38 The Scientific Method And The History Of Science

Front 1

IMPORTANT WORDS

Back 1

Key Words:
Scientific Method
Experiment
Controlled Experiment
Control Group
Experimental Group
Data
Independent Variable
Dependent Variable
Serendipity
Ethics
Key Descriptors:
____________________
____________________
____________________
____________________
____________________
____________________
____________________
____________________
____________________
____________________
____________________
____________________
____________________
____________________
____________________
____________________
____________________
____________________
NOTE: Refer to the bullet points under each
Competency in the ETS/SBEC study guide. On
the lines above paraphrase each bullet point using
a short phrase that is meaningful to you.
• The teacher understands and can apply the
scientific method
• The teacher can distinguish between various
forms of experimental design
• The teacher is aware of major contributions to
scientific knowledge by historical figures, individuals
from different races, religions, genders, etc.
• The teacher is fully aware of the scientific code
of ethics and can transmit this code of conduct
to students
D E S C R I P T O R H I G H L I G H T S
Bilingual Gen 4-8 - Ed Publishing 196 Domain V - Competencies 40-62

Front 2

first distrib

Back 2

• The teacher understands and can apply the
scientific method

Front 3

second dist

Back 3

• The teacher can distinguish between various
forms of experimental design

Front 4

third dist

Back 4

• The teacher is aware of major contributions to
scientific knowledge by historical figures, individuals
from different races, religions, genders, etc.
• The teacher is fully aware of the scientific code of conduct to students

Front 5

forth distrb

Back 5

• The teacher is fully aware of the scientific code of ethics and can transmit this code of conduct to students

Front 6

The teacher demonstrates a deep knowledge of what?

Back 6

The teacher demonstrates a deep knowledge
of how to conduct scientific inquiries of all
sorts and is conscious of important historical scientific contributions

Front 7

A. The Scientific Method
Science is essentially a process used to
understand natural phenomenon, and the
domain of this process is not restricted to
men in white lab coats; indeed, all individuals
can use the scientific process to understand
the world they live in. Over the years,
however, professional scientists have somewhat
formalized this process, breaking it
down into steps, to maintain a certain “code
of conduct” in the scientific community.

Back 7

A. The Scientific Method
Science is essentially a process used to
understand natural phenomenon, and the
domain of this process is not restricted to
men in white lab coats; indeed, all individuals
can use the scientific process to understand
the world they live in. Over the years,
however, professional scientists have somewhat
formalized this process, breaking it
down into steps, to maintain a certain “code
of conduct” in the scientific community.

Front 8

THE SCIENTIFIC MESSAGE-OBSERVATION

Back 8

• Observation. A good scientist, whether
wearing a white lab coat or not, is con
stantly observing the world around
himself or herself. One characteristic
that is fundamental to science is curiosity;
not only does a scientist observe, or
notice, things, but he or she must be
curious enough to ask questions such as
“Why does this happen?” or “What is
the reason behind that?” Observing the
world also includes reading what has
been observed and concluded by others,
for another characteristic fundamental to
science is that it is cumulative; the scientific
knowledge of today would not be
here had it not been able to benefit from
what was learned yesterday.
Example: Before the invention of
refrigerators, meat was hung out at
butcher shops and people needed to
make daily trips to their local butcher
if they wanted to eat meat. After the
meat was hung out for a while, flies
appeared where there were no flies.

Front 9

THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD-OBSERVATION QUESTION

Back 9

Obviously, a great many people
observed the flies buzzing around
their heads.

Front 10

SECOND OBSERVATION QUESTION

Back 10

• Question. The scientist then asks the
question that he or she is curious to
answer. The question must be relatively
simple, in that a well-thought out
experiment may give some insight into
the answer to the question.
Example: Many astute minds of the
pre-refrigerator era thought it logical
to assume that the newly buzzing flies
were created from the decaying meat.
Indeed, it was a common belief at the
time that life could spring from dead
or decaying matter; this was the idea
of spontaneous generation. To
approach this problem, scientists
asked themselves the question,
“Where do the flies come from?”

