Science as Inquiry
CONTENT STANDARD A:
As a result of activities in grades 5-8, all students should
develop
- Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry
- Understandings about scientific inquiry
GUIDE TO THE CONTENT STANDARD
Fundamental abilities and concepts that underlie this standard
include
ABILITIES NECESSARY TO DO SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY
IDENTIFY QUESTIONS THAT CAN BE ANSWERED THROUGH SCIENTIFIC
INVESTIGATIONS. Students should develop the ability to refine
and refocus broad and ill-defined questions. An important aspect of
this ability consists of students' ability to clarify questions and
inquiries and direct them toward objects and phenomena that can be
described, explained, or predicted by scientific investigations.
Students should develop the ability to identify their questions
with scientific ideas, concepts, and quantitative relationships
that guide investigation.
DESIGN AND CONDUCT A SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION. Students
should develop general abilities, such as systematic observation,
making accurate measurements, and identifying and controlling
variables. They should also develop the ability to clarify their
ideas that are influencing and guiding the inquiry, and to
understand how those ideas compare with current scientific
knowledge. Students can learn to formulate questions, design
investigations, execute investigations, interpret data, use
evidence to generate explanations, propose alternative
explanations, and critique explanations and procedures.
USE APPROPRIATE TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES TO GATHER, ANALYZE, AND
INTERPRET DATA. The use of tools and techniques, including
mathematics, will be guided by the question asked and the
investigations students design. The use of computers for the
collection, summary, and display of evidence is part of this
standard. Students should be able to access, gather, store,
retrieve, and organize data, using hardware and software designed
for these purposes.
DEVELOP DESCRIPTIONS, EXPLANATIONS, PREDICTIONS, AND MODELS
USING EVIDENCE. Students should base their explanation on what
they observed, and as they develop cognitive skills, they should be
able to differentiate explanation from description--providing
causes for effects and establishing relationships based on evidence
and logical argument. This standard requires a subject matter
knowledge base so the students can effectively conduct
investigations, because developing explanations establishes
connections between the content of science and the contexts within
which students develop new knowledge.
THINK CRITICALLY AND LOGICALLY TO MAKE THE RELATIONSHIPS
BETWEEN EVIDENCE AND EXPLANATIONS. Thinking critically about
evidence includes deciding what evidence should be used and
accounting for anomalous data. Specifically, students should be
able to review data from a simple experiment, summarize the data,
and form a logical argument about the cause-and-effect
relationships in the experiment. Students should begin to state
some explanations in terms of the relationship between two or more
variables.
RECOGNIZE AND ANALYZE ALTERNATIVE EXPLANATIONS AND
PREDICTIONS. Students should develop the ability to listen to
and respect the explanations proposed by other students. They
should remain open to and acknowledge different ideas and
explanations, be able to accept the skepticism of others, and
consider alternative explanations.
COMMUNICATE SCIENTIFIC PROCEDURES AND EXPLANATIONS. With
practice, students should become competent at communicating
experimental methods, following instructions, describing
observations, summarizing the results of other groups, and telling
other students about investigations and explanations.
USE MATHEMATICS IN ALL ASPECTS OF SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY.
Mathematics is essential to asking and answering questions about
the natural world. Mathematics can be used to ask questions; to
gather, organize, and present data; and to structure convincing
explanations.
UNDERSTANDINGS ABOUT SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY
- Different kinds of questions suggest different kinds of
scientific investigations. Some investigations involve observing
and describing objects, organisms, or events; some involve
collecting specimens; some involve experiments; some involve
seeking more information; some involve discovery of new objects and
phenomena; and some involve making models.
- Current scientific knowledge and understanding guide scientific
investigations. Different scientific domains employ different
methods, core theories, and standards to advance scientific
knowledge and understanding.
- Mathematics is important in all aspects of scientific
inquiry.
- Technology used to gather data enhances accuracy and allows
scientists to analyze and quantify results of investigations.
- Scientific explanations emphasize evidence, have logically
consistent arguments, and use scientific principles, models, and
theories. The scientific community accepts and uses such
explanations until displaced by better scientific ones. When such
displacement occurs, science advances.
- Science advances through legitimate skepticism. Asking
questions and querying other scientists' explanations is part of
scientific inquiry. Scientists evaluate the explanations proposed
by other scientists by examining evidence, comparing evidence,
identifying faulty reasoning, pointing out statements that go
beyond the evidence, and suggesting alternative explanations for
the same observations.
