Christine V. McLelland
GSA Distinguished Earth Science Educator in Residence
Reviewers and Contributors:
Gary B. Lewis Director, Education and Outreach, Geological Society of America
Contributing GSA Education Committee members:
Rob Van der Voo University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. Keith A. Sverdrup University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wis. Mary M. Riestenberg College of Mount Saint Joseph, Cincinnati, Ohio Virginia L. Peterson Grand Valley State University, Allendale, Mich. Wendi J.W. Williams University of Arkansas, Little Rock, Ark. Sandra Rutherford Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Mich. Larissa Grawe DeSantis University of Florida, Gainesville, Fla. Aida Awad Des Plaines, Ill. Stephen R. Mattox Grand Valley State
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Falsifiability is the principle that a proposition or theory cannot be scientific if it does not admit the possibility of being shown false. Science takes the whole universe and any and all phenomena in the natural world under its purview, limited only by what is feasible to study given our current physical and fiscal limitations. Anything that cannot be observed or measured or shown to be
false is not amenable to scientific investigation. Explanations that cannot be based on empirical evidence are not a part of science (National Academy of Sciences, 1998). Science is, however, a human endeavor and is subject to personal prejudices, misapprehensions, and bias. Over time, however, repeated reproduction and verification of observations and experimental results can overcome these weaknesses. That is one of the strengths of the scientific process. Scientific knowledge is based on some assumptions (after Nickels, 1998), such as • The world is REAL; it exists apart from our sensory perception of it. • Humans can accurately perceive and attempt to understand the physical universe. • Natural processes are sufficient to explain or account for natural phenomena or events. In other words, scientists must explain the natural in terms of the natural (and not the supernatural, which, lacking any independent evidence, is not falsifiable and therefore not science), although humans may not currently recognize what
I am writing to you in support Jacelyn Omusi and her desire to pursue and develop her research ambitions in The Leadership Alliance’s Summer Research Early Identification Program. As the Director of Academic and Research Programs and the McNair Research Scholars Program at the Academic Advancement Program at the University of California, Los Angeles, I work with many students who possess interest in research and desire to attend graduate school to obtain their PhD. Jacelyn, however, has displayed recognizable fiery passion and immense potential in her research interests, thereby motivating me to recommend her for your program.
Science should not be seen as a collection of facts, concepts, and useful ideas about nature, or even the organized analysis of nature, although both are common definitions of science. Science is a means of examining nature. In other words, science is a method of discovering reliable knowledge about nature. There are other ways of learning knowledge about nature; nevertheless science is the only way that results in getting hold of of reliable knowledge. Dependable knowledge is material that has high viewpoint of accuracy because its certainty has been defendable by a reliable technique. Reliable data is called standard correct idea, to distinguish reliable facts from belief that is false and unjustified. Every person has beliefs, nonetheless not all facts is steadily true and acceptable. Science is a method
The objective of this experiment is to test the melting point of ice against different variables. I will use a control of ice against air and test this next to ice in water, sugar on ice, salt on ice and Baking Soda on ice. By measuring the melting time of each element on an ice cube I will be able to tell which element affects ice’s melting properties at what rate.
Questions and charts are from Geoscience Laboratory, 5th ed. (p. 133-150), by T. Freeman, 2009, New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons. Reprinted with permission.
We grow up learning in school about how the world was created through science, but what tells us that it is true? We are taught how natural events shape the earth today, and how evolution has brought us to where we are today. They show us results from many experiments that they’ve done over time. They have theories of what they think happen, but what if their theories are incorrect? For all we know, all that ”science” can be false.
Melillo, K. D., Abdallah, L. M., Blanks, C., Campbell, I., & Herndon, L. (2012). Faculty
There are some demarcations to science from pseudo-science and non-science (Hansson, 2008). Science aims to unravel the way the natural world is and explain how it is and why it works in a particular manner (Hobson, 2001 & Bunge, 1982). It answers few of these questions by demonstrating the cause and the effects of various actions by presenting in descriptive and explanatory claims (Parse, 1995). Scientists prove their findings by explaining
science a hypothesis is always trying to be proven like Galileo was doing but it
Unlike inductivists, falsificationists believe that there is no way to conclusively prove that a theory is true. Consequently, they will resist stating that they’ve proved a theory to be true. Instead, falsificationists will consider a theory to be true so long as it has not been proven to be false. Unlike the strict five-step process held by the inductivist account of science, falsificationists hold that scientific progress comes about “by trial and error, by conjectures and refutations” (Chalmers 60). In the falsificationist picture, theory change happens constantly, and this process is what constitutes scientific progress. “It can never be said of a theory that it is true, however well it has withstood rigorous tests, but it can hopefully be said that a current theory is superior to its predecessors in the sense that it is able to withstand tests that falsified those predecessors” (Chalmers
In the article, "Science: Conjectures and Refutations", Karl Popper attempts to describe the criteria that a theory must meet for it to be considered scientific. He calls this puzzle the problem of demarcation. Popper summarizes his arguments by saying, "the criterion of the scientific status of a theory is its falsifiability, or refutability, or testability." Kuhn
Disagreement may aid the pursuit of knowledge in the natural and human sciences because disagreement leads to new discoveries. Disagreement is about gathering reliable knowledge as well as using this newfound knowledge, and occurs when a group fails to reach a consensus over the logic of an argument. Knowledge is composed of facts, information, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education. Two areas of knowledge that are impacted by disagreement are human science and natural science. Human science is the study of human behavior and how humans gather information. Natural science is a branch of science that deals with the physical world. In order for a disagreement to occur, one must be familiar with the subject and have his or her own prediction that is different from the norm. Therefore, to advance knowledge in the areas of human and natural science, people must disagree. The roles of logic, reason, and emotion will be investigated to see how they are used to help gain new knowledge in both human and natural science.
In the natural sciences, theories may not be proven experimentally correct; however, it can be falsified through experimental evidence. Aristotle’s idea of spontaneous generation, organisms descending from inanimate matter, was falsified by Pasteur. As Pasteur’s falsification was drawn from the cell theory, this shows how scientific theories are
The nature and process of science are a collection of things, ideas, and guidelines. “The purpose of science is to learn about and understand our universe more completely” (Science works in specific ways, 3). Science works with evidence from our world. If it doesn’t come from the natural world, it isn’t science. You need to be creative and have flexible thoughts and ideas if you want to be a scientist. Science always brings up new ideas and theories and if you aren’t flexible to those ideas you can’t be a scientist. Science has been in our world for a long time. It is deep into our history and our cultures. The principals of science; are all about understanding our world using the evidence we collect. If we can’t collect evidence on something we simply cannot understand it. If we don’t understanding something about our world, science says that we can learn about it by collecting evidence (Science has principals, 4). Science is a process; it takes time. You don’t immediately come to a conclusion for your hypothesis a few minutes