Over the past few years, there has been an explosion of interest in science studies. This field looks at how people learn about science and theories of learning to determine what works for students.
Many schools are incorporating scientific concepts into their curriculum. These lessons often go beyond just teaching about biology or physics, but instead teach students using evidence and logic to understand complex topics.
This is very different from the way that most school systems operate today, where much time is spent on memorizing facts with little emphasis on understanding concepts.
Teachers who want to integrate more academic content into their lesson plans may feel limited due to the fact that many courses out-of-school system use pre-packaged curricula that focus only on specific fields like math or science.
These courses usually include lots of material that has nothing do with each other and no linking ideas together. It can be hard to create your own link between concepts when you have to start somewhere else already!
There are several reasons why education seems to move slowly towards more academic skills. One of these is because teachers feel too pressured to produce good results in the area of the standard curriculum.
Another reason is that some subjects seem to develop slower than others. For example, some teachers may feel that mathematics teaches itself so they do not put as much effort into it as they would say, for instance, social sciences like psychology.
Probability and statistics
The field of probability is quite interesting! When we talk about probabilities, we are talking about how likely it is that an event will occur or something is more probable than another. For example, what is the likelihood of it raining next week?
Many things in our lives depend on whether or not you believe this unlikely event will happen or if you believe it’s very likely. If you think there’s a good chance it rains tomorrow, then you should probably bring your umbrella (or at least buy one!).
But what if I told you that it was impossible for it to rain tomorrow? There’s just no way such an event could occur? Well, we would have to change our opinion slightly because it IS possible for it to rain tomorrow- but it is so improbable as to be impossible!
In fact, it is mathematically certain that it won’t rain tomorrow, even though many people feel like it is inevitable. This concept of “impossible” events has a special name – It is called a logical contradiction.
When this happens, what we call “true” statements are contradicted by what we call “false” statements, which make zero sense. For instance, my statement “the sun will rise every morning” contradicts the false statement “the moon takes over when the sun rises.” Obviously, the moon doesn’t take over anything, so that can’t be a true statement.
Research methods
The way scientists gather information to prove or disprove their hypotheses is by conducting research studies. These studies are conducted in controlled settings, under highly structured conditions, using systematic procedures to evaluate results.
Research studies can be observational (looking at how things are done) or experimental (doing something and seeing what happens). Observational studies look at whether there is a correlation between two variables, while experimentally tested theories are debunked or confirmed through that method.
Both types of studies depend on gathering large amounts of data. For example, when doing an observational study about traffic patterns, you would have to record how many cars were parked outside a restaurant for a few hours to determine if there was a correlation with it being closed later and if people stopped going hungry.
When experimenting with new theories, like whether or not sugar makes you gain weight, test groups are given either sugar or other foods to see changes in body fat. Scientists also need lots of replication of experiments, which means performing the same test on several different individuals.
Science isn’t just limited to studying nature, but also the human condition. Researchers use empirical evidence to investigate why some people do certain things and work towards changing those behaviors.
Scientists spend time researching and developing theories, testing them, and then moving onto the next theory. This process is repeated over and over again, constantly updating our understanding of everything from physics to psychology.
The structure of scientific evidence
Evidence in science is not just about proving or disproving one theory, hypothesis, or claim. Scientists look at how well studies are designed and conducted, and what they find when studying the effects of treatments and procedures.
This process is called systematic review. It’s how we get most of our knowledge around health and wellness – check out all the research done on diet supplements, weight loss strategies, exercise, and so on!
When you do this, you evaluate whether the results of a study are due to chance alone (random luck) or if there was an apparent cause-and-effect relationship. Random chances will happen even with no changes made to the test conditions, so these findings cannot be used to determine causal relationships.
However, when researchers observe similar results in several different tests under identical conditions, then we can say that there is probably a true effect. A good example of this is vaccines: although individual vaccinations may not work for some people, the overall effectiveness of vaccines has been proven over time.
Comparing sources of information
We as humans learn by comparing what we are given with other things to get our understanding of how something works. When you were a child, your parents probably taught you that eating carrots will make your eyes look better and f ood helps you feel happier, so try giving more of both of these foods to see for yourself!
