THE NATURE OF SCIENCE

Text from PH Science: The Nature of Science, Englewood Cliffs, NJ 1994

Do you read the newspaper or watch the news on TV? Perhaps you listen to the radio or read science magazines. Maybe you surf the internet, check out youtube videos, or visit museums. Whatever your preference, you know that it’s hard to escape hearing about advances in science.

Computers, CD players, microwave ovens, video games, robotic surgery , and space exploration are all possible through discoveries in science. Science is all around us. It is through science, partnering with engineering that we have developed new sources of energy – and found ways to make traditional sources of pollution more efficient and less polluting.

Science has given us television, modern kitchen appliances, cures for diseases, safe and speedy transportation, cell phones, and the internet. A list of scientific advances that have improved our lives could fill many books.

colonial kitchen

modern kitchen

What exactly is science? How do scientists go about making discoveries? If you think that science is a job for white-coated laboratory workers who never look up from their microscopes, you are in for a surprise. This year you will find out about the nature of the biological sciences and the way in which scientists investigate the world of living things. You will have an opportunity to explore and discover a few things yourself.

What is science?

Scientists, like most people, love a mystery. Recently, Walter P. Coombs Jr. of Western New England College, was called upon to solve a most interesting puzzle. Dr. Coombs is a paleontologist, who is a dinosaur expert.

http://www.earthview.pair.com/ctriver.html

Strange scratches had been found on a rock unearthed at Connecticut State Dinosaur Park. http://www.sunstar-solutions.com/sunstar/geology/JuraTracks/BasalJurassic.htm

Dr. Coombs took one look at the scratches on the exposed rocks and immediately knew what they were – dinosaur footprints. The scratches appeared in groups of three, leading Dr. Coombs to conclude that the scratches were made by an animal having three toes with sharp claws. They were clearly the work of the meat-eating dinosaur called megalosaurus.

http://www.t-rat.com/Pages/CretaceousSAz.html

There was something peculiar about the foot-prints. Only the tips of the dinosaur’s toes seemed to have touched the rocks. But megalosaurus did not run on its toes, at least not on land.

Typical three-toed dinosaur footprintsUnusual three-toe prints

http://www.scienceviews.com/dinosaurs/swimmingtracks.html

Ripple marks in the stone were observed near the strange prints. The ripples indicated flowing water.

Dr. Coombs quickly realized that the prints had been made under water, where most of the animal’s weight would have been kept off the rocks.

From the scratches on rocks, Dr. Coombs had discovered the first evidence of a swimming, meat-eating dinosaur. Unearthed rocks, a sharp eye, and some smart detective work had lead to an important scientific discovery.

This illustration shows how a dinosaur paddling along in shallow water could kick up the muddy bottom with the tips of its toes, concluded paleontologist Walter P. Coombs, Jr. in 1980. For track sequences that end abruptly, the theropod may have been buoyed up while swimming so it temporarily lost contact with the bottom. Since 1968, the Rocky Hill site has been preserved for posterity as Dinosaur State Park . http://pages.jh.edu/~jhumag/696web/dinosaur.html

Science – Not Just for Scientists

You are a scientist! Does that statement surprise you? If it does, it is probably because you do not understand exactly what a scientist is. But if you have ever observed the colors formed in a drop of oil in a puddle or watched a fire burn, you were acting like a scientist. You are also a scientist when you watch waves breaking on the shore or lightning bolts darting through the night sky.

Perhaps you have walked through the grass in the morning and noticed drops of dew or have screamed with delight as you rode a roller coaster dipping down and up the track. You might have wondered how you did not fall out!Whenever you observe the world around you, you are acting like a scientist. Does that give you a clue to the nature of science and scientists?

Scientists observe the world around them – just as you do. For that reason, whenever you make an observation, you are acting like a scientist.

But scientists do more than just observe. The word science comes from the Latin word scire, which means “to know.” So science is more than just observation. And real scientists do more than just observe. They question what they see. They wonder what makes things the way they are. And they attempt to find answers to their questions.

No doubt you also wonder about and question what you see – at least some of the time.

The universe around you and inside of you is really a collection of mysteries. It is the job of scientists to solve those mysteries. The goal of science is to understand the world around us.How do scientists go about understanding the world? Life all good detectives, scientists use special skills to determine the truths about the nature of their physical and biological world. Such truths are called facts.

Fact: The sun is a source of light and heat.

But science is more than a list of facts. - just as studying science is more than just memorizing a list of facts.

The special skills scientists use in their work are: asking questions (science) and defining problems (engineering) developing and using models planning and carrying out investigations analyzing and interpreting data using mathematics and computational thinking constructing explanations (science) and designing solutions (engineering) engaging in argument from evidence obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information

Scientists go further than simply discovering facts. Scientists try to use facts to solve larger mysteries of nature. In this sense, you might think of facts as clues to scientific mysteries.

An example of a larger mystery is how the sun produces the heat and light it showers upon Earth.

Discovery ActivityWhat is it? Communicating like a scientist!

1. Carefully examine a natural artifact from the classroom collection. You may use a hand lens.

2. Write down a list of characteristics you would use to describe your object on a note card. Your list should include size, color, texture, shape, and any other feature you feel is important. Do not name the object. Write your name on the bottom of the card.

3. Return your object to the demonstration table.4. Turn in your description. Your description will be read to the

class. See if your classmates can identify your object from your description alone.