1. The Nature of Science

2. Three Questions: 1) What Is There? 2) How Does It Work?
3) How Did It Come To Be This Way?
Fossil image courtesy of Diane Erwin, UCMP.

3. Science Works in 4 Specific Ways: Principles, Processes, Characteristics, & through a Cultural Context
Image from evolution.berkeley.edu website.

4. 1-Science has Principles
Explain the natural world
Explanations tested with evidence from the natural world
We can learn about the natural world by gathering evidence
Images from evolution.berkeley.edu website.

5. 2- Science Is A Process
Scientific claims are based on reasoning, testing, and replication; “falsifiable”
Parsimony
“THE” Scientific Method?
Theories are central to scientific thinking.
Images from evolution.berkeley.edu website.

6. 3- Characteristics of Science
Conclusions are reliable, though tentative
Science is not democratic
Science is non-dogmatic
Science cannot make moral or aesthetic decisions.
Image from evolution.berkeley.edu website.
Rosa californica, courtesy of G. L. Smith.

7. 4- Science Exists in a Cultural Context
Science is not always a direct ascent toward the truth.
Science corrects itself.
Science is a human endeavor: a) Falling in love with one’s own hypothesis b) Being drawn in by preconceptions
Image from evolution.berkeley.edu website.