Front 11

HYPOTHESIS

Back 11

Hypothesis. In formulating a hypothesis,
you are essentially putting forth a tentative
explanation for what you have
observed. What you have observed is the
effect, and your hypothesis is a potential
cause. Hypotheses rely heavily on past
experience, facts, and general principles.
This potential cause gives the scientist a
starting point on which to base further
study of the initial observation.
Example: A scientist by the name of
Francesco Redi was not convinced by
the idea of spontaneous generation (as
was the case for other scientists) and
so came up with his own hypothesis.
He hypothesized that “flies are not
created by the decaying meat; flies can
only hatch from eggs laid by other
flies.”
Domain V:

Front 12

HYPOTHESIS EXAMPLE

Back 12

Example: A scientist by the name of
Francesco Redi was not convinced by
the idea of spontaneous generation (as
was the case for other scientists) and
so came up with his own hypothesis.
He hypothesized that “flies are not
created by the decaying meat; flies can
only hatch from eggs laid by other
flies.”
Domain V:

Front 13

EXPERIMETATION

Back 13

• Experimentation. A scientist then
makes a prediction based on his or her
hypothesis and tests this prediction. An
experiment is an artificial situation
created by a scientist in order to verify
whether his or her hypothesis/prediction
is supported or not. The experimental
design refers to all the subjects, tools,
and specific procedures found in a
particular experiment.
Example: Francesco Redi’s hypothesis

Front 14

EXPERIMETATION EXAMPLE.

Back 14

Example: Francesco Redi’s hypothesis
that flies can only hatch from eggs
laid by other flies led him to predict
that if he somehow protected meat
from contact with flies, no new flies
would be found on the meat, no matter
how rotten it was. Redi placed
wide-mouthed jars in which were contained
pieces of meat in a butcher
shop; the ONLY thing that differed
among them was how “open” they
were to the outside environment. One
jar was completely open, another was
completely sealed with a lid, and a
third was covered with gauze.

Front 15

• Data Collection.

Back 15

• Data Collection. A scientist must
observe what happens in the experiment
and collect data, the results of the experimental
procedure. Data should be
quantitative and objectively measurable.
It is not enough to say “Oh, I’m going
to see how this person reacts to this
drug;” rather, a scientist must have a list
of behaviors or conditions which he or
she is looking to test as an indication of
reaction to the drug.
Example: Redi recorded the presence
or absence of flies, and most importantly
maggots, in each jar. Flies were
seen entering the open jar. Later, maggots,
then more flies were seen on the
meat. In the gauze-covered jar, no flies
were seen in the jar, but were observed

Front 16

DATA COLLECTION EXAMPLE

Back 16

Example: Redi recorded the presence
or absence of flies, and most importantly
maggots, in each jar. Flies were
seen entering the open jar. Later, maggots,
then more flies were seen on the
meat. In the gauze-covered jar, no flies
were seen in the jar, but were observed. around and on the gauze, and later a
few maggots were seen on the meat.
In the sealed jar, no maggots or flies
were ever seen on the meat

Front 17

DATA COLLECTION CONCLUSION

Back 17

• Conclusions. At this point, the scientist
analyzes the data and comes up with a
statement as to whether his or her
hypothesis is supported or rejected.
Conclusions of experiments, along with
the experimental design and the results,
are communicated to other scientists
usually in the form of articles published
in scientific journals. This communication
ensures that all scientists are aware
of breaking news and that all scientific
work is constantly subject to peer review
and critique.
Example: What Redi observed was
that flies entered the completely open