- Scientific investigations sometimes result in new ideas and
phenomena for study, generate new methods or procedures for an
investigation, or develop new technologies to improve the
collection of data. All of these results can lead to new
investigations.
Physical Science
CONTENT STANDARD B:
As a result of their activities in grades 5-8, all students
should develop an understanding of
- Properties and changes of properties in matter
- Motions and forces
- Transfer of energy
GUIDE TO THE CONTENT STANDARD
Fundamental concepts and principles that underlie this standard
include
PROPERTIES AND CHANGES OF PROPERTIES IN MATTER
- A substance has characteristic properties, such as density, a
boiling point, and solubility, all of which are independent of the
amount of the sample. A mixture of substances often can be
separated into the original substances using one or more of the
characteristic properties.
- Substances react chemically in characteristic ways with other
substances to form new substances (compounds) with different
characteristic properties. In chemical reactions, the total mass is
conserved. Substances often are placed in categories or groups if
they react in similar ways; metals is an example of such a
group.
Chemical elements do not break down during normal laboratory
reactions involving such treatments as heating, exposure to
electric current, or reaction with acids. There are more than 100
known elements that combine in a multitude of ways to produce
compounds, which account for the living and nonliving substances
that we encounter.
MOTIONS AND FORCES
- The motion of an object can be described by its position,
direction of motion, and speed. That motion can be measured and
represented on a graph.
- An object that is not being subjected to a force will continue
to move at a constant speed and in a straight line.
If more than one force acts on an object along a straight line,
then the forces will reinforce or cancel one another, depending on
their direction and magnitude. Unbalanced forces will cause changes
in the speed or direction of an object's motion.
TRANSFER OF ENERGY
- Energy is a property of many substances and is associated with
heat, light, electricity, mechanical motion, sound, nuclei, and the
nature of a chemical. Energy is transferred in many ways.
- Heat moves in predictable ways, flowing from warmer objects to
cooler ones, until both reach the same temperature.
- Light interacts with matter by transmission (including
refraction), absorption, or scattering (including reflection). To
see an object, light from that object--emitted by or scattered from
it--must enter the eye.
- Electrical circuits provide a means of transferring electrical
energy when heat, light, sound, and chemical changes are
produced.
- In most chemical and nuclear reactions, energy is transferred
into or out of a system. Heat, light, mechanical motion, or
electricity might all be involved in such transfers.
- The sun is a major source of energy for changes on the earth's
surface. The sun loses energy by emitting light. A tiny fraction of
that light reaches the earth, transferring energy from the sun to
the earth. The sun's energy arrives as light with a range of
wavelengths, consisting of visible light, infrared, and ultraviolet
radiation.
Life Science
CONTENT STANDARD C:
As a result of their activities in grades 5-8, all students
should develop understanding of
- Structure and function in living systems
- Reproduction and heredity
- Regulation and behavior
- Populations and ecosystems
- Diversity and adaptations of organisms
GUIDE TO THE CONTENT STANDARD
Fundamental concepts and principles that underlie this standard
include
STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION IN LIVING SYSTEMS
- Living systems at all levels of organization demonstrate the
complementary nature of structure and function. Important levels of
organization for structure and function include cells, organs,
tissues, organ systems, whole organisms, and ecosystems.
- All organisms are composed of cells--the fundamental unit of
life. Most organisms are single cells; other organisms, including
humans, are multicellular.
- Cells carry on the many functions needed to sustain life. They
grow and divide, thereby producing more cells. This requires that
they take in nutrients, which they use to provide energy for the
work that cells do and to make the materials that a cell or an
organism needs.
- Specialized cells perform specialized functions in
multicellular organisms. Groups of specialized cells cooperate to
form a tissue, such as a muscle. Different tissues are in turn
grouped together to form larger functional units, called organs.
Each type of cell, tissue, and organ has a distinct structure and
set of functions that serve the organism as a whole.
- The human organism has systems for digestion, respiration,
reproduction, circulation, excretion, movement, control, and
coordination, and for protection from disease. These systems
interact with one another.
Disease is a breakdown in structures or functions of an organism.
Some diseases are the result of intrinsic failures of the system.
Others are the result of damage by infection by other
organisms.