The same goes for scientific theories. Just because someone else has this theory about why x happens does not mean it is true forever. You must compare their ideas against the evidence to determine if they are correct or not!
There are many ways to do this, such as reading academic studies, talking to people who have done experiments related to the theory, and looking at examples online or in person.
It is very important to remember that just because someone else’s theory matches the evidence well does not automatically make theirs wrong. All too often, people lose faith in science due to past mistakes where scientists misidentified, misinterpreted, or failed to consider certain factors when conducting an experiment.
Understanding science
What is science?
Science is a process of gathering credible knowledge about the world around us through observation, experimentation, reasoning, and discussion. Scientists gather new information by conducting experiments and studying materials that have been already experimented upon or analyzed.
By testing hypotheses against established facts, scientists are able to determine which theories fit what exists in the real world better than anyone else. This process results in answers to important questions such as how things work and why they happen.
The reason people often confuse scientific with mathematical concepts is because both use logic to prove conclusions. However, mathematics does not include the word “hypothesis” so it may seem more rigorous, but it is actually less explanatory since you cannot test its accuracy like you can for a hypothesis.
Another example of this is when someone uses math to explain why something happens- like using calculus to describe gravity. But until we experiment with gravity and measure how fast objects fall, it is just an equation that describes an outcome.
Science and the future
The field of science has gone through many stages, with each stage building upon the last. Starting from observation and experimentation to testing theories about how things work, there are several different ways to approach studying nature.
The way we understand what makes up our universe is changing quickly. Technology comes along at a break-neck speed, constantly updating and improving on past discoveries. This seems to be the case not only for scientists, but also for people who want to improve their own understanding of science.
Science can seem like an ever expanding maze that requires you to spend your time searching for answers instead of finding them. But don’t worry! There are some basic concepts in science that everyone should know how to identify and evaluate. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned as part of this project, it’s that most people have almost no clue when it come to that.
So here they are: the five pillars of scientific knowledge. Read on to find out what they are and why you need to know them.
Science and society
There is an increasingly common perception that science has won, that it has “taken over” as someone put it, and so we no longer need to rely on tradition, myth or religion for answers.
This perception of victory is both false and dangerous.
We still urgently need traditional sources like mythology, philosophy and theology in our lives as they have played important roles in shaping who we are as human beings.
They informed our concepts of nature, spirituality and ultimate meaning. We can also learn from their mistakes — some even say karmic!
But this perception of total dominance of knowledge coming only from academic institutions run by white men is highly inaccurate.
Academic fields such as physics, biology and chemistry have undergone significant progress since their inception, but there is another area of study that has not – sociology.
Sociology was once considered a part of psychology, but now exists alongside other social sciences such as anthropology and political science.
Yet, much like sociology before it, its importance cannot be understated. It helps us understand how humans interact with each other and why things happen.
One example many people will know about is the theory of evolution. While most agree that natural selection plays a key role in the process, few realize that culture also makes a big difference.
Natural environments provide different opportunities for selective pressures which result in evolutionary change. People differ in their cultures which create additional environments where adaptations can occur.
The nature of science
Over the last few centuries, scientists have gathered ever-larger piles of observations about how things work. These studies are organized into frameworks or theories that explain why and/or predict new results. Scientists then use these theories to make predictions about what they should observe in future experiments or situations.
Theories that successfully describe past events are considered scientific because they match up with repeated observation of natural processes we’ve already done. This process is called validation. On the other hand, theories that don’t hold up to external tests aren’t very convincing.
It’s important to note here that while theories may not be true for everyone all of the time, there is one set of theories that almost everybody agrees is false — quantum theory. Quantum mechanics doesn’t agree with our common sense notions of reality, but it works extremely well when applied to tiny particles and energy.
That said, even though quantum theory disagrees with classical physics at times, physicists still consider it to be a valid framework for describing certain types of phenomena. (Think about it: Even if you never saw a particle travel faster than light, you would still call Einstein correct.)
Another good example comes from Albert Einstein himself. He originally thought that space was curved due to matter moving through it, but later realized that this wasn’t possible since nothing can move faster than light! His theory of relativity instead suggests that space itself gets distorted by changes in speed or gravity.
