What is Science?

• The study and theoretical explanation of natural phenomena

•Any systematic activity requiring study and method

•Knowledge, especially knowledge gained through experience

•Science is a way of knowing, a process for gaining knowledge and understanding of the natural world.

•KEY WORDS:

–Systematic, Way of Knowing, Repeatable

The Scientific Method

•      Claude Ville –

–   The scientific method is just “organized common sense”

•      Let’s look at some ways you can use “common sense”

•       Experiment of Some Kind           

•       Environmental Genome Project

•       Godsend Institute

•      Situations you’d use common sense:

•       You get sick and require medical attention.  A neighbor suggests you see her friend who cures disease spiritually.

•       Your boss at work assigns you to clean some black gunk off the floors, but doesn’t tell you how.

•       Your pet fish doesn’t look too hot lately.  It stays in the bottom corner of the tank and rarely eats. 

 

 

The Scientific Method

•             Question (or problem)

- What is the main topic of your exploration?

•             Research

-            In this step, you find out what everybody else knows about your topic already.

-            You need to look at credible sources to find this information. 

-            Try to find out something about your topic that nobody knows the answer to, or at least something that you do not know the answer to.

 

 

The Scientific Method

3. Hypothesis

     - A possible explanation of events or a possible answer to your question.

     - Your hypothesis should not be a random guess, it needs to be based on your research.

     - There are two types of hypotheses:

            - Null Hypothesis (H₀), which states that     there will be    no difference between the control group and the experiment group. In other words, nothing will       happen. (more professional)

            - Alternate Hypothesis (H_A), which is your prediction        of what will happen in the experiment. (common)

The Scientific Method

4. Experiment

     - This is the step where you try and find the answer to your question.

     - You need to briefly list your materials and methods.

     - You need to write out the steps you will take to perform your experiment.

     - All experiments must be divided up into two groups: experiment and control.

            - In the experiment group, you add different variables (one at a       time) to see how they alter the experiment (called independent variables). Besides the different variables in each test,       EVERYTHING ELSE MUST BE THE SAME!

            - In the control group, you perform the same experiment, but         you add no variables.  The result here is what you compare       everything else to. 

- You must record your results.  These results must be measurable.  The things you measure are called dependent variables.  Generally, you only measure one dependent variable per experiment. 

The Scientific Method

5. Record and Analyze Data

     - Make sure to keep good records of your results. 

     - Put your data into a table, graph, chart, etc. so you can compare your results easily.

     - If you get serious, you need to analyze your data using a statistical test.

 

The Scientific Method

6. Conclusion

     - Must refer back to your hypothesis.

            - If you used an alternate hypothesis, you either say             that your hypothesis was right, or it was wrong. 

            - If you used a null hypothesis, you need to say that you either proved your hypothesis wrong, or you failed         to prove your hypothesis wrong (it was right). 

7. Retest / Application

     - In this section, mention any questions that you came up with because of your experiment, anything you did wrong, etc. 
- Also, mention why anyone should care abbout your results (you MUST care) and how they could apply them to their lives.

 

 

Science vs. Pseudoscience

•      Science

–    Uses the scientific method correctly

–    Can be proven false

–    Examples?

•      Pseudoscience

–    Set of ideas based on theories put forth as scientific, when they are not scientific.

–    Does not follow scientific method correctly

–    The entire theory cannot be proven false

–    Uses statistics wrongly

•    “There’s lies, damn lies and statistics.”        – Mark Twain

–    Examples?

•      Non-Science

–    Does not try to be science

–    Cannot be proven false

–    Examples?

 

Astronomy vs. Astrology

•      “Astronomy is the science of celestial objects (e.g., stars, planets, comets, and galaxies) and phenomena that originate outside the Earth's atmosphere (e.g., auroras and cosmic background radiation).” (Wikipedia)

–    Astronomers use telescopes, spectroscopy, radio waves, etc. to collect and analyze data.

•      Astrology is the study of the movement of the planets in relation to each other and how their energies interact in order to make predictions about the future.

Horoscopes vs. S.E.T.I.

•      Astrology helps predict horoscopes

•      How well does this follow the scientific method?

•      S.E.T.I. (Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence)

–  www.seti.org

•      How well do they follow the scientific method?

What are these?

•      Phrenology – “the study of the structure of the skull to determine a person’s character and mental capacity.  Mental faculties are located on the surface of the brain and can be detected by visible inspection of the skull.”

–  Brain is where character, emotions, perception, intellect, etc. are located

–  Different parts of the brain are responsible for different mental functions

What are these?

•      Sociology – “the study of social life, social change, and the social causes and consequences of human behavior.”

–  Collect data by observing and polling people, analyzing populations, etc.

•      Metoposcopy – “the interpretation of facial wrinkles, especially those on the forehead, to determine the character of a person.”

