Housekeeping• My name is Candice

• Water is not electronegative

• Atoms aren’t polar

• Salt is not charged (seems to be a problem with my explainantion)

• Avoid making assumptions

• “like dissolves like”

• Reactions Interactions

• http://youtu.be/cIJt75IovfA

• For section 29 review the pepper experiment from last week.

Verbal Vomiting

Jack and Jill went up the hill

To fetch a pail of water.

Jack fell down

And broke his crown,

And Jill came running after.

Jack and his sister Jill went for a walk one day and they decided to go up the hill. The found a pail behind a tree at the bottom and skipped with it hand in hand to the top. They thought they were going to get Jello but only found water. Then Jill tripped her brother ‘cause she really wanted Jello, but then jack fell down and busted some teeth and she felt really bad so she went running to save him.

2

Future regrets• At the end of every semester, some students ask: “is

there anything I can do to raise my grade”

• The answer is always: Go back in time and be more committed, go to office hours, earn higher scores

• You are at that time now. Grab it before it goes by

3

44

Lab 2: Problem solving

Lab 2: Problem solving

or why Chymistry outlasted Magick*

*in most places

or why Chymistry outlasted Magick*

*in most places

How? Why?

5Goals for today

• Observe yourself in action: you are already a practitioner of scientific approaches

• Observe yourself in action: want to get better at anything? Practice & analyze

• Observe others in action: another grand way to improve

6Futures• Seen CSI? House? Numbers? Myth busters?

• Wonder about global warming? Best ways to create jobs?

• Have views about anything at all?

• Want to be the one that solves problems?

Science isn’t facts. Facts fuel science. What can you do with information?

7Asking questions

• It’s how we verify important things about the world

• Good experimentation: http://youtu.be/DzZqje04vLE

• Poor experimentation: http://youtu.be/8-1F-CokXNU

8

Definitions

• “Science is the human endeavor to achieve a better understanding of the world by observation, comparison, experiment, analysis, synthesis, and conceptualization”

• “Science is a body of facts (‘knowledge’) and the concepts that permit explaining these facts.”

• Both from Ernst Mayr, What makes biology unique p. 140 (Kindle version)

9

You already do this• You stumble out of your room at 4 a.m. and turn on a

lamp

• Nothing happens

• Now what? Curse the darkness?

• Notes to self: What elements are you employing? What’s your process?*

*Your notes today will be your material for a graded exercise at day’s endTake a blank sheet of paper out to start

10Gonna Science you up

• “The light’s not turning on!” = observation

• ‘Possible explanations’ = hypothesis/models

• “If I ______, it should _____” = prediction

• Execution of prediction = test

• “Gotta catch ‘em all”: goal is to whittle away possibilities until only one is left standing

• If only looking at one, challenge it to fail

1111Read, Observe, Consider: Become curious

Create/Embrace functional explanation (model)

Predict: IF (model true) THEN after X, Y will result

Execute test(s): Experiment!

Reject/modify modelGain confidence

Repeat

Do Do results results make make sense?sense?

think about causality (hypothesis)

12Ways of knowing

• Empirical--you saw it, touched it, etc.

• Reasoned argument from documented/identified assumptions & previous knowledge

• Repeatedly established by others that you ‘trust’

• ‘Intuition’ arises from experience & mental participation

•Never: assertions by authority regardless of the nature (or volume) of that authority. No, really--never!

1313

Stuff you can figure out:Thinking with your noseStuff you can figure out:Thinking with your nose

14• Give each paper towel a test--with your nose

• What do you notice? (observe)

• What does the fact of smelling tell you…

• about what your body does? (model)

• about involvement of molecules? (model)

• What does smelling different things tell you? (model)

15C10H14O

• The formula for both smells.

• How can you make sense of this information and the observations of your nose?

• How can you model this information?

16

• This is the structural drawing for both smells. What can you conclude?

• See ‘Duo_Comparator’ in Bio181L_Go

1717

PatternMasterPatternMasterA quest for the rules that order a

systemA quest for the rules that order a

system

18Rule Quest

*NEIGHBOR definitions are clockwise, counterclockwise

Given 1-step clockwise*, it could be...

