Critical Thinking about The Environment
Science as a way of knowing- Science is a continuous process that begins with OBSERVATIONS and deals only with statemnts that can be disproved.
Scientific Theory- A grand scheme that relates and explains many observations and is supported by a great deal of evidence.
Hypothesis- It is a written statement that can be disproved. If a hypothesis has not been disproved it is still not proven true, only found to be probably true. A hypothesis must use and "if and then" statement.
Variables- There are 4 types of variables, dependent, independent, manipulated, and responding.
Controlled Experiment- Is an experiment compared to a standard, or control. An exact duplicate of the experiment except the condition of one variable is being tested. Any difference in outcome attributed to the independent variable.
Repeatability- Operational definitions (Experimental constants)- variables described in terms of what one would have to do to duplicate the variable's measurements. Operational definitions allows other scientists to repeat experiments exactly to validate results.
Data- Data can be quantitative-numerical or quantitative- non-numerical.
Scientific Method-
Alternative way of study- Sometimes it may be known how the environment will respond to situations because they may be rare occurrences or difficult to replicate in the laboratory setting.
Historical Evidence- One way to examine how things will respond is to look into historical evidence.
Scientific Theory- A grand scheme that relates and explains many observations and is supported by a great deal of evidence.
Hypothesis- It is a written statement that can be disproved. If a hypothesis has not been disproved it is still not proven true, only found to be probably true. A hypothesis must use and "if and then" statement.
Variables- There are 4 types of variables, dependent, independent, manipulated, and responding.
Controlled Experiment- Is an experiment compared to a standard, or control. An exact duplicate of the experiment except the condition of one variable is being tested. Any difference in outcome attributed to the independent variable.
Repeatability- Operational definitions (Experimental constants)- variables described in terms of what one would have to do to duplicate the variable's measurements. Operational definitions allows other scientists to repeat experiments exactly to validate results.
Data- Data can be quantitative-numerical or quantitative- non-numerical.
Scientific Method-
- Make an observation and make a question and develop a question about the observation
- Develop a hypothesis
- Design a controlled experiment to test the hypothesis
- Collect data
- Interpret data
- Draw a conclusion from the data
- Compare the conclusion to the hypothesis and determine whether the results support or reject the hypothesis
- If the hypothesis is supported, conduct additional experiments to test it further. If the hypothesis is rejected, conduct a new hypothesis.
Alternative way of study- Sometimes it may be known how the environment will respond to situations because they may be rare occurrences or difficult to replicate in the laboratory setting.
Historical Evidence- One way to examine how things will respond is to look into historical evidence.