Front 18

SECOND DATA COLLECTION CONCLUSION

Back 18

Example: What Redi observed was
that flies entered the completely open
jar and laid eggs on the meat; a while
later, maggots hatched and then grew
into other flies. The jar that was completely
sealed had no flies whatsoever
growing on the meat because no flies
got in to lay eggs; instead flies would
land on the lid, lay eggs, maggots
would hatch, and these would mature
into flies. The jar covered with gauze
presented an intermediate situation in
which there were a few flies on the
meat in the jar; indeed, only some of
the eggs that were laid on the gauze
were able to fall through openings in
the gauze onto the meat. Therefore,
flies were found on meat only in situations
where other flies had access to
the meat and laid their eggs. It seems
that the hypothesis “flies only come
from other flies” is supported. Indeed,
historically this experiment was but
one of many nails in the coffin of
spontaneous generation.

Front 19

THE NATURE OF SCIENTIFIC EXPERIMENTS

Back 19

B. The nature of Scientific Investigations.
• Controlled experiments. In a sense, all
scientific experiments are controlled,
because the scientist is the one creating
the experiment, manipulating the
situation and comparing the results to
some standard. More precisely, though, a
controlled experiment is one in which
a variable, called the independent
variable, is manipulated to reveal the
effect on another variable, called the
dependent variable, while all other variables
in the situation are held fixed. The scientist
has control over the independent
variable, while he or she can only measure
the dependent variable. Two classes of
groups are present in this type of experiment:
the control group and the experimental
group, which differ only with respect
to the independent variable. In our
example of the Redi experiment, the
independent variable was the degree of
“openness” of the jars, while the dependent
variable was the presence of flies.
The control group was the open jar,
while there existed two experimental
groups, slightly different in their degrees
of openness, gauze-sealed, and lid-sealed.
An important note to be made is that in
these types of experiments, more than
one subject should always be included in
the group to prevent individual variations,
errors, or statistical phenomena to
influence the outcome; indeed, Redi
actually used several of each type of jar.
Furthermore, the experimental design
should be such that another researcher
can perform the experiment and achieve
the same results. In the case that this is
not so, the original experiment would be
invalid because the results are most likely
due to some kind of personal bias

Front 20

DESCRIPTIVE STUDIES

Back 20

• Descriptive studies. Estimation rather
than testing is emphasized in these types
of studies. They tend to be simpler and
easier to conduct the experimental studies,
but can provide background from which
experimental studies emerge. Descriptive
studies help to generate hypotheses,
rather than test them.
• Serendipity. Luck rather than estimation
or testing is emphasized in this situation.
Actually, serendipity is not just “discovery
by accident,” but involves the notion
that the scientist possesses some kind of
knowledge that allows him or her to
take advantage of unexpected results.
One example of serendipity is the discovery
of aspartame, while another is the
discovery of penicillin.
• Do-it-yourself. Sometimes scientists are
desperate and do not follow any of the
above-mentioned paths of scientific
inquiry. Take the scientist who was desperate
to convince the medical community
that bacteria play an important role in
the cause of stress. Instead of retiring to
a psychiatric hospital because he was
called crazy (see below), he drank a
beaker of bacteria to cause himself to get
an ulcer and prove the bacteria were the
cause of it!
C. Science as a Historical and Cultural Process.
Modern-day scientific knowledge would not
exist were it not for past scientists who performed
many of the basic experiments that
today we take for granted. Indeed, science is
a historical process, with each new scientist
building on the knowledge of others that
came before him or her. Science is also a
cultural process, benefiting from the input
of many different cultures and cultural perspectives.
• Ignaz Semmelweiss. 1800s. One of the
first investigators to propose aseptic
Domain V:

Front 21

DO IT YOURSELF

Back 21

• Do-it-yourself. Sometimes scientists are
desperate and do not follow any of the
above-mentioned paths of scientific
inquiry. Take the scientist who was desperate
to convince the medical community
that bacteria play an important role in
the cause of stress. Instead of retiring to
a psychiatric hospital because he was
called crazy (see below), he drank a
beaker of bacteria to cause himself to get
an ulcer and prove the bacteria were the
cause of it!

