Nature of Science

1. PHYSICAL SCIENCE
Unit one : the nature of science

2. SCIENCE
is the concerted human
effort to understand the
natural world and how it
works
Science involves more than the gaining of knowledge. It
is the systematic and organized inquiry into the natural
world and its phenomena.
Science is about gaining a deeper and often useful
understanding of the world.

3. UNDERSTANDABLE
THE NATURAL WORLD IS

4. THE NATURAL WORLD IS UNDERSTANDABLE
• THE NATURAL WORLD IS UNDERSTANDABLE THROUGH CAREFUL METHODOLOGY
• OBSERVING
• MEASURING
• ESTIMATING
• INFERRING
• PREDICTING
• CLASSIFYING
• HYPOTHESIZING
• EXPERIMENTING
• CONCLUDING
• ETC
• Every discipline in modern science has derived its principles and paradigms through this
process

5. EVIDENCE
SCIENCE DEMANDS

6. SCIENCE DEMANDS EVIDENCE
• Scientific knowledge involves a combination of observations
and inferences
• Scientists use data to make inferences and formulate
explanations of phenomena
• Data can be obtained through experimentation or
observation
• Data can be determined both quantitatively and qualitatively

7. THE MYTH OF THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
•Scientists apply various methods in doing research
•There is no universally accepted scientific method
agreed upon by the scientific community
•Science does demand that evidence be empirically
collected and analyzed

8. LOGIC AND IMAGINATION
SCIENCE IS A BLEND OF

9. SCIENCE IS A BLEND OF LOGIC AND
IMAGINATION
•Scientific knowledge involves human imagination,
creativity, and inference.
•Much of the scientific enterprise is governed by the
ability and creativity of scientists to visualize
different situations and predict outcomes

10. DURABLE
SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE IS

11. SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE IS DURABLE
• Scientific ideas are continually tested
• Ideas that are able to withstand the scrutiny of the scientific
community form the foundations of our current
understandings of the natural world and how it functions.
• Scientists use self checking mechanisms such as peer review
in order to improve objectivity (not influenced by personal
feelings, interpretations, or prejudice; based on facts;
unbiased)

12. THEORIES, LAWS, MODELS & HYPOTHESES
• A scientific theory is a substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural
world, based on a body of fats that has been repeatedly confirmed through
observation and experiment, and the science community validates each theory
before it is accepted. If new evidence is discovered that the theory does not
accommodate, the theory is generally modified in light of this new evidence.
• Models, mechanisms, and explanations collectively serve as tools in the
development of a scientific theory. Models may be actual physical constructions of
mental images. They can also be mathematical models.
• Laws are statements or descriptions of the relationships among observable
phenomena
• Scientists often use hypotheses to develop and test theories and explanations

13. THEORIES & LAWS
• Theories and laws are two different types of knowledge used
by scientists to describe natural phenomena. They are equal
in terms of scientific validity
• Theories are generally used to explain complex natural
processes not easily quantifiable
• Laws often use mathematical formulas to show relationships
and make predictions about the natural world
• Theories and laws provide explanations in science, but
theories do not with time become laws or facts

14. LAW VS. THEORY
Law Theory
Describes how Explains why
Summarizes
observations
Agrees with
observations
Usually an
equation
Predicts new
discoveries

15. SUBJECT TO CHANGE
SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE IS

16. SCIENTIFIC IDEAS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE
• The drive to elucidate the finer points of a commonly held scientific paradigm is
what “normal science” is all about
• The sensitive instruments developed to elucidate the finer points of a paradigm help
to uncover ambiguities in the expected data. These may lead to changes in our
understanding.
• Although subject to gradual refinement, “the main body of scientific knowledge is
very stable and grows by being corrected slowly and having its boundaries extended
gradually”.
• Thus subjectivity can never be (nor should it be) completely eliminated from the
scientific enterprise

17. BIAS
SCIENTISTS ATTEMPT TO AVOID

18. SCIENTISTS TRY TO IDENTIFY AND AVOID BIAS
• Since scientists within the same field tend to share
common methodologies and views, their objectivity must
continually be challenged to ensure validity of results.
• Within the scientific community there are ethical practices
which guarantee that scientific endeavors are carried out
under universally accepted standards around the world.

19. SOCIAL ACTIVITY
SCIENCE IS A COMPLEX

20. SCIENCE IS A COMPLEX SOCIAL
ACTIVITY
• Scientific knowledge is tied to social and cultural factors
• Scientific research is dependent upon financial support,
and this can influence – both positively and negatively –
which areas are investigated

21. Example/Illustration : The history of Stem cell research provides an example of how
scientific research has been influenced by social and political forces.
Stem cell research first began in the mid-1800's. By the early 1920's stem cells were being
used in bone marrow transplants to produce red blood cells. However, in 1973, Congress
stopped funding for stem cell research using human embryos. .
Fifteen years later, an NIH panel of scientists voted 19 to 2 in favor of government funding for
stem cell research. The Stem cell research ping-pong-ball continued with the Congress
voting in 1990 to allow funding of embryonic stem cell research only to reverse itself in 1995.
While President Clinton lifted the ban on Stem cell research in 2000, President Bush confined
such research to include only existing lines of Stem cells.
Wanting to stay on a par with other researchers across the world, Californians in 1994 created
a 3 billion dollar fund to promote stem cell research within the state.
Fearing that the U.S. was lagging other countries in the field of Stem cell research, Congress
in 2004 asked President Bush to review his policy on stem cell research. However, no
change occurred until 2009 when President Obama lifted the ban on using federal taxpayer
dollars to fund stem cell research.

22. THE NATURE OF SCIENCE
• The natural world is understandable
• Science demands evidence
• Science is a blend of logic and imagination
• Scientific knowledge is durable
• Scientific knowledge is subject to change
• Scientists attempt to identify and avoid bias
• Science is a complex social activity

23. Teaching the Nature of Science: Three Critical Questions by Randy L. Bell, Ph.D (2009)
3 domains of Science

24. In reality, the process
of science can be
complex, iterative, and
can take many
different paths before
coming to a
conclusion.

25. REFERENCES
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