IV AND DV. IF MILKWEED IS THE TYPE OF PLANT MONARCHS PREFER, THEN MORE MONARCHS WILL BE COUNTED ON MILKWEED THAN ON OTHER TYPES OF FLOWERS. ONCE YOU HAVE YOUR HYPOTHESIS, YOU CAN PROCEED TO DESIGN YOUR EXPERIMENT.
WHAT KIND OF EXPERIMENTS? THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF OBSERVATIONS FOR GATHERING DATA WHEN IT COMES TO EXPERIMENTS. SYSTEMATIC OBSERVATION OBSERVATIONS ARE DONE OVER A PERIOD OF TIME. CONTROLLED EXPERIMENT AN EXPERIMENT WHERE A TEST GROUP IS COMPARED AGAINST A CONTROL GROUP. TEST GROUP = THE ONE YOU HAVE CHANGED. (TESTING) CONTROL GROUP = THE ONE YOU LEFT NORMAL.
WHAT KIND OF EXPERIMENTS? THE TYPE OF EXPERIMENT DETERMINES WHAT KIND OF DATA YOU COLLECT. S.O. A SET OF OBSERVATIONS TAKEN OVER A GIVEN PERIOD OF TIME (MINUTES, HOURS, DAYS, WEEKS ) C.E. 2 SETS OF OBSERVATIONS. ONE FOR THE CONTROL GROUP. ONE FOR THE TEST GROUP. MAJORITY OF SCIENTIFIC EXPERIMENTS ARE CONTROLLED EXPERIMENTS.
LET S GET STARTED SHALL WE? NOW, YOU GET TO SET UP HOW TO RUN THE EXPERIMENT. FOR OUR EXAMPLE: TYPE OF EXPERIMENT SYSTEMATIC OBSERVATION SET-UP PLACE 10 OF EACH TYPE OF PLANT IN A SMALL GREENHOUSE. RELEASE INSIDE OF THE GREENHOUSE 50 MONARCH BUTTERFLIES. TAKE A COUNT TWICE A DAY OF HOW MANY ARE ON EACH PLANT OVER A PERIOD OF 30 MINUTES. REPEAT THIS OBSERVATION OVER A WEEK.
REPETITION REPETITION REPETITION REPETITION SOMETHING VERY IMPORTANT WAS MENTIONED IN THE SET-UP FOR OUR MONARCH EXPERIMENT. REPETITION!!! WHY IS REPETITION IMPORTANT WHEN YOU COULD JUST GET IT ALL DONE AT ONCE? TO ACCOUNT FOR ERROR
SLIDING INTO HOME STRETCH AFTER WE GATHER OUR DATA, NEXT WE. ANALYZE IT! THE MEAT AND POTATOES OF THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD! MONARCHS WERE FOUND ON MILKWEED PLANTS 5X MORE OFTEN THAN ON ALL OF THE OTHER PLANTS PRESENT IN THE EXPERIMENT. FINALLY, WE CAN DRAW OUR CONCLUSION. MONARCHS PREFER MILKWEED AS A FOOD SOURCE OVER ALL OTHER TYPES OF PLANTS.
A NEVER ENDING CYCLE DOES THE PROCESS STOP HERE?. NO! WHAT WOULD YOU DO NEXT?
SEEING WHAT CANNOT BE SEEN THERE ARE SOME CASES WHERE WE CAN T PHYSICALLY OBSERVE WHAT IS GOING ON BECAUSE OF THE SHEER SIZE OR COMPLEXITY OF WHAT WE RE STUDYING. IN THESE CASES, WE USE MODELS. A MODEL IS A REPRESENTATION OF A SIMPLE OR COMPLEX OBJECT OR PROCESS. THERE ARE DIFFERENT TYPES OF MODELS PHYSICAL MENTAL MATHEMATICAL
SEEING WHAT CANNOT BE SEEN EXAMPLES OF MODELS. SOLAR SYSTEM THE STRUCTURE OF AN ATOM WEATHER FORECASTING
I DO SAY, WHAT I SAY IS THE TRUTH. WE HEAR ABOUT PEOPLE CLAIMING THEY HAVE A SCIENTIFIC THEORY, BUT WHAT IS A THEORY? A THEORY IS A WELL-SUPPORTED AND WIDELY ACCEPTED EXPLANATION OF HOW NATURE WORKS. OBSERVATIONS AND EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS SUPPORT THEORIES.
IT S THE LAW OF NATURE IF A THEORY BECOMES SUPPORTED ENOUGH THROUGH MULTIPLE AND VARIOUS EXPERIMENTS TO WHERE EVERYONE BELIEVES THAT IS WHAT HAPPENS EVERY SINGLE TIME, IT BECOMES A SCIENTIFIC LAW. A LAW DESCRIBES THE PATTERNS OF NATURE, WITHOUT TRYING TO EXPLAIN THEM.