REPRODUCTION AND HEREDITY
- Reproduction is a characteristic of all living systems; because
no individual organism lives forever, reproduction is essential to
the continuation of every species. Some organisms reproduce
asexually. Other organisms reproduce sexually.
- In many species, including humans, females produce eggs and
males produce sperm. Plants also reproduce sexually--the egg and
sperm are produced in the flowers of flowering plants. An egg and
sperm unite to begin development of a new individual. That new
individual receives genetic information from its mother (via the
egg) and its father (via the sperm). Sexually produced offspring
never are identical to either of their parents.
- Every organism requires a set of instructions for specifying
its traits. Heredity is the passage of these instructions from one
generation to another.
- Hereditary information is contained in genes, located in the
chromosomes of each cell. Each gene carries a single unit of
information. An inherited trait of an individual can be determined
by one or by many genes, and a single gene can influence more than
one trait. A human cell contains many thousands of different
genes.
The characteristics of an organism can be described in terms of a
combination of traits. Some traits are inherited and others result
from interactions with the environment.
REGULATION AND BEHAVIOR
- All organisms must be able to obtain and use resources, grow,
reproduce, and maintain stable internal conditions while living in
a constantly changing external environment.
- Regulation of an organism's internal environment involves
sensing the internal environment and changing physiological
activities to keep conditions within the range required to
survive.
- Behavior is one kind of response an organism can make to an
internal or environmental stimulus. A behavioral response requires
coordination and communication at many levels, including cells,
organ systems, and whole organisms. Behavioral response is a set of
actions determined in part by heredity and in part from
experience.
An organism's behavior evolves through adaptation to its
environment. How a species moves, obtains food, reproduces, and
responds to danger are based in the species' evolutionary
history.
POPULATIONS AND
ECOSYSTEMS
- A population consists of all individuals of a species that
occur together at a given place and time. All populations living
together and the physical factors with which they interact compose
an ecosystem.
- Populations of organisms can be categorized by the function
they serve in an ecosystem. Plants and some micro-organisms are
producers--they make their own food. All animals, including humans,
are consumers, which obtain food by eating other organisms.
Decomposers, primarily bacteria and fungi, are consumers that use
waste materials and dead organisms for food. Food webs identify the
relationships among producers, consumers, and decomposers in an
ecosystem.
- For ecosystems, the major source of energy is sunlight. Energy
entering ecosystems as sunlight is transferred by producers into
chemical energy through photosynthesis. That energy then passes
from organism to organism in food webs.
The number of organisms an ecosystem can support depends on the
resources available and abiotic factors, such as quantity of light
and water, range of temperatures, and soil composition. Given
adequate biotic and abiotic resources and no disease or predators,
populations (including humans) increase at rapid rates. Lack of
resources and other factors, such as predation and climate, limit
the growth of populations in specific niches in the ecosystem.
DIVERSITY AND ADAPTATIONS OF ORGANISMS
- Millions of species of animals, plants, and microorganisms are
alive today. Although different species might look dissimilar, the
unity among organisms becomes apparent from an analysis of internal
structures, the similarity of their chemical processes, and the
evidence of common ancestry.
- Biological evolution accounts for the diversity of species
developed through gradual processes over many generations. Species
acquire many of their unique characteristics through biological
adaptation, which involves the selection of naturally occurring
variations in populations. Biological adaptations include changes
in structures, behaviors, or physiology that enhance survival and
reproductive success in a particular environment.
- Extinction of a species occurs when the environment changes and
the adaptive characteristics of a species are insufficient to allow
its survival. Fossils indicate that many organisms that lived long
ago are extinct. Extinction of species is common; most of the
species that have lived on the earth no longer exist.
Earth and Space Science
CONTENT STANDARD D:
As a result of their activities in grades 5-8, all students
should develop an understanding of
- Structure of the earth system
- Earth's history
- Earth in the solar system
GUIDE TO THE CONTENT STANDARD
Fundamental concepts and principles that underlie this standard
include
STRUCTURE OF THE EARTH
SYSTEM
- The solid earth is layered with a lithosphere; hot, convecting
mantle; and dense, metallic core.
- Lithospheric plates on the scales of continents and oceans
constantly move at rates of centimeters per year in response to
movements in the mantle. Major geological events, such as
earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and mountain building, result from
these plate motions.
- Land forms are the result of a combination of constructive and
destructive forces. Constructive forces include crustal
deformation, volcanic eruption, and deposition of sediment, while
destructive forces include weathering and erosion.
