1. WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH SCIENCE??

2.  Think about this activity and how it relates to science and the way we go about making sense of the world (scientific method). List all of the possible ways this activity is related to science.

3.  -The process of making observations vs. inferences based on evidence  -Questioning the meaning evidence (inquiry)  - Importance of putting things in order…(origin of life)…when events happen may play a role as to what is going on and why they happen (timing is everything)  - Not everyone comes up with same conclusions based on the same information- science is not entirely objective  - The order of discovery can influence your idea of what is going on (you have to be flexible)  - Not every piece of information is equally important in science (some things might be more fundamental to life)  - Life is expensive (financially, emotionally, energetically- in terms of energy)  - Things change. Life is change. Growth is change. Situations change and they can determine where the rest of your life goes- (children change your focus) and like-wise, environment changes how organisms grow and develop (physically, mentally, etc)- sometimes your internal environment (hormones etc) influence your external one(behaviors), and sometimes the external one influences your internal one (smiling at a stranger, radiation affecting plant growth…).

4.  Observations  That’s a lot for a money!  Questioning  What does this check mean? Where was it made? To whom? For how much? When?  Hypothesis  What we thought the answers were  Testing  First we compared data to other checks- does the story make sense? Does it need to be revised?  Then we compared it to what really happened  Results  Own story compared to the real one  Conclusions  How far off were we? What did we get right? What did we get wrong? Why? What questions does it leave us with?

5.  Science is the systematic inquiry – through observation and experiment – into the origins, structure, and behavior of living and nonliving environments

6.  Science is based on the principle that all events have natural causes  The belief that all events can be traced to natural causes that we can comprehend (natural causality)  Corollary: Evidence gathered from nature has not been deliberately distorted to fool us

7.  The scientific method is an important tool of scientific inquiry  The scientific method consists of six interrelated elements  Observation  Question  Hypothesis  Prediction  Experiment  Conclusion

8.  The scientific method is an important tool of scientific inquiry (continued)  Scientific inquiry is a rigorous method for making observations  The scientific method for inquiry follows six steps

9.  The six steps of scientific inquiry 1. Observation of a specific phenomenon 2. The observation, in turn, leads to a question 3. The question leads to formulation of a hypothesis, based on previous observations, which is offered as an answer to the question

10.  The six steps of scientific inquiry (continued) 4. The hypothesis leads to a prediction, which is the expected outcome of testing if the hypothesis is correct 5. The prediction is tested by carefully designed additional observations or carefully controlled manipulations called experiments 6. The experiments produce results that either support or refute the hypothesis, allowing the development of a conclusion

11.  Biologists test hypotheses using controlled experiments  Two types of situations are established  A baseline or control situation in which all possible variables are held at a constant  An experimental situation in which one factor, variable, is manipulated to test the hypothesis to determine that this variable is the cause of an observation  Science is useless unless communicated  The scientific method is illustrated by experiments by Francesco Redi and Malte Andersson

12. Observation: Question: Hypothesis: Prediction: Experiment: Conclusion: Experimental variable: Controlled variables: Experimental situation Control situation Results Leave the jar uncovered Leave exposed for several days Flies swarm around and maggots appear Cover the jar with gauze Leave covered for several days Flies are kept from the meat; no maggots appear gauze prevents the entry of flies time, temperature, place Obtain identical pieces of meat and two identical jars Place meat in each jar IF the hypothesis is correct, THEN keeping the flies away from the meat will prevent the appearance of maggots. The experiment supports the hypothesis that flies are the source of maggots and that spontaneous generation of maggots does not occur. Flies swarm around meat left in the open; maggots appear on the meat. Where do maggots on the meat come from? Flies produce the maggots.

13. Observation: Question: Hypothesis: Prediction: Experiment: Conclusion: Experimental variable: Controlled variables: Experimental groups Control groups Results Do not change the tail Release the males, wait a week, count the nests Average of about one nest per male Male widowbirds have extremely long tails. Why do males, but not females, have such long tails? Males have long tails because females prefer to mate with long-tailed males. IF females prefer long-tailed males, THEN males with artificially lengthened tails will attract more mates. Divide male birds into four groups Manipulate the tails of the males length of tail location, season, time, weather Cut the tail and re-glue in place Release the males, wait a week, count the nests Average of about one nest per male Cut the tail to half of the original length Release the males, wait a week, count the nests Average of less than half a nest per male Add feathers to double the tail length Release the males, wait a week, count the nests Average of About two nests per male The hypothesis that female widowbirds prefer to mate with long-tailed males (and are less likely to mate with short-tailed males) is supported.

14.  Scientific theories have been thoroughly tested  A scientific theory is a general and reliable explanation of important natural phenomena that has been developed through extensive and reproducible observations and experiments  A scientific theory is best described as a natural law, a basic principle derived from the study of nature, which has never been disproven by scientific inquiry

15.  Scientific theories have been thoroughly tested (continued)  The cell theory (that all living organisms are composed of cells) and the theory of evolution are fundamental to the study of biology