1. ToK: Natural Science

2. What is science and what isn’t science?

3. What is science and what isn’t science?
• Boiling an egg
• Predicting the weather
• Mapping a mountain
• Drilling for oil
• Choosing a new camera
• Eating a salad
• Watering a potted plant

4. The Sciences

5. The Sciences
• Biology
• Chemistry
• Physics
• Environmental Systems (?)
• Design Tech (?)

6. The Sciences
• Geology (?)
• Biology
• Computer Science (?)
• Chemistry
• Psychology (?)
• Physics
• Geography (?)
• Environmental Systems (?)
• Mathematics (?)
• Design Tech (?)
• History (?)

7. A body of knowledge?

8. A body of knowledge?
Or… a way of thinking?

9. Does it matter?

10. Does it matter?
• Science works, doesn’t it?

11. Does it matter?
• Science works, doesn’t it?
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12. Karl Popper turns science upside down

13. Karl Popper turns science upside down
Falsification

14. Karl Popper turns science upside down
Falsification
“A theory which is not refutable by any
conceivable event is nonscientific”
“Every genuine test of a theory is an
attempt to falsify it”

15. Karl Popper turns science upside down
Falsification
• Here is my hypothesis……
• Try to shoot it down!

16. Karl Popper turns science upside down
Falsification
If it can’t be falsified, it is not science

17. Thomas Kuhn’s scientific revolutions

18. Thomas Kuhn’s scientific revolutions
Paradigm
shifts

19. Thomas Kuhn’s scientific revolutions
Paradigm
shifts
paradigm
noun
1 technical a typical example or pattern of
something; a model : there is a new paradigm
for public art in this country.
• a worldview underlying the theories and
methodology of a particular scientific
subject : the discovery of universal gravitation
became the paradigm of

20. Thomas Kuhn’s scientific revolutions
Paradigm
shifts
Paradigms are “universally
recognized scientific
achievements that for a
time provide model
problems and solutions to a
community of
practitioners.”

21. Thomas Kuhn’s scientific revolutions
Paradigm
shifts
Paradigms are “universally
recognized scientific
achievements that for a
time provide model
problems and solutions to a
community of
practitioners.”

22. Thomas Kuhn’s scientific revolutions
Paradigm
shifts
• Science progresses by leaps,
when crisis point is reached in
the current paradigm

23. Is IB science real
science?
What are the skills you are expected to show?

24. Is IB science real science?
• Planning (a) Focusing the test
• Planning (b) Methodology
• Data Collection
• Data Processing and Presentation
• Conclusion and Evaluation
• Manipulative skills
• Personal skills (a) Teamwork
• Personal skills (b) Motivation and ethics

25. Words to describe
science? Predictive
Logical
Beautiful
Progressive
Cultural
Creative