- Some changes in the solid earth can be described as the "rock
cycle." Old rocks at the earth's surface weather, forming sediments
that are buried, then compacted, heated, and often recrystallized
into new rock. Eventually, those new rocks may be brought to the
surface by the forces that drive plate motions, and the rock cycle
continues.
- Soil consists of weathered rocks and decomposed organic
material from dead plants, animals, and bacteria. Soils are often
found in layers, with each having a different chemical composition
and texture.
- Water, which covers the majority of the earth's surface,
circulates through the crust, oceans, and atmosphere in what is
known as the "water cycle." Water evaporates from the earth's
surface, rises and cools as it moves to higher elevations,
condenses as rain or snow, and falls to the surface where it
collects in lakes, oceans, soil, and in rocks underground.
- Water is a solvent. As it passes through the water cycle it
dissolves minerals and gases and carries them to the oceans.
- The atmosphere is a mixture of nitrogen, oxygen, and trace
gases that include water vapor. The atmosphere has different
properties at different elevations.
- Clouds, formed by the condensation of water vapor, affect
weather and climate.
- Global patterns of atmospheric movement influence local
weather. Oceans have a major effect on climate, because water in
the oceans holds a large amount of heat.
Living organisms have played many roles in the earth system,
including affecting the composition of the atmosphere, producing
some types of rocks, and contributing to the weathering of
rocks.
EARTH'S HISTORY
- The earth processes we see today, including erosion, movement
of lithospheric plates, and changes in atmospheric composition, are
similar to those that occurred in the past. earth history is also
influenced by occasional catastrophes, such as the impact of an
asteroid or comet.
Fossils provide important evidence of how life and environmental
conditions have changed.
EARTH IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM
- The earth is the third planet from the sun in a system that
includes the moon, the sun, eight other planets and their moons,
and smaller objects, such as asteroids and comets. The sun, an
average star, is the central and largest body in the solar
system.
- Most objects in the solar system are in regular and predictable
motion. Those motions explain such phenomena as the day, the year,
phases of the moon, and eclipses.
- Gravity is the force that keeps planets in orbit around the sun
and governs the rest of the motion in the solar system. Gravity
alone holds us to the earth's surface and explains the phenomena of
the tides.
- The sun is the major source of energy for phenomena on the
earth's surface, such as growth of plants, winds, ocean currents,
and the water cycle. Seasons result from variations in the amount
of the sun's energy hitting the surface, due to the tilt of the
earth's rotation on its axis and the length of the day.
Science and Technology
CONTENT STANDARD E:
As a result of activities in grades 5-8, all students should
develop
- Abilities of technological design
- Understandings about science and technology
GUIDE TO THE CONTENT STANDARD
Fundamental abilities and concepts that underlie this standard
include
ABILITIES OF TECHNOLOGICAL DESIGN
IDENTIFY APPROPRIATE PROBLEMS FOR TECHNOLOGICAL DESIGN.
Students should develop their abilities by identifying a specified
need, considering its various aspects, and talking to different
potential users or beneficiaries. They should appreciate that for
some needs, the cultural backgrounds and beliefs of different
groups can affect the criteria for a suitable product.
DESIGN A SOLUTION OR PRODUCT. Students should make and
compare different proposals in the light of the criteria they have
selected. They must consider constraints--such as cost, time,
trade-offs, and materials needed--and communicate ideas with
drawings and simple models.
IMPLEMENT A PROPOSED DESIGN. Students should organize
materials and other resources, plan their work, make good use of
group collaboration where appropriate, choose suitable tools and
techniques, and work with appropriate measurement methods to ensure
adequate accuracy.
EVALUATE COMPLETED TECHNOLOGICAL DESIGNS OR PRODUCTS.
Students should use criteria relevant to the original purpose or
need, consider a variety of factors that might affect acceptability
and suitability for intended users or beneficiaries, and develop
measures of quality with respect to such criteria and factors; they
should also suggest improvements and, for their own products, try
proposed modifications.
COMMUNICATE THE PROCESS OF TECHNOLOGICAL DESIGN. Students
should review and describe any completed piece of work and identify
the stages of problem identification, solution design,
implementation, and evaluation.
