Science and the Natural World
A way of learning about the natural world.
What is science?
Having an attitude of doubt.
What is skepticism?
Refers to the diverse ways in which scientists study the natural world and propose explanations based on the evidence they gather.
What is scientific inquiry?
Making a statement or claim about what will happen in the future based on past experience.
What is prediction?
The one factor a scientist changes during and experiment.
What is manipulated variable (independent variable)?
Using one or more of your senses to gather information.
What is observing?
Rules that enable people to know right from wrong and make decisions only after considering the risks and benefits to living things or the environment.
What are ethics
A well tested explanation for a wide range of observations and experimental results.
Was is a scientific theory?
The process of grouping together items that are alike in some way.
What is classifying?
The factor that changes as a result of changes to a variable.
What is responding variable (dependent variable)?
Observations dealing with numbers or amounts.
What is quantitative observation?
An outlook influenced by a person's likes and dislikes.
What is personal bias?
A statement that describes what scientists expect to happen every time under a particular set of conditions.
What is scientific law?
Comparing observations and data to reach a conclusion about them.
What is evaluating?
Uses specific observations to make generalizations.
What is inductive reasoning?
Deals with descriptions that cannot be expressed in numbers.
What is qualitative observation?
An outlook influenced by the beliefs, social forms, and traits of a group.
What is cultural bias?
An experiment in which only one variable is manipulated at a time.
What is controlled experiment?
Creating representations of complex objects or processes.
What is making models?
Personal feelings have entered into a decision or conclusion.
What is subjective?
The process of making an interpretation based on observations and prior knowledge
What is inference?
A mistake in the design of an experiment that makes a particular result more likely.
What is experimental bias?
A factor that can change in an experiment.
What is a variable.
Making decisions and drawing conclusions based on available evidence.
What is objective?
A way to explain things starting with a general idea then applying the idea to a specific observation.
What is deductive reasoning?