What are these?

•      Advertisement

–   BK Chicken

•      Art – any creative work or its principles. Any branch of creative work, as painting or sculpture.

•      Religion – a specific system of belief, worship, etc. often involving a code of ethics

•      Mathematics – deals with quantities, forms, etc. and their relationships , by the use of numbers and symbols.

Multiple Categories?

•      English

•      Art

•      Psychology

 

Psychology

•      The study of the causes, conditions, and immediate consequences so far as these can be ascertained, of states of consciousness…such as sensations, desires, emotions, cognitions, reasonings, decisions, volitions, and the like.

•      The data collected:

–   Thoughts and feelings (transitory states of consciousness)

–   Knowledge, gained by way of thoughts and feelings

•      Is this a science or a pseudoscience?

Psychology

•      Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

•      Treatments

–   Purpose: Stop obsessions

–   Research: Pavlov’s Dogs, watch obsessions

–   Hypothesis: If punish when obsess, the person won’t obsess

–   Experiment: Shock every time person obsesses

–   Data: Frequency of obsessions

–   Conclusion: Right or wrong?

–   Retest:  Many trials needed

•      Is this science?

Psychology

•      Schizophrenia

•      We cannot “measure” this disease

•      One treatment

–    Purpose:  Reduce schizophrenia

–    Research: Electroconvulsive Therapy & watch patient

–    Hypothesis:  Shocks will reduce schizophrenia

–    Experiment: Send 150 J of electricity through the brain, causing the brain to have a convulsion (imagine a 110 lb. weight falling on your head from 1 foot)

–    Data:  Maybe works a little, but what do you measure?

–    Conclusion:  ??????

–    Retest:  a lot of shocks

•      Is this science?

•      Sometimes, things don’t fit in one category.

Fact vs. Inference

•       Fact: a thing that has already happened or is thought to be true

•       Infer: to derive or conclude by reasoning from something known or assumed

•       Examples:

•       There is a tree in the picture

•       The tree is tall

•       There are three wolves

•       The wolves are hungry

•       The wolves are picky eaters

•       The wolves are holding a paper

•       The wolves are going to help natural selection move along quicker

 

Metric System

•      Le Systemé International (official name)

–  Abbreviated as “SI system”

–  Also called the metric system in US (unofficial name)

•      Official system of measurement in every major country in the world but one.

King Louis XVI

•      French King wanted more taxes so he could fight a war with England

•      Each person was taxed by how much land they owned

•      Louis wanted better maps that would show the people, he believed, had more land than stated on current maps

•      He got the astronomers (best at geometry at the time) to develop a new and better method of drawing maps

–   They used geometry to define how long a unit they would call a “meter” to be the basis of their system

The Meter

The Meter

•      Today’s definition of a meter

–  The distance that light travels in a very small amount of time in a vacuum                          (in 1 / 299,792,458 sec)

•   This is a good definition because the speed of light never changes (c = 3 x 10⁸ m/s)

•      Now that there was a basic unit (meter), the French scientists created a set of prefixes that multiplied or divided the meter by fractions of 10 to make smaller and greater units of measurement

Prefixes

Prefix                                         Abbreviation                 How it Equates         

Tera……………………………………..T………………1 Tm = 1,000,000,000,000 m

Giga…………………………………….G………………1 Gm = 1,000,000,000 m

Mega …………………………………..M………………1 Mm =1,000,000 m

Kilo……………………………..k.……….... 1 km = 1,000 m

Hecto ………………………….h.………….1 hm = 100 m

Deka………………………….da….…….…1 dam = 10 m

Basic Unit (Meter, Liter, Gram)..m, L, g…... 1 m = 1 m

deci………………………..….d……….…. .1 dm = 0.1 m

centi……………………..……c……..……..1 cm = 0.01 m

milli……………………………m…….……..1 mm = 0.001 m

micro…………………….…...............µ………....………1 µm = 0.000001 m

nano ………………….………………n ………………….1nm = 0.000000001 m

pico……………………………………p…….…………….1pm = 0.000000000001 m

 

Back to King Louis

•      The new maps constructed by the astronomers showed that people owned less land than he thought

–  He lost money and then lost the war

The Liter

•      Once they had a basic unit for distance, they used it to create units for volume and mass

•      The unit for volume is the liter

–  Written as a cursive letter “l”

–  Typed as a capital letter “L”

•      Took cubic units

^{–    Volume units}

 

Other Units

•      1 gram equals the mass of one cm³ (1 mL) of pure water at 0° C (273 Kelvin)

•      The unit for temperature is Kelvin (no degrees)

–  Kelvin = °C + 273

•      Other basic units

–  Energy : Joule (J)

–  Time: second (s)

–  Force: Newton (N)