1. Science, Environmental Science & the Scientific Method
What is science?
What is Environmental Science?
What is the Scientific Method?

2. What is Science? Knowledge Verified human experience
A way to explore our environment
Self-testing
Seeks facts or demonstrates relationships
Includes fields of physical, chemical, biological & environmental sciences

3. Facts Raw material of science Avoids myths & bias
Is less subjective than nonscience fields

4. Scientists What does a scientist do?
Asks questions & identifies a problem to be investigated
Collects data or facts by making observations & measurements
Confirms resulting data or facts with other scientists
Tries to come up with a variety of possible or tentative explanations of what they observe

5. Environmental Science
What is Environmental Science?
New branch of science which includes Conservation Biology, Environmental Biology, Restoration Ecology, Ecosystem Management & Sustainable Studies
Study of how humans & other species interact with each other & the nonliving (abiotic) environment
Utilizes problem-solving methodology to address environmental issues
Consensus-based conservation including all other stakeholders
Part science/part consensus-based decision-making

6. Environmental Scientist
What does an Environmental Scientist do?
Uses information from the sciences & social sciences to:
Understand how the Earth works
Learn how humans interact with the Earth
Develop solutions to environmental problems

7. Scientific Method Process used by scientists A most powerful tool
Systematic search for knowledge
Uses observation & experimentation
No conclusion is absolutely true & are always subject to change!

8. 5 Steps of the Scientific Method
1. Make an observation
2. Make a statement about that observation
Hypothesis
Inductive reasoning
3. Go from general to specific
Using deductive reasoning
If. . .then. . .

9. Put simply, deductive reasoning involves moving from generalities to specifics by working through a series of reasoned statements. Inductive reasoning, on the other hand, takes a series of specific observations and tries to expand them into a more general theory.

10. 5 Steps of the Scientific Method
4. Design an experiment
Control group
Test group
Groups are formed randomly
Experiments must be repeatable
Stands the test of your peers!
5. Analyze & Communicate the results

11. 5 Steps of the Environmental Method
Scientific Assessment
Risk Assessment
Public Education
Political Action
Follow-through

12. Scientific Method In-Class Assignment

13. Short Writing Assignment
Apply the scientific method to “Polar Ice Melting”
Money is no object for your experiment! Make your best guess at your results.
Grammatically correct sentences

14. What is your observation?

16. Observation: Polar Ice Caps are Melting
Questioning: Why are the polar ice caps melting?
Hypothesis: An educated guess. This should be stated in such a way that you can say YES (support) or NO (refute) to your hypothesis.
Experiment: Design your experiment with your limitless budget
Results: Since we will not actually be executing your brilliant experiment, discuss the findings you think you would discover.
Analyze: Using statistical analysis, you would analyze your data to find trends or correlations among data points.
Communicate your findings: How would you share your data and conclusions with the world?