1. What is
Science????

2. Dictionary Definition
Better Definition

3. • Whether Pure or Applied, good Science
relies heavily on the ability to:
– Design valid experiments and make good
observations
Inquiry/Experimentation Making Observations

4. • Dictionaries describe science as the
observation, identification, description,
experimental investigation (scientific
method), and theoretical explanation of
phenomena.
• This is a good description for fields like
chemistry and physics where specific
experiments can be run but what about
other fields like archaeology, or geology
where it is not so straightforward? Are
these examples of science?

5. • Science – A way of learning about the
natural world through observations and
logical reasoning, and allows for
growth and change as new ideas are
explored.
– Though simple, this definition is all
encompassing
– Within this we can separate out 2 distinct
forms of science:
Pure Science Applied Science

6. • Pure Science – Pure science is an aspect
of the field that deals directly with research
simply for the sake of research.
– Experiments are developed and hypothesis’
are tested with the sole purpose of finding out
what happens. It is the search for new
information or the discovery of a new fact.
– Motivated by curiosity
– Can basically be thought of as the “search
for new information”

7. • Applied Science (technology) – This is
the aspect that involves actually using
science, what was discovered using pure
science, to improve the technology around
us and to improve and ease everyday life.

8. • A large part of being a good scientist is
observation. When we observe there are two
types of observations that we can make:
– Qualitative – These observations consist only of
words. Describe things such as the color, shape, or
odor of an object.
• Practice Making Qualitative Observations
– Quantitative – These observations use actual
numbers. They describe aspects of an object that
can be measured. Examples would be mass, length,
speed, etc.
• Practice Making Qualitative Observations
Questions

9. Make 3 Qualitative Observations
1. The product is blue
Click for answer 2. The reactants are red and yellow
Click for answer
3. A gas was produced during the reaction
Click for answer

10. Make 3 Quantitative Observations
1. There for answerof
Click are 94 mL 2. The product has a mass of 112 g
Click for answer
reactant
3. 12 mL of reactants were changed into a gas
Click for answer

11. Scientific Inquiry
The practice of pure science is often referred to as
scientific inquiry
In scientific inquiry, an unknown question is
presented, an idea (hypothesis) is
suggested as a solution, the possible
solution is tested (experimentation),
and then a conclusion is drawn.
This process of inquiry is best described through what is
known as the scientific method

12. Scientific Method
The scientific method consists of eight (8) steps:
• State the question (what am I trying to find out?)
• Collect information (what do we already know?)
• Form a hypothesis (what do you think will happen?)
• Test your hypothesis (perform the experiment)
• Observe your results (ongoing during the experiment)
• Record the data (ongoing during the experiment)
• Analyze the data
• Form a conclusion (either supporting or disproving
your hypothesis)

13. Experimentation
Other than forming a hypothesis, the most important part
of the scientific method is the experiment.
An experiment is an organized procedure for testing a
hypothesis
In order for an experiment to be scientifically valid, it must
have two important parts:
1) A valid experimental setup
2) Valid experimental subjects

14. Valid Experimental Subjects
In any experiment, you also must have something to
compare the results with, therefore you must have two
different types of experimental subjects:
• Test Group – this is the subject where you change one
variable to see what effect it will have
• Control Group – this is used as a standard for
comparison. In the control group, no variables get
changed

15. Valid Experimental Setup
In any good experiment, you need to be very careful of
what you are testing and what you are doing to affect your
results. Therefore, you must be careful to only have:
• Independent (manipulated) variable – what factor in an
experiment that you change. There can only be ONE
independent variable in any experiment.
• Dependent (responding) variable – what factor in an
experiment you are measuring the change as a result of
changing the independent variable. The amount of
change in the dependent variable is your “results”
• Constants – all of the other factors in the experiment
which must remain unchanged

16. Example:
A student wants to see how watering a plant with salt
water affects its growth. He has twenty plants. The first
five he waters with regular water, the second five he
uses water with 5 tablespoons of salt, the third five he
uses water with 10 tablespoons of salt, and the last 5 he
uses water with 15 tablespoons of salt. The first group
of plants grows to an average height of 14 inches, the
second group to an average height of 11 inches, the
third to an average height of 8 inches and the last group
to an average height of 4 inches.
• Which group is the control group? The test groups?
Control – Plants with regular water; Test – Plants with salt water
Click for Answer
• What is the independent variable? The dependent
variable?
IV – amount of salt in water; DV – height that plants grow
Click for Answer
• What are some constants involved in this experiment?
Click for Answer
Type of plant, amount of sunlight, amount of water, type of dirt, pots

17. Scientific Method
• Important to remember:
– The scientific method is a tool to help
scientists solve problems. It is not set in
stone and not every step is always used and
its not always followed in that exact order. It
is mainly a guideline.
– Experimentation usually goes more like this

19. • What is the difference between pure and
applied Science?
Pure science is done for its own sake, because the scientist
Click for Answer
wants to know more about the world. Applied Science is
done in order to improve life; to make things easier.
• Which category do you think most Science
done today falls into? Why?

20. • What are the key components of a valid
experiment?
– A single independent variable
Click for answer
– A measurable dependent variable
– All other variables kept constant

21. • Identify the following as qualitative or
quantitative observations
- The car moved fast Qualitative
- The car was traveling 50 mph Quantitative
– The flowers were blue Qualitative
– There were 5 flowers Quantitative
– The ball had a mass of 10 kg Quantitative
Remember to write out 2-5 questions
about the notes for class!!