Nature of Science

1
Nature of Science
2
NOS Card Exchange

• Step 1 Obtain 8 cards (that are different from
  one another).
• Step 2 Trade cards with classmates in order to
  amass a better collection of cards. (Your
  collection improves as the cards more accurately
  express your views on science.)

3

• Find a partner with similar views and select the
  8 best cards from the 16 that you have
  collectively. (Each of you must contribute at
  least 2 cards.)
• Make a group of 4 and select the 8 best cards.
• Using the remaining cards, write a statement
  which describes your groups notion of the Nature
  of Science.

4
VNOS(c)

• What in your view is science? What makes science
  different from other disciplines of inquiry?
• What is an experiment?
• Does the development of scientific knowledge
  require experiments?
• After scientists have developed a scientific
  theory, does the theory every change?
• Is there a difference between a scientific theory
  and a scientific law?

5

• How certain are you about the structure of an
  atom? What specific evidence do you think
  scientists used to determine what an atom looks
  like?
• How certain are scientists about their
  characterization of what a species is? What
  specific evidence do you think scientists used to
  determine what a species is?
• Does science reflect social and cultural values
  or is it universal?
• Do scientists employ creativity in their
  investigations? If so where and how?

6
What is the Nature of Science (NOS)?

• Science cannot be singularly (and definitively)
  defined because it is interpreted in different
  ways by different people.
• Methods such as the card sort and NOS surveys
  encourage students to think specifically about
  their views on science.
• Scientists, science educators philosophers of
  science have proposed some consensus views on
  NOS.
• Views on NOS describe how the scientific
  enterprise operates.

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Consensus Views on NOS

• Empirically-based
• Scientific knowledge is based on evidence.
• Testable
• Scientific ideas can be theoretically falsified
  through evidentiary tests.
• Tentative, yet Reliable
• Scientific ideas can change given new data or new
  interpretations
• Developmental
• Scientific ideas are often built on earlier ideas.

8
Consensus NOS Views

• Creative
• Scientists employ creativity in posing questions,
  collecting data, and interpreting data. (What
  does this suggest about The Scientific Method?)
• Parsimonious
• Given multiple explanations, scientists tend to
  favor the simplest one that maintains predictive
  power.
• Unified
• Scientific ideas are consistent across different
  disciplines.

9
Consensus NOS Views

• Culturally-embedded
• Scientists scientific ideas are influenced by
  the society from they arise.
• Theory/Law Distinction
• Scientific theories are robust, empirically
  supported explanations of natural phenomena.
  Scientific laws are perceived regularities
  regarding the natural world. Therefore, theories
  never become laws. Laws are typically more narrow
  in focus than theories.

10
Provide examples from the history of science to
support each NOS aspect.

• Creative
• Culturally embedded
• Tentative
• Developmental
• Parsimonious
• Theory/Law distinction

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NOS Aspects addressed by the Water-Making Machine

• Empirical-Testable
• Creative
• Tentative
• Developmental
• Parsimonious

12
Empirical NOS

• Made observations (a form of data collection).
• Made inferences based on those observations.
• However, you were not able to manipulate
  variables yourself.

13
Creative NOS

• Used creativity in the design of your models.
• Construction of models important for many areas
  of science
• Atoms
• Dinosaurs
• Earth Structure
• Ecological Interactions
• Engineering Applications

14
Tentative NOS

• Are you absolutely sure that your model perfectly
  describes the black box mechanisms?
• Is your model a completely wild guess or is it
  based on some knowledge?

15
Developmental NOS

• Individual group models might be modified by
  comparing them against other models.

16
Parsimonious NOS

• Is it more likely that the mystery of the
  water-making machine is amazingly complex or
  relatively simple?

17
NOS Aspects Addressed by the Mystery Cups

• Empirical-Testable
• Tentative

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Empirical-Testable NOS

• Collected data while testing different objects.

19
Tentative NOS

• Were you able to identify the content of all cups
  using scientific processes?
• Were you able to confidently determine the
  content of some cups using scientific processes?

20
Black Box Activities

• Water-making machine
• Tubes
• Coffee can
• Mystery cups
• Frankies Brain
• Simulation of Rutherfords experiment

21
Scientist Activity (pairs)

• Use the internet and library resources to
  research a scientist and his/her findings.
• Background Describe the historical context of
  the work. What was known at the time?
• Contributions Provide a brief overview of what
  s/he discovered, postulated, etc.
• Processes Describe how this scientist did
  his/her work. Discuss the nature of his/her
  experiments, observations, inferences, etc.

22
Presentations

• Each pair will provide the class with a brief
  overview of their scientist, his/her discoveries
  his/her methods.
• Following the presentations, each small group
  will create a concept map for organizing the
  information presented.

23

• What can we infer about the scientific enterprise
  based on these findings?

24
Myths of Science

• Which of McComas myths should not be myths?
• How do these myths influence public
  understandings of science?
• How do science teachers perpetuate these myths?
• How can science teachers help eliminate these
  myths?
• Can you think of other common myths of science
  not enumerated by McComas?