Science.
It has been studied for thousands of years, and continues to be studied
today. What about science allows scientists of today to have just
as many questions as the first scientists on the planet? It is the
very nature of science to inspire inquiry. As J. Bloom tells us in
his chapter on the Nature of Science, "Science is a process of inquiry."
(Bloom 27) Humankind finds itself plagued with questions, and science
tries to answer these questions. It is through science that we can
find proofs and theorems that are supported by observations and experiments
that have been conducted, and with these proofs and theorems we can try
to better understand the world around us. Perhaps this is part of
what separates science from arts and literature. Arts and literature
try to examine the questions inside each of us, whereas science seeks to
answer the questions posed by our surroundings. All areas of science
(i.e. chemistry, physics, biology, earth/space science) seek to observe
and try explain the occurrences we see around us everyday.
Perhaps
one of the most interesting aspects of science is that it is used everyday,
by everyone. In one way or another, every person interacts with science,
whether it is the business person checking the weather in the city he is
heading to for the day, the family driving their car to the soccer game,
or the student combining chemicals in their high school chemistry lab.
Science is all around us, and therefore we must understand and be ready
to interact with it. We must use the skills we learn to answer the
questions we encounter and try to better understand the world around us.
We must
also consider that science is subjective. As Bloom points out, "We
bring to our inquiry our own set of biases, preconceptions, and assumptions."
(Bloom 23) This is important to remember. Many people feel
as though science is completely objective, but this is not the case.
Along with this, another common misconception is that science is done alone.
In fact, Bloom says, "Science is a social enterprise." (Bloom 24)
It gives us a chance to talk to others who have done work in the same field,
and compare our results with theirs. If science were done alone,
then it is possible we would never come to the dramatic and important conclusions
we come to.
The nature
of science is a difficult thing to describe, but it must be at the front
of every science teacher's mind. Without knowing the nature of science
how can we be expected to teach it to our students. It is also important
that each teacher develop his or her own definition of the nature of science,
because until they make it their own, they cannot share it with anyone
else.