READ: What is Science?
READ: What is Science?
What is science?
The goal of science is to learn how nature works by observing the natural and physical world, and to understand this world through research and experimentation. Science is a distinctive way of learning about the world through observation, inquiry, formulating and testing hypotheses, gathering and analyzing data, and reporting and evaluating findings.
There are many different areas of science, or scientific disciplines, but all scientific study involves:
- asking questions
- making observations
- relying on evidence to form conclusions
- being skeptical about ideas or results
Skepticism is an attitude of doubt about the truthfulness of claims that lack evidence. Scientific skepticism questions claims based on their scientific verifiability rather than simply accepting claims based on faith. Scientific skepticism uses critical thinking to analyze such claims and opposes claims which lack scientific evidence.
What Is a Scientist?
What exactly makes a person a scientist and what is their role in society? First, we should start with what scientists are not. They are not crazed geniuses with bad hair and a fondness for hysterical laughter, as the Figure below might suggest. Although they may not be on the cutting edge of fashion, they are regular people. They went to school like you, they studied math, reading, and science like you, and they probably exhibited at science fairs, just like the students in the Figure below.
Spot the Scientist. (a) An example of what scientists are not. (b) Real-life young scientists at an exhibition where they are presenting their research.[Figure4]
Being a scientist does not require you to learn everything in all science concepts or science books by heart, but understanding the important concepts does helps. Instead, being a scientist begins by thinking like a scientist. Scientists are curious about how the world works; they have many questions and go about answering those questions using the scientific methods.
Scientists are part of a community that is based on ideals of trust and freedom, and their work can have a direct effect on society. As a result, the public usually has an interest in the results of research that will directly affect them. Therefore it is important that you can understand the meaning of a story about science when you read it, see it, or hear about it and become an engaged and active member of the public when making decisions involving science.
A Scientific View of the World
What would be a scientific view of the world?
It could be said that the scientific view of the world is based on proven answers to specific questions. For example, "How old are recently identified fossils? How do people catch colds? How does the human heart pump blood?". These questions have definite answers which can help expand the scientific view of the world. Questions that cannot be answered with definitive answers are not based on science. Science is based on the analysis of observations made either through our senses or by using special equipment. Science therefore cannot explain anything about the natural world that is beyond what is observable.
With some changes over the years, similar principles of motion have applied to different situations. The same scientific principles that help explain planetary orbits can be applied to the movement of a Ferris wheel.[Figure2]
Nature Can Be Understood
In science, it is presumed that events in the universe happen in patterns that can be understood by careful study. Scientists think of nature as a single system controlled by natural laws. Scientists strive to increase their understanding of the natural world by discovering natural laws. Laws of nature are expressed as scientific laws. A scientific law is a statement that describes what always happens under certain conditions in nature.
Scientific Ideas Can Change
Science is a process for developing knowledge. Change in knowledge about the natural world is expected because there is often room for new observations which may challenge current views. The ability of scientists to make progressively more accurate predictions about the natural world provides evidence that scientists are gaining an understanding of how the world works.
Scientific Knowledge Can Stand the Test of Time
Although scientists accept some uncertainty as part of nature, most scientific knowledge stands the test of time. Powerful ideas about nature tend to survive, grow more accurate and become more widely accepted.
Science Cannot Offer Answers to All Questions
There are many things that cannot be examined in a scientific way. There are, for instance, beliefs that cannot be proved or disproved, such as the existence of supernatural powers, supernatural beings, or the meaning of life. In other cases, a scientific approach to a question and a scientific answer may be rejected by people who hold to certain beliefs.
Summary
- Scientific skepticism is an attitude of doubt about the truthfulness of claims that lack evidence..
- Scientific skepticism uses critical thinking to analyze claims.
- Scientists are regular people who chose to study science. They are experts in one or more fields of science.
- Science is based on the analysis of things that humans can observe either by themselves through their senses, or by using special equipment.
- Science cannot explain anything about the natural world that is beyond what is observable.
- Supernatural things cannot be explained by scientific means.
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