UNDERSTANDINGS ABOUT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
- Scientific inquiry and technological design have similarities
and differences. Scientists propose explanations for questions
about the natural world, and engineers propose solutions relating
to human problems, needs, and aspirations. Technological solutions
are temporary; technologies exist within nature and so they cannot
contravene physical or biological principles; technological
solutions have side effects; and technologies cost, carry risks,
and provide benefits.
- Many different people in different cultures have made and
continue to make contributions to science and technology.
- Science and technology are reciprocal. Science helps drive
technology, as it addresses questions that demand more
sophisticated instruments and provides principles for better
instrumentation and technique. Technology is essential to science,
because it provides instruments and techniques that enable
observations of objects and phenomena that are otherwise
unobservable due to factors such as quantity, distance, location,
size, and speed. Technology also provides tools for investigations,
inquiry, and analysis.
- Perfectly designed solutions do not exist. All technological
solutions have trade-offs, such as safety, cost, efficiency, and
appearance. Engineers often build in back-up systems to provide
safety. Risk is part of living in a highly technological world.
Reducing risk often results in new technology.
- Technological designs have constraints. Some constraints are
unavoidable, for example, properties of materials, or effects of
weather and friction; other constraints limit choices in the
design, for example, environmental protection, human safety, and
aesthetics.
- Technological solutions have intended benefits and unintended
consequences. Some consequences can be predicted, others
cannot.
Science in Personal and Social Perspectives
CONTENT STANDARD F:
As a result of activities in grades 5-8, all students should
develop understanding of
- Personal health
- Populations, resources, and environments
- Natural hazards
- Risks and benefits
- Science and technology in society
GUIDE TO THE CONTENT STANDARD
Fundamental concepts and principles that underlie this standard
include
PERSONAL HEALTH
- Regular exercise is important to the maintenance and
improvement of health. The benefits of physical fitness include
maintaining healthy weight, having energy and strength for routine
activities, good muscle tone, bone strength, strong heart/lung
systems, and improved mental health. Personal exercise, especially
developing cardiovascular endurance, is the foundation of physical
fitness.
- The potential for accidents and the existence of hazards
imposes the need for injury prevention. Safe living involves the
development and use of safety precautions and the recognition of
risk in personal decisions. Injury prevention has personal and
social dimensions.
- The use of tobacco increases the risk of illness. Students
should understand the influence of short-term social and
psychological factors that lead to tobacco use, and the possible
long-term detrimental effects of smoking and chewing tobacco.
- Alcohol and other drugs are often abused substances. Such drugs
change how the body functions and can lead to addiction.
- Food provides energy and nutrients for growth and development.
Nutrition requirements vary with body weight, age, sex, activity,
and body functioning.
- Sex drive is a natural human function that requires
understanding. Sex is also a prominent means of transmitting
diseases. The diseases can be prevented through a variety of
precautions.
Natural environments may contain substances (for example, radon and
lead) that are harmful to human beings. Maintaining environmental
health involves establishing or monitoring quality standards
related to use of soil, water, and air.
POPULATIONS, RESOURCES, AND ENVIRONMENTS
- When an area becomes overpopulated, the environment will become
degraded due to the increased use of resources.
Causes of environmental degradation and resource depletion vary
from region to region and from country to country.
NATURAL HAZARDS
- Internal and external processes of the earth system cause
natural hazards, events that change or destroy human and wildlife
habitats, damage property, and harm or kill humans. Natural hazards
include earthquakes, landslides, wildfires, volcanic eruptions,
floods, storms, and even possible impacts of asteroids.
- Human activities also can induce hazards through resource
acquisition, urban growth, land-use decisions, and waste disposal.
Such activities can accelerate many natural changes.
Natural hazards can present personal and societal challenges
because misidentifying the change or incorrectly estimating the
rate and scale of change may result in either too little attention
and significant human costs or too much cost for unneeded
preventive measures.
RISKS AND BENEFITS
- Risk analysis considers the type of hazard and estimates the
number of people that might be exposed and the number likely to
suffer consequences. The results are used to determine the options
for reducing or eliminating risks.
- Students should understand the risks associated with natural
hazards (fires, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and
volcanic eruptions), with chemical hazards (pollutants in air,
water, soil, and food), with biological hazards (pollen, viruses,
bacterial, and parasites), social hazards (occupational safety and
transportation), and with personal hazards (smoking, dieting, and
drinking).
- Individuals can use a systematic approach to thinking
critically about risks and benefits. Examples include applying
probability estimates to risks and comparing them to estimated
personal and social benefits.
