1. WHAT IS THE NATURE OF SCIENCE?

2. THEORIES ARE THE SCIENTIFIC WORLD VIEW 1.The Universe Is Understandable. 2.The Universe Is a Vast Single System In Which the Basic Rules Are Everywhere the Same. 3.Scientific Ideas Are Subject To Change. 4.Scientific Knowledge Is Durable. 5.Science Cannot Provide Complete Answers to All Questions.

3. WHAT IS THE NATURE OF SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY? Inquiry is a way of understanding the world/universe. The scientific method is a characteristic of the work of professional scientists, but anyone can use them to think scientifically about many aspects of everyday life

4. Science Demands Evidence The validity of scientific claims is settled by referring to observations of how the world works Therefore, scientists concentrate on getting accurate data

5. THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD Observations/Data ➔ Hypotheses ➔ Hypothesis Testing ➔ Models ➔ Laws ➔ Theories At some point in time, each stage must be reported to the larger scientific community by presentations or publications

6. Hypothesis Testing

7. THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD The scientific method does not allow any hypothesis to be proven true Hypotheses can be disproven, in which case those hypothesis are rejected as false A hypothesis which is accepted must show level of probability (statistics) that the hypothesis is true. The data can be used for further predictions, subject is to further tests.

8. How a theory is formed? Experiment 1 Hypothesis Accepted Experiment 2 Experiment 3 Experiment 4 Theory

9. SCIENTIFIC LAWS AND THEORIES A Scientific Theory is an explanation of how different parts of the world work based on: – data and observations –from many experiments –verified many times by different researchers (One scientist cannot create a theory; s/he can only create hypotheses)

11. SCIENTIFIC LAWS AND THEORIES A s a result of our confidence in the Scientific method, both scientific laws and broader scientific theories are accepted to be “true” (accurate) by the scientific community as a whole A scientific law or a scientific theory is used to make predictions of events or relationships among data sets

12. SCIENTIFIC LAWS AND THEORIES The biggest difference between a law and a theory is that a theory is much more complex and changing. A law governs a single action or situation Theory explains an entire group of related phenomena (Mendel’s Laws versus Darwin’s Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection) Note: Evolution is a Fact; Darwin’s Theory is the scientifically accepted explanation for the fact(s) and mechanisms of evolution.

13. SCIENTIFIC LAWS AND THEORIES When the scientific community accepts a Law or Theory, it represents the best understanding of the explanations for the properties of a given system at that point in time = Theories Change with new information A Scientific Theory represents our best understanding of the “truth” about some aspect of the universe, even though it is not proven as absolute and is still understood to be subject to future revision, or even to rejection

14. Exit Ticket 1.What are the steps of the scientific method in order? 2.How is a scientific theory formed in science? 3.What is the difference between a theory and a law in science?