•Perimeter to top inner color

•Top inner color to lower left color

•Lower right color to lower left color

19Take a look

Bio181L_Go => PatternMaster for FunEnter a random #

Select ‘Demo’

20Make observations• Walk around the room. Look at everybody else’s screen

• Get a ‘feel’ for what’s standard. This is practice for solving medium & hard puzzles: Figuring out the ‘background’ so you can detect the ‘foreground’--the hints that something is noteworthy

• Return to your prep notes for end-of-class assignment:

• observe/record your process, approaches, successes

21

22Polya

• Lab Manual, Appendix G

• George Polya enumerated a general strategy based on teaching & contemplation for many years

• It’s not rules, it’s ideas

P’Master, written part• Description clearly explains underlying rule

• supplemented with examples

• sufficient to guide someone who doesn’t know the game

• If proposed solution is wrong or incomprehensible, points taken OFF & max possible score 45 no matter what

• Easy => 95; Medium => 100; Hard => 105 (if perfect write-up)

• 90, 95, 100 for Honors

2424

Ordering the world

Ordering the world

What’s with these liquids?What’s with these liquids?

25Two sets of liquids• “Actors” [A & B] and “Indicators” (numbered)

• These are yours to investigate. How much can you figure out?

• What experiments will you perform to gain insight?

• As you make observations, can you model the world?

• Suggestion: finding an organized way to record your data is probably a Good Idea ;)

26What’s a rubric?

• It’s a treasure map--to POINTS.

2727

Learning from yourself

Learning from yourself

28Five tips from you to you

• Strategies, approaches, insights you observed, employed, discovered today

• For each

• state the rule, approach, etc.

• explain the context in which it arose

• state a circumstance where it could apply in your future

• This is 25% of next week’s quiz grade, handed in today

2929

Quantum MineQuantum MineModeling informationModeling information

30Rules of the Mine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Box_(game)

or...

31Solve one as a group

• No mouse clicking until the group understands, supports the proposal

• Hypothesis proposer ≠ prediction maker ≠ result analyzer

• This is a bonus problem; it can earn up to 4 points added to your PMaster score

HomeworkHomework

Quantum Mine: Bonus credit

Pattern Master: Solution & (written) description

Assessor: the Logic of Disproof

Quantum Mine: Bonus credit

Pattern Master: Solution & (written) description

Assessor: the Logic of Disproof

•Next week: write-up of today’s work (see rubric)•Next week: write-up of today’s work (see rubric)

One path

Visit every group; start with a focus on ‘indicator A’

Work with them to establish a graphic

See if they can get to (or you can guide them to) a hypothesis that the two major color changes are ‘opposite’ and the prediction that the relevant substances will undo each other

LeftoversLeftovers

3535

Firm FoundationsFirm FoundationsWhat you knowWhat you know

36Periodic patterns

Combine 1:1 with oxygen

Combine 2:1 w/ oxygen;

explode in H20

Make salts (NaCl, etc.)

Calcium40

Lithium7

Chlorine35.5

Strontium88

Sodium23

Bromine80

Barium137

Potassium39

Iodine127

See also lab manual p. 0-1

37

Ordering the unknown

• In PatternMaster, you conjecture from a ‘standing start’, then test resulting hypotheses

• Next exercise, you’ll investigate building of knowledge, = creation of simplifying view from initially disparate information

• Or: Indicator 1-6; Substance A & B

38

Source: http://xkcd.com/242/

science summarized

39Again with the science

http://static.neatorama.com/images/2008-12/mad-scientist-mad-engineers.jpg

41Albert Einstein Sez...

“The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking”

42

Consider...How do you know:

• The world isn’t flat?

• What trees are made of?

• Earth circles the sun?

• Where you were born?

43

Good observations

• Experimentation inevitably involves observation. Are you a skilled observer?

• Please remain silent so as not to interfere with others’ observations

4444

InterludeInterludeDoing science vs. gathering dataDoing science vs. gathering data

One more for the ‘experts’

Some of your students telling you they’re too smart/too cool/too advanced?

http://atheism.about.com/od/logicalflawsinreasoning/a/unskilled.htm

tinyURL: http://tinyurl.com/ntzh6e

46Review: Ways of knowing

• Empirical--you saw it, touched it, etc.

• Reasoned argument from documented/identified assumptions & previous knowledge

• Repeatedly established by others

• ‘Intuition’ arises from long investment in 1 + 2 + 3

• Never: assertions by authority regardless of the nature (or volume) of that authority

47Taking it for a ride

Homepage (=> Software => QMine => Fun)

A word on course (& University) honor codeAnything with just your name on it represents your work alone

Assessor: Discuss before, after, e-mail the Director during, e-mail me, come to office hours...

Software assignments: Practice & learn with a friend in ‘for fun’ mode; do your homework on your own

48Testing a hypothesis

E K 4 7Given: Each card has a letter on one side, number on the otherHypothesis:“If a card has a vowel on one side then it has an even number on the other.”

Which cards should we flip to test the hypothesis as thoroughly as possible without wasting time/energy?

Justify.Double-check: What results could you get for each of your

proposed experiments? Which results would (dis)prove something?