Important personal and social decisions are made based on
perceptions of benefits and risks.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN SOCIETY
- Science influences society through its knowledge and world
view. Scientific knowledge and the procedures used by scientists
influence the way many individuals in society think about
themselves, others, and the environment. The effect of science on
society is neither entirely beneficial nor entirely
detrimental.
- Societal challenges often inspire questions for scientific
research, and social priorities often influence research priorities
through the availability of funding for research.
- Technology influences society through its products and
processes. Technology influences the quality of life and the ways
people act and interact. Technological changes are often
accompanied by social, political, and economic changes that can be
beneficial or detrimental to individuals and to society. Social
needs, attitudes, and values influence the direction of
technological development.
- Science and technology have advanced through contributions of
many different people, in different cultures, at different times in
history. Science and technology have contributed enormously to
economic growth and productivity among societies and groups within
societies.
- Scientists and engineers work in many different settings,
including colleges and universities, businesses and industries,
specific research institutes, and government agencies.
- Scientists and engineers have ethical codes requiring that
human subjects involved with research be fully informed about risks
and benefits associated with the research before the individuals
choose to participate. This ethic extends to potential risks to
communities and property. In short, prior knowledge and consent are
required for research involving human subjects or potential damage
to property.
- Science cannot answer all questions and technology cannot solve
all human problems or meet all human needs. Students should
understand the difference between scientific and other questions.
They should appreciate what science and technology can reasonably
contribute to society and what they cannot do. For example, new
technologies often will decrease some risks and increase
others.
History and Nature of Science
CONTENT STANDARD G:
As a result of activities in grades 5-8, all students should
develop understanding of
- Science as a human endeavor
- Nature of science
- History of science
GUIDE TO THE CONTENT STANDARD
Fundamental concepts and principles that underlie this standard
include
SCIENCE AS A HUMAN ENDEAVOR
- Women and men of various social and ethnic backgrounds--and
with diverse interests, talents, qualities, and motivations--engage
in the activities of science, engineering, and related fields such
as the health professions. Some scientists work in teams, and some
work alone, but all communicate extensively with others.
Science requires different abilities, depending on such factors as
the field of study and type of inquiry. Science is very much a
human endeavor, and the work of science relies on basic human
qualities, such as reasoning, insight, energy, skill, and
creativity--as well as on scientific habits of mind, such as
intellectual honesty, tolerance of ambiguity, skepticism, and
openness to new ideas.
NATURE OF SCIENCE
- Scientists formulate and test their explanations of nature
using observation, experiments, and theoretical and mathematical
models. Although all scientific ideas are tentative and subject to
change and improvement in principle, for most major ideas in
science, there is much experimental and observational confirmation.
Those ideas are not likely to change greatly in the future.
Scientists do and have changed their ideas about nature when they
encounter new experimental evidence that does not match their
existing explanations.
- In areas where active research is being pursued and in which
there is not a great deal of experimental or observational evidence
and understanding, it is normal for scientists to differ with one
another about the interpretation of the evidence or theory being
considered. Different scientists might publish conflicting
experimental results or might draw different conclusions from the
same data. Ideally, scientists acknowledge such conflict and work
towards finding evidence that will resolve their disagreement.
It is part of scientific inquiry to evaluate the results of
scientific investigations, experiments, observations, theoretical
models, and the explanations proposed by other scientists.
Evaluation includes reviewing the experimental procedures,
examining the evidence, identifying faulty reasoning, pointing out
statements that go beyond the evidence, and suggesting alternative
explanations for the same observations. Although scientists may
disagree about explanations of phenomena, about interpretations of
data, or about the value of rival theories, they do agree that
questioning, response to criticism, and open communication are
integral to the process of science. As scientific knowledge
evolves, major disagreements are eventually resolved through such
interactions between scientists.
HISTORY OF SCIENCE
- Many individuals have contributed to the traditions of science.
Studying some of these individuals provides further understanding
of scientific inquiry, science as a human endeavor, the nature of
science, and the relationships between science and society.
- In historical perspective, science has been practiced by
different individuals in different cultures. In looking at the
history of many peoples, one finds that scientists and engineers of
high achievement are considered to be among the most valued
contributors to their culture.
Tracing the history of science can show how difficult it was for
scientific innovators to break through the accepted ideas of their
time to reach the conclusions that we currently take for
granted.
