1.1 What is Science?

What are the goals of science?

• To provide testable explanations for events in the natural world, use explanations supported by data to understand patterns of nature, and make useful predictions about natural events.

• To create fictional stories about the natural world and ignore evidence.

• To rely solely on opinions and beliefs without testing them.

• To discourage curiosity and prevent further investigation of natural phenomena.

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Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of scientific knowledge?

• Always changing

• Never tested

• Constantly debated and revised

• Accepting or rejecting explanations

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Fill in the blank: Science is a process that involves ________ and asking questions, forming hypotheses, conducting controlled experiments, collecting and analyzing data, and drawing conclusions.

• observing

• guessing

• ignoring

• memorizing

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Which of the following is NOT a part of scientific methodology?

• A. Observing and asking questions

• B. Forming hypotheses

• C. Ignoring data

• D. Drawing conclusions

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Science deals only with the natural world and never concerns supernatural phenomena.

• True

• False

Define scientific theory.

• A scientific theory is a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world that is based on a body of evidence and has stood up to repeated testing and scrutiny.

• A scientific theory is a random guess about how the world works, without any supporting evidence.

• A scientific theory is a law that has been proven true in all situations.

• A scientific theory is an opinion held by most scientists, regardless of evidence.

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Explain why science rarely 'proves' anything.

• Science rarely 'proves' anything because there is always uncertainty, and the aim is to achieve the best understanding based on available evidence.

• Science rarely 'proves' anything because scientists do not use evidence in their work.

• Science rarely 'proves' anything because scientific laws never change.

• Science rarely 'proves' anything because experiments are always incorrect.

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What is the act of noticing and describing events in a careful, orderly way called?

• Hypothesis

• Observation

• Inference

• Experimentation

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Most scientific investigations begin with a(n) _________.

• observation

• conclusion

• experiment

• hypothesis

An inference is a logical interpretation based on what scientists already know.

• True

• False