Friday 17 February 2017

The Natural Sciences Blog Post


When does an observation become scientific law? How many times should an experiment be conducted to make turn a hypothesis into a theory? 

-An observation becomes a scientific law when there is action taken upon the observation;  Science as we know it is a progressive field. Observations lead scientist to find out facts about life. An example of this would be Newton's law: Newton observed the apple falling on his head, and from the observations, he came up with the law of gravity.  He repeated this and concluded that if the object with more mass (the Earth) attracts the object with less mass (the apple).
- An experiment should be tested multiple times before we can conclude it is a fact, in addition, we have to also add in other factors such as the environment it is in. "scientific law always applies under the same conditions, and implies that there is a causal relationship involving its elements."

Newton's Law of Gravity

Is Science created or discovered? 


- There are many ways to look at the question upon answering it, while some areas of science where always there since the beginning of time and have been known due to humans discovering them, an example of this would be mathematics " Since much of math that we used (almost all) is based on first principles found in the universe, it can be argued that basic math is discovered rather than invented, but since those principles are not the only math systems explored math as a whole is not created. In addition, everything that was found as a "scientific law" was discovered rather than created from the human. 
 Examples: laws of physics, finding new elements, molecules (Chemistry) 

How reliable is your science textbook? 


- Our science textbooks are reliable sources, due to the fact that topics that are taught are usually fact based rather than theory based. So, physics students would learn reliable stuff by Newton as it is supported by facts, in addition, science is a very progressive field so with new major discoveries there will be new topics to teach and learn about. Furthermore, our science textbooks show real life examples of how the law applies in our everyday lives. We also do labs and experiments to prove these laws and theories, and this shows why we should trust our science textbooks






Tuesday 14 February 2017

Natural Science Blog post


TASK: 

In your blogs, write a definition and give and example for each one of these: a fact
a theory
a hypothesis
a belief
Watch again the TED video and summarise the main points.
http://ed.ted.com/on/uNp5NZ59

→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→

Natural Sciences can be defined as an area of knowing that makes claim about the natural world, and attempts to find laws by which the world works.These laws are defined often,as results of experiments or tests, and usually claim to be true at all times, under the same conditions. 
However, many questions are raised when it comes to Natural Sciences. 
  • How certain is knowledge gained by these methods?
  • How useful is scientific law for predicting the future?

Key Terms (Definitions and Examples) 

FACT
Definition: scientific fact is an objective and verifiable observation. A proven statement backed up by science and mathematics,in addition it  cannot be questioned 
Example: Avogadro's Law, Thermodynamics

THEORY 
Definition: scientific theory is a assumption or an idea based on evidence and fact however has not been confirmed through science or math, thus making it an assumption, and can be questioned and challenged
Example: Evolution 

HYPOTHESIS 
Definition: Similar to theory, a hypothesis is a "educated guess or prediction" made before having any lab reports run, however the prediction is made with limited information which is why it can be supported or not supported. 
Example: Peanuts do not cause acne because there is no correlation between consumption of nuts  and acne. 

BELEIF 
Definition: Something believed by people and can sometimes have a relation within religious perspective and cultural ones too. Furthermore, scientific beliefs is based on previous factual informations. 
Example: The earth is flat 



Notes
  • Humans have no control on what we learn 
  • Question everything (How do we know?) 
  • Looking at previous facts can help us progress in the field of science 
  • Science interacts with the world 
  • How did the discovers come to understand 
  • The field of science is open 
  • There is a difference between Facts and Theories and it is important to be able to decipher what it is