Scientists

Science has several features that it different from other human endeavours. Science deals only with the natural world. Scientists collect and organise information in a careful, orderly way, looking for patterns and connections between events or materials. Scientists propose explanations that can be tested by examining evidence. **Science** is an organised way of using evidence to learn of the natural world. //Science// also refers to the body of knowledge that scientists have built up over many years of using this process. I hope that this Wiki will help you to understand and search science to develop your knowledge and your interest in a particular area of science. Please use this wiki as a start to your research. The World Wide Web is a large resource of knowledge, interesting facts, stories and a multitude of half truths. Be very careful as you research a topic. Not all websites have been appropriately peered reviewed, which means that some sites have information which is downright incorrect, wrong, not true, or misinformation. Always try and confirm your information before using it to build your own knowledge or to use or quote in an assignment or homework piece. Scientific thinking usually begins with observation, the process of gathering information about events or processes in a careful and orderly manner. Observation involves using the senses, particularly sight and hearing. But it also uses touch, small and sometimes taste. Be careful whenever you use your senses that it is appropriate to do so, that you always consider your own safety, the safety of others and the safety of the equipment around you. It is extremely important that in recording your data or gathered information that you do so in an orderly fashion. Write neatly in a way that you can retrieve your data when you have completely forgotten what and even why you completed your experiment. Use tables with logical and organised headings. Always write your units, mm or m (length), seconds (time), Co (temperature), g or kg (mass), or other known units. There are two types of data: Scientists try and explain events in the natural world by interpreting evidence logically and analytically. After initial observations researchers will propose one or more hypotheses. A hypothesis is a proposed scientific explanation for a set of observations. A scientist will generate a hypothesis from prior knowledge or what they already know. A scientific hypothesis must be proposed in a way that enables it to be tested. Testing can occur by gathering more data, or by performing controlled experiments. Some hypotheses are then ruled out or proven incorrect, others may be supported and eventually confirmed. Scientists contribute information to discussions about health and disease, about the relationship between human beings and the living and nonliving environment. A scientific approach is essential to making intelligent decisions however questions about society, and how we interact with others must also include a consideration of laws, moral principles and our understanding of a biblical world view.
 * What is Science?** Miller & Devine, (2004), //Biology,// Prentice Hall, New Jersey.
 * The goal of science is to investigate and understand the natural world, and to use those explanations to make useful prediction.**
 * Thinking Like a scientist**
 * Recording information**
 * Quantitative (numbers) obtained by counting or measuring;
 * Qualitative (descriptive) involves characteristics eg hot, old, colourful, etc.
 * Explaining and Interpreting Evidence**
 * Science and Human Values**
 * Designing an Experiment**
 * **Ask a question:** What happens if? Or how does this work? Or How do new living organisms appear?
 * **Form a hypothesis:** In view of previous knowledge, make a suggestion of what will occur.
 * **Setting a controlled experiment:** In science, testing a hypothesis often involves designing an experiment. The factors in an experiment that can change are called **variables**. Examples of variables include equipment used, type of material, amount of material, temperature, light and time. When designing an experiment **only one variable** should be changed at a time. All other variables must be kept unchanged or **controlled**. Variables are of two types including **manipulated variables** – that is the variable that is going to be changed; and **responding variable** – that is a variable that is observed and changes in response to changing the manipulated variable.
 * **Recording and Analysing results:** Keep written records of your observations, results or data in a notebook or an **experiment / laboratory book.** Some data can be collected and recorded using scientific digital equipment such as a **data logger**.
 * **Drawing a conclusion:** Scientists use the data from an experiment to evaluate the hypothesis and draw a valid conclusion. As scientists look fo0r explanations for specific observations they assume that the patterns in nature are consistent.
 * **An experiment must be able to be repeated:** A key assumption in science is that an experiment can be repeated in exactly the same way as the initial or first experiment. Therefore an experiment must be written up giving complete and descriptive format using language that is understandable and scientific.
 * **Theory:** as evidence builds from numerous investigations a particular hypothesis may become so well supported by other scientists that it becomes a **theory**. This is when an idea is now considered one of the major ideas in science. **It is a well tested explanation that unifies a broad range of observations.**