Science as Inquiry

Abilities Necessary to do Scientific Inquiry

• Identify questions that can be answered through scientific investigations.
• Design and conduct a scientific investigation.
• Use appropriate tools and techniques to gather, analyze, and interpret data.
• Develop descriptions, explanations, predictions, and models using evidence.
• Think critically and logically to make the relationships between evidence and explanations.

Physical Science

Motions and Forces

• The motion of an object can be described by its position, direction of motion, and speed. That motion can be measured and represented on a graph.
• An object that is not being subjected to a force will continue to move at a constant speed and in a straight line.
• If more than one force acts on an object along a straight line, then the forces will reinforce or cancel one another, depending on their direction and magnitude. Unbalanced forces will cause changes in the speed or direction of an object’s motion.

Transfer of Energy

• Energy is a property of many substances and is associated with heat, light, electricity, mechanical motion, sound, nuclei, and the nature of a chemical. Energy is transferred in many ways.
• Electrical circuits provide a means of transferring electrical energy when heat, light, sound, and chemical changes are produced.
• In most chemical and nuclear reactions, energy is transferred into or out of a system. Heat, light, mechanical motion, or electricity might all be involved in such transfers.

Science and Technology

Abilities of Technological Design

• Identify appropriate problems for technological design.
• Design a solution or product.
• Implement a proposed design.
• Evaluate completed technological designs or products.
• Communicate the process of technological design.
• Understand that scientific inquiry and technological designs have similarities and differences. Scientists propose explanations for questions about the natural world, and engineers propose solutions relating to human problems, needs, and aspirations. Technological solutions are temporary; technologies exist within nature and so they cannot contravene physical or biological principles’ technological solutions have side effects; and technologies cost, carry risks, and provide benefits.

Science in Personal and Social Perspectives

Science and Technology in Society

• Science influences society through its knowledge and world view.
• Societal challenges often inspire questions for scientific research, and social priorities often influence research priorities through the availability of funding for research.
• influences society through its products and processes.
• Science and technology have advanced through contributions of many different people, in different cultures, at different times in history.
• Scientists and engineers work in many different settings, including colleges and universities, businesses and industries, specific research institutes, and government agencies.
• Scientists and engineers have ethical codes requiring that human subjects involved with research be fully informed about the risks and benefits associated with the research before the individuals choose to participate.
• Science cannot answer all questions and technology cannot solve all human problems or meet all human needs.

History and Nature of Science

Science as a Human Endeavor

• Women and men of various social and ethnic backgrounds – and with diverse interests, talents, qualities, and motivations – engage in the activities of science, engineering, and related fields such as the health professions.
• Science requires different abilities, depending on such factors as the field of study and type of inquiry.

Nature of Science

• Scientists formulate and test their explanations of nature using observation, experiments, and theoretical and mathematical models. Although all scientific ideas are tentative and subject to change and improvement in principle, for most major ideas in science, there is much experimental and observational confirmation. Those ideas are not likely to change greatly in the future. Scientists do and have changed their ideas about nature when they encounter new experimental evidence that does not match their existing explanations.
• It is part of scientific inquiry to evaluate the results of scientific investigations, experiments, observations, theoretical models, and the explanations proposed by other scientists. Evaluation includes reviewing the experimental procedures, examining the evidence, identifying faulty reasoning, pointing out statements that go beyond the evidence, and suggesting alternative explanations for the same observations. Although scientists many disagree about the explanations of phenomena, about interpretations of data, or about the value of rival theories, they do agree that questioning, response to criticism, and open communication are integral to the process of science. As scientific knowledge evolves, major disagreements are eventually resolved through such interactions between scientists.

History of Science

• Many individuals have contributed to the traditions of science. Studying some of these individuals provides further understanding of scientific inquiry, science as a human endeavor, the nature of science, and the relationships between science and society.
• In historical perspective, science has been practiced by different individuals in different cultures. In looking at the history of many peoples, one finds that scientists and engineers of high achievement are considered to be among the most valued contributors to their culture.
• Tracing the history of science can show how difficult it was for scientific innovators to break through the accepted ideas of their time to reach the conclusions that we currently take for granted.