1. Lecture 1: What is Science?
Physics – Mr. Rooney
Lecture 1: What is Science?
Questions:
List the three things that make up science.
List the steps of the scientific method. What characteristic does each step have? Which step is essential for something to be considered science.
What distinguishes the different types of knowledge science generates? Can a fact become a theory? Can a theory become a fact?

2. Science is… A method of answering questions and finding truth.
A body of knowledge known with different degrees of certainty
Philosophy of reality which includes the ideas of cause and effect and what I observe is what there is.

3. The Method Question Hypothesis Experiment Results Conclusion Example
Why is usually not a scientific question.
Hypothesis is educated guess which is testable
Experiment is preferably repeatable
Experiment is essential part of this method, this is what makes something science
Quantitative results are preferred over quanlitative (Numbers don’t lie)
Conclusion refers back to original hypothesis
Repeat if necessary
Flat Bicycle tire

4. Body of Knowledge Type Definition % Certainty fact Observation 100%
Formula or relationship
Mathematical observation
Hypothesis
Educated guess
1-95%
Theory
Explanation of validated hypotheses and facts
95-99%
Theory is very strong statement
Theory of plate tectonics
Big Bang theory
Theory of Universal Gravitation
Copernican Theory of planetary motion
Theory of Evolution
Can increase in certainty but cannot decrease in certainty
Extra ordinary claims require extra ordinary proof (possible is not probable)
UFO claims (Crop circles)
Body of knowledge is peer reviewed with skeptical eye thus ensuring at least some self correction.

5. Philosophy of Reality Cause and effect
What I observe is what there is.
Assumes we are not being fooled
Other philosophies
Which is best?
For every effect there is a cause and this cause is knowable
Assumes we are smart enough to find causes
Ultimate cause argument
Jazz musician=what I feel is what there is
US legal system=all men are created equal and should be treated as such under the law

6. Science is… A method of answering questions and finding truth.
A body of knowledge known with different degrees of certainty
Philosophy of reality which includes the ideas of cause and effect and what I observe is what there is.