Vocabulary Definitions
Information gathered by observation or experimentation that can be used in calculating or reasoning.
What is data?
The first step in a scientific investigation when conducting an experiment.
What is defining the problem?
The systematic study of natural events and conditions.
What is science?
The process of obtaining information by using the five senses
What is observation?
A system of ideas that explains many related observations and is supported by a large body of evidence acquired through scientific investigation.
What is a scientific theory?
Observations and measurements that can be gained by the senses; the type of evidence used in science.
What is empirical evidence?
Scientific explanations should be logical and testable.
T/F
What is True
The three main branches into which all scientific subjects can be broken down.
What are life science (biology), Earth science (geology), and physical science (physics and chemistry)?
Scientists will consider all evidence in this manner—setting aside personal feelings, moods, and beliefs—before making decisions.
What is objectively (or with objectivity)?
An organized procedure used to study something under controlled conditions.
What is an experiment?
A testable idea or explanation that leads to scientific investigation.
What is a hypothesis?
When an investigation does not support the hypothesis, scientists might do these three things.
What are revise the hypothesis, look for more evidence, or design another experiment?
A tool that a scientist can use in the laboratory to observe very small objects.
What is a microscope?
The most reliable source for unbiased scientific information about a recent, controversial scientific issue.
What is a peer-reviewed scientific journal?
When new information is obtained, this is what happens to an existing scientific theory.
What is it is reevaluated (or it may be modified)?
The factor that is deliberately manipulated or changed by a scientist in an investigation.
What is the independent variable?
A student tests whether water amount affects pea plant growth using four pots with the same soil and sunlight but different water amounts. Identify the independent and dependent variables.
What are the independent variable is the amount of water, and the dependent variable is plant growth (or how fast peas grow)?
Rachel Carson displayed this characteristic when she spent years researching and documenting the effects of DDT on the environment, leading to laws banning the pesticide.
What is careful observation (or curiosity, or objectivity)?
Explain two key differences between science and pseudoscience regarding testability and use of evidence.
What are: (1) science has testable explanations while pseudoscience generally does not, and (2) science relies on empirical evidence while pseudoscience often uses personal opinions as evidence?
Scientists conduct controlled experiments to test the effects of a single variable.
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What is True
A belief or practice that is based on incorrectly applied scientific methods and appears scientific but lacks testable claims.
What is pseudoscience?
Describe the four steps scientists use to evaluate a scientific explanation about why metals rust.
What are: (1) look at empirical evidence, (2) consider if the explanation is logical, (3) think of other tests to support or contradict it, and (4) evaluate whether it stands up to testing
Scientists studying whether dolphins can be used as therapy animals must display these three characteristics: not drawing conclusions too quickly, conducting more tests and making observations, and assessing data before deciding on advantages and disadvantages.
What are skepticism, careful observation, and objectivity?
Someone claims that wearing a powder in a pouch around the neck will cure a cold and that it has cured everyone who wore it. Explain why this is a pseudoscientific claim despite the positive results.
What is: the claim lacks controlled testing, cannot be reproduced under scientific conditions, may be based on coincidence (colds naturally resolve), uses personal experience instead of empirical evidence, and assumes correlation equals causation?
Explain why a good scientific theory is often modified when new evidence is found but is rarely completely rejected. Include the concept of "results support" vs. "proof."
What is: theories are based on large bodies of evidence and explain many observations, so new evidence typically refines rather than destroys them; science does not claim to "prove" theories but rather states that results "support" or "fail to support" them, allowing for modification as understanding improves?