Warm-upHow do you think scientists’

personal views, feelings, and experiences may affect their research?

Warm-up In complete sentences, list three

reasons why Mr. Sleep wants you to write today’s agenda in your notebook for THIS class.

Chapter 1: The Nature of Science

Section 1

Learning Objectives Students will understand what science

is. Students will know the general fields of

study in science. Students will grow a better

understanding of how investigations are conducted.

Students will learn about the different parts of investigations.

What is science? Science is a method for studying the

natural world Comes from scientia, meaning

“knowledge” Uses observations & investigation to

gain knowledge about events

One minute quick write. Science is a method for studying the

natural world. How can science be used to study the supernatural?

Supernatural examples- God, miracles, ghosts, etc.

Major Categories of Science Covers many topics classified by three

main categories:1. Life Science= Life & living things2. Earth Science= investigates Earth &

space3. Physical Science= matter & energy

Investigations Scientists learn new information about

the natural world by performing investigations, which can be done many different ways.

Investigations involve: Observations & record keeping Setting up experiments & isolating

variables Building models & recording behaviors

Parts of an Investigation: Variables Variable- a factor that can cause a

change in the results of an experiment Independent variable- the variable YOU

change to see how it will affect the dependent variable

Dependent variable- a variable in an experiment that changes according to the changes in the independent variable

One minute quick write. John tests 3 types of fertilizer, A, B, and

C for tomatoes to see which one works best. Every factor, such as water, sunlight, and shade is kept the same. John found that fertilizer A had the largest tomato plants.

Quick write- Identify the independent and dependent variables in this experiment and explain why.

Parts of an Investigation: Constants and Controls To be sure you are only testing one

variable in an experiment, you must keep the other possible factors the same.

Constant- a factor that does not change when other variables change in an experiment

Control- a standard by which the test results can be compared.

One minute quick write. John tests 3 types of fertilizer, A, B, and

C for tomatoes to see which one works best. Every factor, such as water, sunlight, and shade is kept the same. John found that fertilizer A had the largest tomato plants.

Quick write- Identify some constants in this experiment.

Parts of an Investigation: Data An important part of every experiment

includes recording observations and organizing test data.

Interpreting data and analyzing the observations is an important step.

Data do not tell you what to think!

Parts of an Investigation: Conclusions Based on the analysis of your data, YOU

decide whether or not your conclusion is correct.

Others may repeat your experiment, and those experiments must get the same data as you for your conclusion to be accepted by the scientific community

Parts of an Investigation: Bias Bias- occurs when what the scientist

expects changes how the results are viewed.

Examples: A company testing their own product. Flat Earther’s performing an experiment

to see if the Earth is truly a sphere.