The Nature of Science

Intuition leads to the flat Earth society and bloodletting; experiments lead men to the moon and microsurgery.
- Seth Mnookin
 Basic Rules of Science
Science is a process that seeks to understand the natural and social world
through the collection and analysis of evidence.
There are four major concepts in the pursuit of science:
 Facts are observations that we make about the world.
 Hypotheses are proposed, testable explanations of observations that can
serve as a basis for experimentation.
 Theories are much broader explanations of various observations that have
been tested and confirmed through observation and experimentation.
 Laws describe a constant phenomenon of nature, but do not explain it.

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 Pseudoscience
A far different idea is pseudoscience – practices or beliefs that appear or
claim to be scientific, but does not follow scientific principles.

Pseudoscientific claims tend to have three common characteristics.

There are many examples of pseudoscience throughout science,

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Spontaneous generation is a theory from
the 4th century B.C. that life can arise
from non-living matter.
This is based on observations, such as:
 Beetles will appear in piles of animal dung.
 Maggots will grow out of rotting meat.
 Mice will generate from jars containing
dirty garments and husks of wheat.
 Fleas will arise from dust.
Spontaneous generation is considered
pseudoscience, because:
 No alternative explanations were
considered.
 No controlled experiments were
conducted to test it.
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The Four Elements theory proposed
that all matter was composed of fire,
air, water, and earth.
Alchemy studied ways to transform
common substances (like lead) into
gold through the manipulation of
the four elements.
Alchemy is considered
pseudoscience because…
 The Four Elements theory was never
experimentally tested.
 Alchemists did not share or publish
their results.
The Alchemist in Search of the Philosophers Stone
(1771) by Joseph Wright.

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Astrology is the belief that the movements and positions of stars and
planets affects the natural world.
 The Zodiac Chart is based on what constellation the sun first crosses each day.

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 Astrology is considered
pseudoscience because:

 1. Predictions made by
astrologers tend to be very
generic and open to
interpretation.
 2. The Earth’s axis has
shifted since the first chart
was written 4,000 years
ago.

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 The Scientific Method
Brainiacs
Which of these materials makes the best
DIY Homemade Bungee cord?
Ladies Stockings
Underwear
Rubberbands

Come up with a hypothesis:

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 The Scientific Method
Scientists all follow the same
basic set of steps when
attempting to answer a
question or explain an
observation, called the
scientific method.
The scientific method has been
used in many important
discoveries.

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 The First Vaccination
Smallpox was a deadly,
contagious disease that
called painful blisters all
over the body.
 The most common form of
smallpox had a 30% fatality
rate.
The disease is now
eradicated, due to a
discovery made by Dr.
Edward Jenner, who
employed the scientific
method.
 Scientific Method
The first step in the scientific method is making an observation,
information gathered by noticing specific details of a phenomenon.
 Dr. Edward Jenner observed that dairymaids who contracted cowpox seemed
to be protected from the more deadly smallpox.

The Dairy Maid,

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A hypothesis is a testable
explanation or prediction based
on the observation and the
scientist’s prior knowledge.
 Hypotheses are preliminary
explanations and may be either
supported or rejected.
Dr. Jenner’s hypothesis was that if
a person was exposed to cowpox ,
they would become immune to
smallpox.

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 The experiment tests the hypothesis under controlled
conditions, with carefully defined variables.

The independent variable is the manipulated factor(s) or

The dependent variable changes as a result of the independent

Controlled variables are kept constant throughout the experiment.

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 Dr. Jenner’s experiment was to
an 8 year-old child with fluid
from a cowpox pustule, allow
the infection to pass, then
repeat with a smallpox pustule.
 Independent variable: The
vaccine.
 Dependent variable: Was the
patient protected from
smallpox?
 Constant variables: Only
children who never contracted
smallpox were used.

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 The boy survived 20
inoculations without
succumbing to smallpox!
The conclusion states
whether or not the hypothesis
is supported by the results of
the experiment.
 Jenner concluded that his
hypothesis was supported by
his results.

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The final step (communicating results) is called Peer Review, where the
results are published and reviewed by others to check for errors, bias, or
other issues.
Dr. Jenner submitted his study to the Royal Society for Medicine, but was
told he needed more proof.

“The Cow-Pock—or—
the Wonderful Effects
of the New
Inoculation!—vide. the
Publications of ye
Anti-Vaccine Society.”
- Satirical cartoon,
1802.

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 Margin of Error
Accounting for every single variable in a scientific study is nearly
impossible; there will be variability in all data.
Margin of error is an estimate of the amount of random sampling error in a
set of data due to errors in measurement, experimental design, or other
factors.
 The margin of error can be
reduced by increasing
sample size, or the number of
observations used in an
experiment or study.

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Dr. Jenner was able to locate several other parents who were willing to
volunteer their children. He even included his own 11 month-old son in
the study.
The results were finally published. Jenner called his technique
vaccination after the Latin word for cow “vacca”.

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 Experimental Design
ADD TO THE BOTTOM OF PAGE 4! Controlled experiments, which
take place in an environment specially designed to minimize outside
variables, aren’t always possible or ideal.
Natural experiments are conducted in the field under normal
circumstances.
 The advantage is that these
experiments take place in a
more accurate, realistic
environment.
 The disadvantage is that
natural phenomena are often
very difficult to find.
 Combating Bias
Another significant problem in science is bias; the
(accidental or intentional) preference for an experiment to
turn out in a certain way.
Bias must be controlled by the experimental design.
A blind experiment is conducted so the experimental
subjects do not know which is the control and which is the
experimental group.
Eliminates the “placebo effect”
A double-blind experiment also
prevents the actual scientists from knowing which is the
control or experimental group.
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 Correlation or Causation
Correlation is observed when there are statistical variables that are related
in a way that would not be expected by chance alone.
Correlation suggests, but does not always mean causation, which occurs
when one variable directly influences the other.

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 Scientific Fraud
Biased, flawed, or outright fraudulent
results Scientific fraud is always
detected, due to the scientific method
and peer review.
What damage is caused by Sci Fraud?
 This costs time, resources, and
increases public mistrust in science.
In 1998, Dr. Andrew Wakefield
published a study in the British
journal The Lancet documenting a
correlation between the MMR vaccine
and autism in children.

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Although the study was
retracted, much of the
public trust in vaccines
was shaken, and
vaccine rates dropped
in many countries.
 Pseudoscience books,
articles, and speakers
against the use of
vaccines have become
increasingly prevalent,
even though there is no
evidence to support
their claims.
 FAKE NEWS ISSUE

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