Biology: Semester II

 

Scientific Methond

Steps in the scientific method commonly include:

  1. Observation: gathering detailed information in the world around you. Scientific observations include data collected by taking notes, drawings, photographs and using tools such as graduated cylinders, rulers and pH meters.
  2. Hypothesis: one or more falsifiable explanations for the observation.
  3. Experimentation: Controlled attempts to test one or more hypotheses.
  4. Conclusion: was the hypothesis supported or not? After this step the hypothesis is either modified or rejected, and the cycle continues.

After a hypothesis has been repeatedly tested, a hierarchy of scientific thought develops. The hypothesis has the lowest level of certainty. A theory is a hypothesis that has been repeatedly tested with little modification, e.g. The Theory of Evolution. A Law is one of the fundamental underlying principles of how the Universe is organized, e.g. The Laws of Thermodynamics, Newton's Law of Gravity. Science uses the word theory differently than it is used in the general population. Theory to most people, in general nonscientific use, is an untested idea. A scientist would call that a hypothesis.

Scientific experiments are also concerned with isolating the variables. A good science experiment does not simultaneously test several variables, but rather a single variable that can be measured against a control. Scientific controlled experiments are situations where all factors are the same between two test subjects, except for the single experimental variable.


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