Front 22

C. Science as a Historical and Cultural Process.

Back 22

C. Science as a Historical and Cultural Process.
Modern-day scientific knowledge would not
exist were it not for past scientists who performed
many of the basic experiments that
today we take for granted. Indeed, science is
a historical process, with each new scientist
building on the knowledge of others that
came before him or her. Science is also a
cultural process, benefiting from the input
of many different cultures and cultural perspectives.
• Ignaz Semmelweiss. 1800s. One of the
first investigators to propose aseptic
Domain V:

Front 23

• Ignaz Semmelweiss. 1800s. One of the
first investigators to propose aseptic

Back 23

TECNIQUES AFTER RUNNING SOME RDIMENTARY EXPERIMETS TO FIGURE OUT WHY WOMENT WERE DYING DURRING CHILDBIRTH

Front 24

LOUIS PASTERU 1800S

Back 24

GERM THEORY-LIFE IS A GERM, AND A GERM IS A LIFE

Front 25

ROSALIND fRANKLIN-1950S

Back 25

Rosalind Elsie Franklin (25 July 1920 – 16 April 1958) was an English biophysicist and crystallographer who made important contributions to the understanding of the fine structures of DNA, viruses, coal and graphite. Franklin is best known for her work on the X-ray diffraction images of DNA which formed a basis of Watson and Crick's hypothesis of the double helical structure of DNA in their 1953 publication,[1] and when published constituted critical evidence of the hypothesis.[2] Later she led pioneering work on the tobacco mosaic and polio viruses. She died in 1958 of bronchopneumonia, secondary carcinomatosis, and cancer of the ovary, within minutes of her last paper being read at the Faraday Society.

Hint 25

DNA DOUBLE HELIX

Front 26

george washington carver-1900's-born into slavery

Back 26

the post-Civil-War South, an agricultural monoculture of cotton had depleted the soil, and in the early 1900s, the boll weevil destroyed much of the cotton crop. Much of Carver's fame was based on his research and promotion of alternative crops to cotton, such as peanuts and sweet potatoes. He wanted poor farmers to grow alternative crops as both a source of their own food and a cash crop. His most popular bulletin contained 105 existing food recipes that used peanuts. His most famous method of promoting the peanut involved his creation of about 100 existing industrial products from peanuts, including cosmetics, dyes, paints, plastics, gasoline and nitroglycerin. His industrial products from peanuts excited the public imagination but none was a successful commercial product. There are many myths about Carver, especially the myth that his industrial products from peanuts played a major role in revolutionizing Southern agriculture. [3][4]

Carver's most important accomplishments were in areas other than industrial products from peanuts, including agricultural extension education, improvement of racial relations, mentoring children, poetry, painting, religion, advocacy of sustainable agriculture and appreciation of plants and nature. He served as a valuable role model for African-Americans and an example of the importance of hard work, a positive attitude and a good education. His humility, humanitarianism, good nature, frugality and lack of economic materialism have also been widely admired.

One of his most important roles was that the fame of his achievements and many talents undermined the widespread stereotype of the time that the black race was intellectually inferior to the white race. In 1941, "Time" magazine dubbed him a "Black Leonardo," a reference to the white polymath Leonardo da Vinci [5]

Hint 26

famous botanist

Front 27

Ellen Ochoa

Back 27

Ochoa became the first U.S. Hispanic in space when she served on a nine-day mission aboard the shuttle Discovery in 1993. The astronauts were studying the earth's ozone layer.

Ochoa was selected by NASA in January 1990 and became an astronaut in July 1991. Her technical assignments in the Astronaut Office includes serving as the crew representative for flight software, computer hardware and robotics, Assistant for Space Station to the Chief of the Astronaut Office, lead spacecraft communicator(CAPCOM) in Mission Control, and Acting Deputy Chief of the Astronaut Office. She is currently Deputy Director of Flight Crew Operations, helping to manage and direct the Astronaut Office and Aircraft Operations, and is not planning to go on any more missions. A veteran of four Space flights, Ochoa has logged over 978 hours in space. She was a mission specialist on STS-56, was payload commander on STS-66, and was mission specialist and flight engineer on STS-96 and STS-110.[1][2][3]

Ellen Lauri Ochoa (born 1958) is a former astronaut and current director of flight crew operations for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.


