THE NATURE OF SCIENCE WHAT IS SCIENCE?
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 METHOD Observe! 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