Nature of Science 1 What is Science?

Get into groups of 3 or 4 Brainstorm what you think science actually is You have about 5 minutes Change groups Now, using your previous spider-diagram think about the similarities and differences between the various strands of science: – Physical Sciences (physics, chemistry) – Life Sciences (biology, bits of psychology) – Earth Sciences (ecology, geology, oceanography, meteorology, astronomy) You have about 5 minutes

Change groups again Using your 3 previous spider-diagrams think about the similarities and differences between the natural sciences and the humanities (human sciences), arts and maths (formal sciences) You have about 5 minutes Return to your original groups and add to your original spider-diagram Pick out 2 or 3 of the most important points And try to use them to make a definition of science You have about 5 minutes

A definition of Science Pass your definitions around What do they have in common? Can we come up with a class definition?

Some more definitions of Science “Organised common sense” TH Huxley “Study of what is true about the real world, with emphasis on methodology and not body of knowledge” Richard Dawkins “The pursuit and application of knowledge and understanding of the natural and social world following a systematic methodology based on evidence.” (The Science Council of UK) Can you see any issues with these? Is there anything that could be defined as science through this definition that clearly isn’t?

Homework Before next lesson: – Watch the Adam Savage TED Talk “How Simple Ideas Lead to Scientific Discovery” – (on haiku) – Draw a flow chart to describe the process that Eratosthenes, Fizeau and Feynman followed