[edit] Ellen Ochoa Learning Center

Hint 27

first hispanic asternaut

Front 28

Ethics defined

Back 28

Basically, the study of whats right and whats wrong
several core ethical values are listed, including: gratitude, competence, stewardship, honest and candor, fidelity, loyalty, diligence, discretion, self-improvement, restitution, and self-interest. Certainly, these values (some might be described as values, and some as traits) are central to all sorts of ethical decision-making. They can be applied by government officials, in work settings, and in interpersonal relationships.

After distinguishing between "macro-ethics" (the big picture of ethical decision-making) and "micro-ethics" (involving practical, day-to-day ethical choices), in discussing the former of these, Dr. Powell lists four principles which he says underpin all macro-ethical issues. Although he is writing from a clinical mental health perspective, it seems to me, once again, that these principles can be applied fairly generally. They are, in his words:
Autonomy: telling the truth, one's right to privacy and confidentiality, informed consent, and helping people to make appropriate decisions;
Non-malfeasance: do no harm. If you don't do anything, at least don't hurt the person;
Beneficience: do good. Here it gets dicey. A counselor may do something they consider in the client's best interest when in fact it causes harm. When theis occurs ethicists call this paternalism. For example, in China where I spend considerable time, if you have cancer, doctors deem it inappropriate to tell the patient. They might tell the family, but do not wish to cause psychic harm to the patient; and
Justice and fairness: in a world of sustainable medicine, where doctors can keep people alive for longer than ever, how are decisions to be made that are fair and just? How does medicine decide who is to get the heart transplant? If it si your mother you might think differently than the doctors.
He lists skills that he says a leader needs when faced with difficult choices:
Competence to recognize ethical issues and to think through the consequences of the action;
Self-confidence to seek out different points of view and then decide what is right at a given time, place, and circumstance; and
Tough-mindedness, a willingness to make decisions when what needs to be known cannot be known.

Front 29

ethics example

Back 29

A scientist cannot invent whatever hypothesis he likes:
hypothises must agree with observations, or they are not acceptable. results obtained from scietific inquires, furthmore must be subject to peer review, or critiqued by scientists, in order to apply different perspectives and therefore validate an experimetna and its consequencesldesign

Front 30

THE SCINETIFIC METHOD AND ERROR

Back 30

Thankfully, the scientific method is all about eliminating human errors. The procedures of peer review and independent verification both ensure that mistakes in theory, application or analysis of data are spotted when other scientists examine and repeat the experiment. Competing theories will have proponents that actively do not want new information threatening their own theory, so will actively seek out weakspots in new experiments. Many scientific publications report on the failures of data and experiments, and in the face of this, science self-regulates in a very efficient and detailed manner.

Sometimes, then, individual experiments are found to be faulty. Sometimes, the conclusions of the scientist are questioned even if the data is good. And sometimes, rarest of all, entire scientific paradigms are questioned. New evidence can cause entire theoretical frameworks to be undermined, resulting in a scientific revolution in understanding.

Front 31

THE SCI METHOD AND HISTORY CONCLUDED

Back 31

THE SCI METHOD IS STRASED AS A SET OF RULES TO FOLLOW WHEN UNDERTAKING SCIENTIFIC METHOD AND VARIOUS WAYS OF UNDERTAKING SCIENTIFIC STUDY. PROPER ETHICAL BEHAVIOR FOR THE PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE SHOULD BE FOREMOST IN TEACHER'S MIND WHEN EXPLAINING SCIENTIFIC ENDEAVORS