NATURAL AND HUMAN SCIENCES TOK LAJM TASK What

NATURAL AND HUMAN SCIENCES TOK LAJM

TASK • What is science? • Try to give a general definition of science • Don’t use any assistive devices!

What is science? • (1) Research process • (2) Body of knowledge that is acquired through the use of scientific research process • Common criteria for scientific knowledge – – – (1) Objectivity (2) Autonomy (3) Publicity (4) Progressivity (5) Criticality (6) Falsifiability

Science and pseudoscience • Pseudoscience looks like a real science, but does NOT meet the criteria for scientific knowledge How to differentiate pseudoscience from real science?

TASK • What kind of pseudosciences do you know? – Search for examples from the internet and focus on one • How the pseudoscience does NOT meet the criteria for scientific knowledge?

Karl Popper (1902– 1994) • Science cannot be right all the time – Only a theory that can be proven wrong is a scientific theory • ”If science is true, it ceases to be science” FALSIFICATIONISM

Aim of natural sciences • The natural sciences seek to discover laws of nature – regularities in the natural world – ”If A, then B” – Mathematical precision

TASK • What is meant by: – Hypothesis – Deductive reasoning – Empirical

Hypothetico-deductive method • (1) Create a research problem/question • (2) Form a hypothesis • (3) Build a deductive inference • (4) Test the hypothesis with empirical methods • (5) State the results

TASK • Create a hypothesis and design a research plan to empirically test the hypothesis with scientific method • Describe the stages of your research • Mere research plan is enough! • Example hypotheses: – (1) Sunbathing causes skin cancer – (2) Amount carbon dioxide in the atmosphere influences global warming – (3) If you increase temperature, then solubility of salt will increase

Hypothetico-deductive method • We CANNOT prove the hypothesis right based on the test results • We can only prove the hypothesis wrong – Falsificationism

Albert Einstein (1879– 1955) • ”No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right; a single experiment can prove me wrong”

TASK • What are the WOKs used in natural sciences? – How are they specifically used in natural sciences? – Provide concrete examples

TASK • What kind of a meaning can natural sciences have for an individual and their personal knowledge? • Why are some people suspicious of scientific findings, and to what extend are they justifiable?

Aim of human sciences • The human sciences explain human behaviour, predict it and develop remedies for the problems identified by those predictions

TASK • Create groups • Each group should contain at least one student of psychology and/or economics – Students of human sciences should work as mentors within the groups • In addition, each group should contain at least one student of physics, chemistry and/or biology

TASK • What is the relationship between the human sciences and natural sciences? – What are the differences, similarities and overlaps between natural and human sciences?

Comparison between natural and human sciences • The human sciences CAN use the scientific method to test hypothesis • However, the phenomena they try to explain might NOT possess laws that admit no exceptions

TASK • Is human behaviour explainable with natural science like laws? – Is it even possible to create natural science like laws concerning human behaviour? – What problems arise?

TASK • Love • Find explicit means to research the • Aggression phenomena on the right • Giftedness (choose the both quantitatively and area of talent) qualitatively • Road rage – Use the teacher’s • Mutual respect handout for inspiration • Prejudice (choose the – Write down your research methods area of prejudice)

TASK • To what extent can human sciences be objective? – Is there always some bias in human sciences? – If humans study humans, can the research ever be objective?

TASK • Volunteer psychology and economics students, please, come to the front of the class • How is your perception of the world affected by human sciences?

TASK • What kind of knowledge questions can you create based on what you have learned from natural and human sciences? – Can you incorporate WOKs into your KQ? – How can you connect these and other AOKs?

Picture sources • • • Science <http: //www. brstf. org> Accessed 24 th of October 2015. Science and pseudoscience <http: //undsci. berkeley. edu/article/philosophy> Accessed 24 th of October 2015. Homeopathy <http: //www. rosemareehomeopath. co. nz> Accessed 24 th of October 2015. Karl Popper <https: //en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Karl_Popper> Accessed 24 th of October 2015. Scientific method formula <https: //layers-of-learning. com/a-simple-introduction-to-the-scientificmethod/> Accessed 26 th of October 2018. Tardis and scientific methods <http: //www. nndb. com/people/164/000087900/> Accessed 24 th of October 2015. Affirming the consequent <http: //evolutiondismantled. com/affirming-antecedent-consequent> Accessed 15 th of October 2015. Albert Einstein <https: //fi. wikipedia. org/wiki/Albert_Einstein> Accessed 15 th of October 2015. WOKs <http: //blogs. osc-ib. com/tag/ways-of-knowing/> Accessed 6 th of September 2015. Suspicios meme <https: //www. thelostogle. com/2014/01/22/all-these-suspicious-reports-aboutsuspicious-items-sure-are-suspicious/> Accessed 26 th of October 2018.

Picture sources • Flashbulb head <http: //tok 17 ykim. blogspot. com/2016/04/problems-inhuman-sciences. html> Accessed 29 th of October 2018. • Knowledge framework. TOK-guide, first assessment 2015, page 29. • Zipper head <https: //educationblog. oup. com/theory-ofknowledge/therapy-wars-and-the-human-sciences> Accessed 29 th of October 2018. • Nature human head <http: //trapped-by-thebox. blogspot. com/2015/05/finding-humans-in-nature-surreal. html> Accessed 29 th of October 2018. • Bias scale <https: //www. thoughtco. com/confirmation-bias-250361> Accessed 29 th of October 2018. • Interview <https: //au. hudson. com/career-advice/interview-preparation> Accessed 7 th of October 2018. • Knowledge questions <https: //tok-ajourney. wikispaces. com/Knowledge+Questions> Accessed 25 th of September 2017.