Chapter 1.1

          Vocabulary:

Science- an organized way of gathering and analyzing evidence about the natural world

Scientific Methodology- involves observing and asking questions, making inferences and forming hypothesis, conducting controlled experiments,  collecting and analyzing data, and drawing conclusions.

Observation- the act of noticing and describing events or process in a careful and orderly way.

Inference- a logical interpretation based on what scientists already know.

Hypothesis-  a scientific explanation for a set of observations that can be tested in ways that can support or reject it.

Controlled experiment- in an experiment, only one variable should be changed. the rest of the variables should remain untouched, or controlled.  

Independent variable- a variable that’s deliberately changed

Dependant variable- the variable that is observed and that changes in response to the independent variable.

Control group- exposed to the same conditions as the experimental group except for one independent variable.

Data- Information

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

          What science is and is not

Facts Change. Science is not set in stone. Scientific ideas are open to testing, discussion, and revision.

          Science as a way of knowing

Science is a way of thinking. It is a process, not a thing. Science deals only with the natural world. (no supernatural phenomena.)

Scientists propose explanation based on evidence, not belief.

          The goals of science

From a scientific perspective, all objects in the universe are governed by universal natural laws.

          Science, change, and uncertainty

Most of nature is a mystery because science never stands still. What was discovered today could be changed tomorrow.

          Observing and asking questions

“think something nobody has thought yet, while looking at something everybody sees.” with a little imagination, you yourself could discover something new if you thought of it in a new way.

Designing controlled experiments

Testing a scientific hypothesis often involves designing experiments that keep track of things that can change, or variables.

Collecting and analyzing data

Ÿ  Quantitive data are numbers obtained by counting and measuring

Ÿ   Qualitive data are descriptions that involve characteristics that cannot be counted

When an experiment isn’t possible

Sometimes, you cant have an experiment. An example of a case like that is given in the book, where it says that you need humans to control an experiment. But say you want to see if cancer is created in the human body when the man is exposed to a certain element. That would be a deadly experiment to conduct.  Instead, they search for people who have already been exposed to the element. For controls, they study people who have not been exposed to the element. However they use people who don’t have any medical conditions or a genetic problem.

Or another case, such as field observation, or observing an animal. First the researchers would need to study the behavior of  animals from a certain species and than write a hypothesis, than they test.

Tuesday 8.31.10

    Today we learned all of the parts on the new microscopes, we also learned how to move the stage back and forth, side to side, and up and down. There are three different objectives on a microscope, so basically three lenses you could choose to look through, we learned how to focus the image when we changed lenses. Today we also used the microscopes to get a better look at what was on the slides. We could have looked at pond water, insects, human lice, paraphemelias, and many more. Once we looked at the slide we had to make a scetch on what we saw in our unit packet.  

    Last year in science we had a unit on microscopes and all of there different parts. So most of the words involved with microscopes seem very familiar to me. 

Here is a picture of a microscope

with all of the parts labeled.

Friday 8.27.10

Today's class started off with some notes on biology and experimental design. Mr. Paek then reviewed what units we'll be doing this year in biology (experimental design is the first one). The notes on biology were pretty basic, and the notes on experimental design were all about variables. Independent- what you change, dependent- what you measure, and control- what you keep the same.Then, Mr. Paek explained a random experiment we could use as an example for determining the variables. The experiment was to take 3 of the same markers, put them in different temperatures, then see what effect the temperature has on the markers in the end by taking to caps off and seeing how they write (we didn't actually do this experiment, though). As part of the notes, we read through two experiments as a class and determined the variables. Next, we went over last night's Simpsons Problems, pages 19-21 in the Unit Packet. After that, Mr. Paek demonstrated problem 1 on pg. 3 in the UP, which is: what happens when lentils are dropped into seltzer water? There was a given hypothesis, too: if lentils are dropped into seltzer water, they will float. and as a class we decided to reject this hypothesis because the lentils didn't really float in the seltzer water when Mr. Paek tested it. Next, we did problem 2 which tested what would happen to a potato if iodine was dropped on it, it turned dark brown. And problem 3, which tested what would happen to an eggshell if it was dropped in vinegar, and the eggshell decomposed. Next, we did the milk lab (on pg 5) where you fill up a bowl 2/3 of the way with milk, and add 2 drops of each food coloring into the corners of the bowl filled with milk. After about a minute, the food coloring started to spread out from its corners and create a really cool swirl of colors that filled the whole bowl (i took a picture with my phone, but it wouldn't upload). After that, Mr. Paek explained what we'll be doing next class, which is a lab involving leaves and testing their strength. Then, he gave us the homework which is pages 23, 24, and half of 25 in the UP, and to bring leaves for the lab. And lastly, Mr. Paek put us into lab groups and everyone talked with their group about the lab and whose bringing what until the bell rang, and class was over.