WHAT IS SCIENCE 1 1 BIOLOGY SCIENCE IS

WHAT IS SCIENCE? 1. 1 – BIOLOGY

SCIENCE • IS ALL AROUND YOU • YOU USE SCIENCE EVERYDAY • IT IS OPEN TO TESTING, DISCUSSION AND REVISION • IT IS AN ORGANIZED WAY OF GATHERING AND ANALYZING EVIDENCE ABOUT THE NATURAL WORLD – ONLY THE NATURAL WORLD – LOOK FOR PATTERNS AND CONNECTIONS – ANSWERS BASED ON EVIDENCE NOT BELIEFS

THE GOALS OF SCIENCE • PROVIDE NATURAL EXPLANATIONS FOR EVENTS IN THE NATURAL WORLD • USE EXPLANATIONS TO UNDERSTAND PATTERNS IN NATURE AND TO MAKE USEFUL PREDICTIONS ABOUT NATURAL EVENTS

SCIENCE, CHANGE AND UNCERTAINITY • SCIENCE IS EVER CHANGING • NEW EXPLANATIONS LEAD TO MORE QUESTIONS • SCIENCE RARELY “PROVES” ANYTHING COMPLETELY

SCIENTIFIC METHOD • USED AS GUIDELINES FOR ALL RESEARCHERS – OBSERVATION • ASKING QUESTIONS – INFERENCE AND FORMING HYPOTHESIS • INFERENCE IS AN UNDERSTANDING BASED ON WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN • HYPOTHESIS SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATION OF WHAT THE OUTCOME MIGHT BE – CAN BE TESTED IN WAYS THAT SUPPORT OR REJECT IT

EXPERIMENTS – HAVE MANY TRIALS • CONTROLLED EXPERIMENTS – WHEN ONLY ONE VARIABLE IS CHANGED • INDEPENDENT VARIABLE – ONE THAT IS CHANGED BY YOU • DEPENDENT VARIABLE – RESPONDS TO WHAT YOU CHANGE – GENERALLY IS MEASURABLE • CONTROL GROUP – EXPOSED TO EVERYTHING EXCEPT THE INDEPENDENT VARIABLE – WATER IS A COMMON CONTROL

COLLECTING AND ANALYZING DATA • DATA - GATHERING INFORMATION AND MAKING DETAILED RECORDS OF OBSERVATIONS – QUANTITATIVE: INVOLVES NUMBERS AND MEASUREMENTS – QUALITATIVE: DESCRIPTIONS AND CHARACTERISTICS • TOOLS – MEASURING, CALCULATOR, CHARTS AND GRAPHS • SOURCES OF ERROR – ALWAYS ERROR, WE ARE ONLY HUMAN – LARGER THE TEST SIZE THE BETTER, LESS ERROR

CONCLUSION • USE DATA AS EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT • INCLUDES WHAT, WHY AND ERROR – ALSO NEW QUESTIONS THAT ARISE AND HOW TO ANSWER THEM

NOT ALWAYS POSSIBLE • EXPERIMENTS AREN’T ALWAYS POSSIBLE – USE OBSERVATION TO DECIDE HOW TO TEST HYPOTHESIS – ETHICS • USE MODELS AND INFERENCES TO DECIDE WHAT HAPPENS AND WORK ON HOW IT COULD BE TESTED

Developing Theories • After a scientist completes an experiment and analyzed his/her data they than can propose a scientific theory • A theory is an explanation of things or events based on scientific knowledge that is the result of an experiment. • A scientific law however, is a statement about how things work in nature that seems to be true all the time. -Ex: gravity

Examples of How Scientist Work • Spontaneous Generation – the idea that life could arise from non-living matter • Francesco Redi http: //www. scientus. org/Redi. Galileo. html – Control – – IV – – DV – – Conclusion-

Spallanzani’s Experiment • http: //faculty. sdmiramar. edu/dtrubovitz/micro/ history/spallanzani. html • Heated flask of gravy to disprove spontaneous generation • Hypothesis: • Controlled Variables: • IV: • DV: • Conclusion

Your Assignment: • http: //bcs. whfreeman. com/thelifewire/content/chp 03/03 02003. html • Read through Louis Pasteur’s experiment to disprove spontaneous generation and answer the following question: • What was the hypothesis Pasteur tested for in his experiment? • In what ways did Pasteur improve Spallanzani’s experiment? • Determine and list the controlled variables, independent variables and dependent variables. • What was the purpose of the curved neck in Pasteur’s setup? • In your own words write a conclusion that would be fitting to Pasteur’s experiment.

ASSIGNMENT 8/20/14 • A FEW HUNDRED YEARS AGO, OBSERVATIONS SEEMED TO INDICATE THAT SOME LIVING THINGS COULD JUST SUDDENLY APPEAR; MAGGOTS SHOWED UP ON MEAT; MICE WERE FOUND ON GRAIN; AND BEETLES TURNED UP ON COW DUNG. THOSE OBSERVATIONS LED TO THE INCORRECT IDEA OF SPONTANEOUS GENERATION – THE NOTION THAT LIFE COULD ARISE FROM NONLIVING MATTER. WRITE A PARAGRAPH FOR A HISTORY MAGAZINE EVALUATING THE SPONTANEOUS GENERATION HYPOTHESIS. WHY DID IT SEEM LOFICAL AT THE TIME? WHAT EVIDENCE WAS OVERLOOKED OR IGNORED?