THE N

ATURE O

F SCIE

NCE

WH

AT

IS

SC

I EN

CE

?

REAL VS FAKE SCIENCE

Science is an organized way of gathering and analyzing evidence about the natural world

Pseudoscience is a collection of beliefs or practices mistakenly regarded as being based on scientific method.

Think to yourself about some things that are

REAL SCIENCE

FAKE SCIENCE

FUN THINGS ABOUT SCIENCE

Science is always being challenged!

You can always test and retest something.

Anyone can conduct science

LAWS AND THEORIES AND HYPOTHESIS OH MY

Do you know the difference between a law, and theory, a hypothesis?

Forget what you already know. In scientific fields, these mean something else probably

LAWS

Within biological science, we don’t use the term law.

Laws are used to describe mathematical processes

laws of relativity

law of gravity

laws of thermodynamics

Can you think of any “laws” that biology may have?

THEORIES

In science, we love theories!

We will study these theories this year.

Take a second to try to think of these theories.

You can look at the books under your desks

Biology theories

Cell theory, theory of evolution,

gene theory, homeostasis

THE “STEPS” OF THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD• Observe

• Make a hypothesis

• Design an experiment

• Carry out experiment and make observations

• Analyze and interpret data

• Summarize your data, come to a conclusion

• Publish!

• Can an experiment end with no results?

BREAKING DOWN THE SCIENTIFIC METHODObserve!

Think of some observations that are of scientific relevance……

HYPOTHESIS

You observe that during the winter, more students are getting sick and staying sick. I want you to create a Hypothesis based on this observation.

DESIGN THE EXPERIMENT

How would you design an experiment to test your hypothesis?

• Do you have a independent variable?

this is the variable that will be changed, or manipulated

• How about a dependent variable?

This is variable that changes as a result of the experiment

• What is your control variable?This is the variable that does not change

Without these variables, you do not have an experiment

CARRY OUT THE EXPERIMENT

• You need proper sample sizes

• You need permission to carry out experiment

• What are the tools you will use?

ANALYZE THE DATA

• You always need to visually show the data

• You need to figure out the statistics you will use to figure out all the information you just obtained.

MAKE CONCLUSIONS

• We use all the experimental data as evidence to support, refute, or revise the hypothesis

• Can you ever not have an answer to your hypothesis?• What do you do then?

• In science we are seeking to “reject” thy hypothesis, or we are seeking to “fail to reject” the hypothesis

• The results can help you determine if the experiment needs to be reevaluated

PUBLISH

• Peer review• Published

• Science fairs• Students get to explain studies

• Scientific meetings• Get a chance to explain studies in front of experts

BIAS

• Can you think of any bias that may occur?• Bias is preference or point of view that is personal,

rather than scientific

• Types of bias

ETHICS

• I want you to think of certain ethical barriers to scientific studies• We will be talking about ethics all year

• No testing on animals• No harmful testing on humans

• Think of ethics when reporting your data?

• No falsify your data• Don’t steal your information• Don’t make up your results