biology and “the nature of science ” what makes science different from other kinds of human...
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Biology and “TheNature of Science”
What makes science
different from other
kinds of human activity?
Chapter 1: The Science of Biology
The Scientific Method:
• the way scientists investigate the NATURAL world
• combines OBSERVATIONS with EXPERIMENTS
• only employs NATURAL explanations
Chapter 1: The Science of Biology
The Scientific Method:Chapter 1: The Science of Biology
Just as there’s more than one way to make a cake, there is no one ‘recipe’ for doing science.
O.H.E.C.K. is just a way of teaching the logic of how science works, but that logic can take other forms…
Chapter 1: The Science of Biology
Observation
Chapter 1: The Science of Biology
ObservationHypothesis
Chapter 1: The Science of Biology
ObservationHypothesisExperiment
Chapter 1: The Science of Biology
ObservationHypothesisExperimentConclusion
Chapter 1: The Science of Biology
ObservationHypothesisExperimentConclusionKnowledge-Sharing
Chapter 1: The Science of Biology
Observations: we seephenomena---which isjust anything that makesus wonder, ‘Why?’
Use your senses + tools
Chapter 1: The Science of Biology
Hypothesis: any idea that’sproposed to explain aphenomena---sort of likea ‘maybe-it’s-because’
Make a guess
Chapter 1: The Science of Biology
• can be either FALSIFIABLE
or NON-FALSIFIABLE
• NON-FALSIFIABLE claims MAY be true, but they can NOT be used in science!
Chapter 1: The Science of Biology
Experiment: what we do totest our ideas. Scientistsoften attempt to falsifyideas, rather than ‘prove’ things true.
Chapter 1: The Science of Biology
Conclusion: what our resultswere, and what we thinkthey mean.
Chapter 1: The Science of Biology
Knowledge-Sharing: wemust tell the worldsecrecy is the enemy of science.
others must be able to repeat
Chapter 1: The Science of Biology
SCIENCSCIENCE:E:• studies Cosmic ORDER
• uses OBJECTIVE measurement
Chapter 1: The Science of Biology
• uses RATIONAL arguments only, based on EVIDENCE
• asks ‘what/when/where/how’, etc.
SCIENCSCIENCE:E:
Chapter 1: The Science of Biology
MUSIC, ART, RELIGION, MUSIC, ART, RELIGION, ETC. :ETC. :• studies Cosmic PURPOSE
• accepts SUBJECTIVE measurement
Chapter 1: The Science of Biology
• will often use EMOTIONAL appeals, based on FAITH or intuition
• above all, is concerned with ‘WHY’
MUSIC, ART, RELIGION, MUSIC, ART, RELIGION, ETC. :ETC. :
Chapter 1: The Science of Biology
Levels of Scientific GENERALIZATIO
N:• Some ideas in science are very SPECIFIC, while others are more GENERAL• The more The more
OBSERVATIONSOBSERVATIONS an an idea can explain, the idea can explain, the moremore GENERALGENERAL the idea---- the idea----andand the more the more POWERFUL!POWERFUL!
Chapter 1: The Science of Biology
• In order to explain more, an idea will have to be TESTED more
• Thus, scientists have more Thus, scientists have more CONFIDENCE CONFIDENCE in some in some ideasideas than in others, and we than in others, and we cancan rank them in terms of rank them in terms of theirtheir POWER TO POWER TO EXPLAIN…EXPLAIN…
Levels of Scientific GENERALIZATI
ON:
Chapter 1: The Science of Biology
• OBSERVATIONS are the most specific, and the least powerful of statements in science. They only tell us WHAT happened in particular cases.
Levels of Scientific GENERALIZATI
ON:
Chapter 1: The Science of Biology
• HYPOTHESES that can be tested, which are FALSIFIABLE, are TENTATIVE explanations for the PHENOMENA we observe.
OBSERVATIOBSERVATIONON
Levels of Scientific GENERALIZATI
ON:
Chapter 1: The Science of Biology
• THEORIES are hypotheses which are well-TESTED, which have survived many attempts to FALSIFY them, and which have the POWER to explain many observations…OBSERVATIOBSERVATI
ONON
HYPOTHESIHYPOTHESISS
Levels of Scientific GENERALIZATI
ON:
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• LAWS are general statements of great power, for which no EXCEPTIONS have been found: they are, as far as we can tell, ‘ALWAYS true, EVERYWHERE, ALL the time.’ As you might expect, they are rare!
OBSERVATIOBSERVATIONON
HYPOTHESIHYPOTHESISS
THEORTHEORYY
Levels of Scientific GENERALIZATI
ON:
Chapter 1: The Science of Biology
• Experiments are done to test the HYPOTHESIS.
• Poorly-designed experiments might give a result that doesn’t prove anything, but a well- designed experiment is CONTROLLED.
• CONTROLLED experiments are ones which do a good job of accounting for VARIABLES.
Chapter 1: The Science of Biology
• VARIABLES are factors which could potentially CHANGE during the experiment.
• CONTROLLED variables are factors which the experimental design deliberately keeps UNCHANGED; MANIPULATED variables, on the other hand, are deliberately CHANGED.
Chapter 1: The Science of Biology
• RESPONDING variables are those things observed to change during the experiment, hopefully due to the manipulated variable!
• INDEPENDENT variables are things which will constantly change regardless how the experiment’s design: the usual example is TIME.
Chapter 1: The Science of Biology
Chapter 1: The Science of Biology