Scientific Process #4

From chapter 1 The Nature of Science from Science for All Americans Online explains that science is developed by observing, thinking, experimenting, and validating. When conducting science it will never be linear and there is no fixed set of steps that needs to be followed. This lets us know that we can go from communicating with the group, make a hypothesis, form questions, investigate the known, carry out the study, observe, examine results, define the problem, communicate, reflect on the data, form more questions, carry out the study, observe more data, and examine the results. The process of science can take minutes, hours, months, and years because data is subject to change and because science demands evidence. It is important to gain lots of evidence to support your hypothesis of an experiment because it makes the experiment valid. When any kind of scientific experiment has valid evidence then it gives it value. If a scientific experiment has valid evidence then it could be useful for other scientists to use in their science experiments. Other scientist can use other valid evidence to examine, help them form new questions, validate their evidence, or it can change their original information, which would lead them to carry out another study. However, using other scientists valid evidence can be subjective because the information that is gathered to support a hypothesis is all based on how that certain person observes and thinks. For example, the many different facial products that are made to diminish the appearance of pores, dark spots, wrinkles, and scars were made by a certain person and tested on certain people. A person who made a certain facial product could be Asian and so they would probably test their product on Asian skin. The product could be successful and diminish any facial imperfection. Now if the product was sold in stores and a Native American read good reviews about that certain product they would want to buy it. The Native American would go home and try the product and a month later sees little or no results. This would show that the Asian scientist didn’t use different variables for skin types like Native, African, and Caucasian skin. From here we could guess that the Asian scientist feels that all skin is the same and can be treated with the same product. Also this information can be used by another scientist to help diminish facial imperfections on only Asians and Caucasians . Understand that validating science is important because it gives it value and can be used as a resource for other science experiments. The most important thing we need to remember when using someone else’s evidence is that it can be subjective and bias because of the way that scientist have certain beliefs and attitudes about what they do and how they do their work. Also scientist can control conditions deliberately and precisely to obtain their evidence. All this information about the process of science helps me to be open with future experiments because what I think is one answer could be another answer or just part of the answer. Also when conducting science I will always be looking for the correct answers but I need to accept some uncertainty because I won’t have all the answers to my questions. As I conduct future science experiments it will not always be one persons work because science is a complex social activity where work involves many individuals doing many different kinds of work.

Another important point I want to make about the process of science is how to show other people the data you have collected from an experiment. From the TED video of The Beauty of Data Visualization informs us about the different ways to be creative when showing/explaining data. It is important to have graphs, videos, data tables, pictures and anything that applies to the experiment. Having multiple graphs shows the different variables in an experiment. This is easy for your audience to look at the graphs and see a relationship or no relationship between variables. Also using storytelling to explain data is interesting because it captures your audience’s attention and they are willing to participate and learn about a certain science experiment. Also when showing your data it is good to recognize the different way people learn which is through the affective, psycho-motor, and cognitive domains. For people who learn through the affective domain it would be wise to use storytelling because they will be willing to listen/participate and they seem to relate it to other experiences. This helps them make learning memorable because it becomes personal. For people who learn through the psycho-motor domain it would be best to use resources they could touch or give them a chance to talk about the data and how they understand it. For people who learn through the cognitive domain it would be best to show them graphs and data tables because they like to evaluate the information and apply it to other information. Everyone learns through all domains but some people find that one domain works better at comprehending information than another. That is why it is always good to be creative with presentations and think about your audience and what kind of learners they are.