Thinking & Acting Like A Scientist What? Why? How? When? Wednesday, August 3 rd, 2016

Science and Technology Science  Pure Does not necessarily have an application. Technology  Applied Has practical applications in society. Engineering.

Question: Science or Technology? Studying or forming aspirin in a lab in small scale (small amounts).

Question: Science or Technology? Producing aspirin tablets so that consumers can use them.

Scientific Method Observation- recognition of a problem. Hypothesis- a proposed explanation of an observation an educated guess that must be testable. Experiment- a procedure used to test a hypothesis (measurement, data collection, manipulated and responding variables) Theory Law

Theory A well tested explanation for a broad set of observations. May use models. May allow predictions. Theories may change to explain new observations.

Law A statement that summarizes results of observations, but does not explain them. Changes or is abandoned when contradicted by new experiments. A theory with no known exceptions (has been significantly tested)

“ No number of experiments can prove me right; a single experiment can prove me wrong.” Albert Einstein

Science is Dynamic! Note: The order of the steps can vary and additional steps may be added.

Scientific PROCESS of studying the world around us: A. Make observations B. Look for patterns in those observations C. Develop and test for possible explanations

Let’s act like SCIENTISTS? ObservationsPatternsPossible Explanations Ex. Leaves change colors and fall off trees Ex. This happens every year at about the same time Does this happen because… It gets colder? The days are shorter? There is less sun? Ex. HiccupsEx. This happens every time a person eats too fast Does this happen because… You eat too much food? Something is triggering a spasm in your stomach? Blinking eyes

Once scientists have TESTED and EXPLAINED the phenomena, those EXPLANATIONS are called… SCIENTIFIC MODELS!

What is a scientific model? A scientific model represents objects, phenomena, and physical processes in a consistent and logical way.

Scientists develop models about many different natural phenomena  Proton particles in light  Weather systems  How muscles move – like when you shoot a basketball  How dinosaurs behaved on the planet before humans  When earthquakes hit or volcanoes erupt  How different ecosystems work – deserts, oceans, and forests Can you come up with any examples of some SCIENTIFIC MODELS?

SCIENTIFIC MODELS… A. Explain observations B. Predict future observations C. Be realistic

Examples of SCIENTIFIC MODELS: A model of the motions of the sun, moon and earth (which you participated in last year) A model of predicting eclipses Models that explain weather phenomena can be used to predict weather Models lead scientists to ask questions

How are models communicated? Graphs

How are models communicated? Drawings

How are models communicated? Equations A=πr 2 Can you think of any other equations that scientists and mathematicians use to explain data?

Model vs. Representation A model is the IDEA Graphs, drawings and equations are the REPRESENTATION of the model or idea

How do you decide if a model is “right”? A community of scientists may have more than one model to explain a given phenomena

How do you decide if a model is RIGHT? A community of scientists may have more than one model to explain a given phenomena Are multiple models for the same phenomena equally valid? Just because there are multiple models, does not mean that they both can’t be valid

Can scientists change their SCIENTIFIC MODELS? Scientists DO change their models to better fit the criteria of the scientific model Explain observations Predict future phenomena Be realistic

IT’S YOUR TURN TO BE THE SCIENTIST! 1. You will be practicing looking for patterns 2. You will be developing your own fair test and coming to your own conclusions

Activity 1: Sorting your observations Look at the observations you made last class. Try to sort them in to groups based on similarities you see.

Types of Observations Quantitative: Numbers Qualitative: 5 senses Objective: Fact (not biased) Subjective: Opinion

The race track was 10,000 km long.

The race track was bright red.

Six cars competed in the race.

It was very hot on race day.

It was 100°F on race day.

Scott was the fastest.

Scott finished the race in 14 seconds.

The gold medal was heavy.

The first place medal was 65.0 grams

After the race, she drank 8oz of water.

Activity 2: Food Allergy Background: Your sister brings her 3 month old baby to your birthday party. The baby has only had milk so far, but at the party your sister decides to give it a few bites of cake. Shortly after eating the cake, the baby starts to develop a rash.

What do you think caused the baby to get a rash? With your group, think of a few ideas.

Your sister thinks the baby must have been allergic to something in the cake, because they have never seen a reaction like this before. She wants to come up with a way to figure out what exactly the baby is allergic to so they can avoid that food in the future. You think to yourself… This should be a piece of cake! What information would you need to figure out what food the baby is allergic to?

Develop a plan (Design a experiment) to figure out what the baby was allergic to. Be specific; include times, amounts, and exact instructions for your sister. to the rescue!

Recipe for cake: 2 (1 ounce) bottles red food coloring ½ cup butter2 large eggs 1 ½ cups white sugar2 ½ cups flour Observations/Information: The baby has only had milk before today He has not shown allergies to anything else The rash developed about 20 minutes after eating the cake