Nature of Science

1. Nature of Science

2. NOS Card Exchange • Step 1: Obtain 8 cards (that are different from one another). • Step 2: Trade cards with classmates in order to amass a better collection of cards. (Your collection improves as the cards more accurately express your views on science.)

3. Find a partner with similar views and select the 8 “best cards” from the 16 that you have collectively. (Each of you must contribute at least 2 cards.) • Make a group of 4 and select the 8 “best cards.” • Using the remaining cards, write a statement which describes your group’s notion of the Nature of Science.

4. VNOS(c) • What in your view is science? What makes science different from other disciplines of inquiry? • What is an experiment? • Does the development of scientific knowledge require experiments? • After scientists have developed a scientific theory, does the theory every change? • Is there a difference between a scientific theory and a scientific law?

5. How certain are you about the structure of an atom? What specific evidence do you think scientists used to determine what an atom looks like? • How certain are scientists about their characterization of what a species is? What specific evidence do you think scientists used to determine what a species is? • Does science reflect social and cultural values or is it universal? • Do scientists employ creativity in their investigations? If so where and how?

6. What is the Nature of Science (NOS)? • Science cannot be singularly (and definitively) defined because it is interpreted in different ways by different people. • Methods such as the card sort and NOS surveys encourage students to think specifically about their views on science. • Scientists, science educators & philosophers of science have proposed some consensus views on NOS. • Views on NOS describe how the scientific enterprise operates.

7. Consensus Views on NOS • Empirically-based • Scientific knowledge is based on evidence. • Testable • Scientific ideas can be theoretically falsified through evidentiary tests. • Tentative, yet Reliable • Scientific ideas can change given new data or new interpretations • Developmental • Scientific ideas are often built on earlier ideas.

8. Consensus NOS Views • Creative • Scientists employ creativity in posing questions, collecting data, and interpreting data. (What does this suggest about “The Scientific Method?) • Parsimonious • Given multiple explanations, scientists tend to favor the simplest one that maintains predictive power. • Unified • Scientific ideas are consistent across different disciplines.

9. Consensus NOS Views • Culturally-embedded • Scientists & scientific ideas are influenced by the society from they arise. • Theory/Law Distinction • Scientific theories are robust, empirically supported explanations of natural phenomena. Scientific laws are perceived regularities regarding the natural world. Therefore, theories never become laws. Laws are typically more narrow in focus than theories.

10. Provide examples from the history of science to support each NOS aspect. • Creative • Culturally embedded • Tentative • Developmental • Parsimonious • Theory/Law distinction

11. NOS Aspects addressed by the Water-Making Machine • Empirical-Testable • Creative • Tentative • Developmental • Parsimonious

12. Empirical NOS • Made observations (a form of data collection). • Made inferences based on those observations. • However, you were not able to manipulate variables yourself.

13. Creative NOS • Used creativity in the design of your models. • Construction of models important for many areas of science: • Atoms • Dinosaurs • Earth Structure • Ecological Interactions • Engineering Applications

14. Tentative NOS • Are you absolutely sure that your model perfectly describes the black box mechanisms? • Is your model a completely wild guess or is it based on some knowledge?

15. Developmental NOS • Individual group models might be modified by comparing them against other models.

16. Parsimonious NOS • Is it more likely that the mystery of the water-making machine is amazingly complex or relatively simple?

17. NOS Aspects Addressed by the Mystery Cups • Empirical-Testable • Tentative

18. Empirical-Testable NOS • Collected data while testing different objects.

19. Tentative NOS • Were you able to identify the content of all cups using scientific processes? • Were you able to confidently determine the content of some cups using scientific processes?

20. “Black Box” Activities • Water-making machine • Tubes • Coffee can • Mystery cups • Frankie’s Brain • Simulation of Rutherford’s experiment

21. Scientist Activity (pairs) • Use the internet and library resources to research a scientist and his/her findings. • Background: Describe the historical context of the work. What was known at the time? • Contributions: Provide a brief overview of what s/he discovered, postulated, etc. • Processes: Describe how this scientist did his/her work. Discuss the nature of his/her experiments, observations, inferences, etc.

22. Presentations • Each pair will provide the class with a brief overview of their scientist, his/her discoveries & his/her methods. • Following the presentations, each small group will create a concept map for organizing the information presented.

23. What can we infer about the scientific enterprise based on these findings?

24. Myths of Science • Which of McComas’ myths should not be myths? • How do these myths influence public understandings of science? • How do science teachers perpetuate these myths? • How can science teachers help eliminate these myths? • Can you think of other common myths of science not enumerated by McComas?