The Scientific Method
There is no mistaking it - the benefits from science are all around us. It has made our daily lives better through medicine, healthcare, technological, electrical and even mechanical innovation. If you are reading this paper on a computer, it is science that made it all possible. Understanding the many complexities of science can be quite a difficult undertaking, however, there is a common denominator that all scientists use in achieving the amazing results that they achieve; they use the scientific method. The scientific method allows scientists to utilize a common approach to address the requirements of the scientific community. These techniques allow other scientists, as well as just the layman, to know that there has been a standardized system applied to the scientific process. I will present a brief example of what the scientific method is and how to apply it to a real life issue. I have just arrived at home after a late night at work. I begin walking up to my front door and observe that the
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front porch light is not on. "That is interesting", I think to myself, "I wonder what it could be?" I begin to gather other information. I notice that there are lights on in my neighbor 's house as well as a light being on in my own house in the kitchen. This tells me that there is not a power outage in my neighborhood. I open my front door and flip the interior light switch on and off; still the light does not come on. I begin to form a hypothesis that the reason the light will not come on is because the light bulb is blown. I make my way to the lit kitchen, open a drawer that has extra light bulbs, and grab a new bulb. I head back out to the front porch now. At this time, I am going to test my hypothesis by swapping out the supposedly blown bulb with the brand new bulb. I change the bulb, and one flick of the interior light switch, and viola, the porch light comes on. I now analyze the bulb in my hand, and sure enough, there is a black looking burn spot towards the top of the bulb. After reviewing all the information that allowed me to determine that the bulb was blown, I conclude that my hypothesis of the bulb being blown was accurate. This was great example of the scientific method in practice.
WHY I CANNOT LIVE WITH/WITHOUT SCIENCE
Describe a typical day in your life from the time you wake up, until the time you go to bed. Describe how science impacts you and your routine throughout the day.
A typical day in the life of Eddie is: I wake up with an alarm clock. I make a small breakfast in the kitchen. I iron my clothes for work, and then drive to work in my car. When I get to work, I pretty much work on a computer all day. Then I come home, cook a nice dinner in the kitchen, and then relax in front of the television. If we were to look at every single item from morning to evening, science is involved every time. I wake-up using an electric alarm clock. The alarm clock has digital circuits in it, powered by electricity. Both of which are monumental scientific achievements. I cook breakfast in my kitchen using a microwave or toaster oven. Two amazing appliances created directly from the innovation of science. Even something as simple as my iron, when ironing my clothes, is an amazing product that has a heating element in it and is powered by electricity. The next science related item is my car, my automobile, my transport vehicle. The automobile has been a revolutionary product of science, allowing humans to travel further and do more. When I get to work, I develop software on a computer. The computer is driven by some of the most amazing science ever. There are electrical components, integrated circuits, electro-magnetic hard drives, as well as a software delivery system that interacts with me. The entire computer is a product of science, and we all have benefited greatly from its computational power. After a long day at work, I come home and use my electric oven and other kitchen appliances to whip up dinner. The oven is yet another great invention from the scientific community. Once dinner has been made, I get to enjoy one of my most favorite household appliances, and that is my television. The television is by far one of sciences ' greatest achievements. It has changed the way we deliver entertainment, information, and even learn. All of these wonderful products have been directly influenced by the endeavors of the scientific community.
How has science improved your quality of life and why?
Science has improved my quality of life by making every single thing I do just a bit easier.
From my car, saving me from having to walk long distances, to my microwave that allows me to prepare food quickly, science has made my life easier. I am able to have an indoor job working on a computer because of science. I also get to enjoy year-round air-conditioning and heat. At any given time, I can use a phone to call someone thousands of miles of away, and speak to them just as if they were standing right next to me. Science has given me machinery to automate things, electricity to power all my electrical products, as well as better medicine, and a more evolved understanding of myself and the world I live in. If science did not exist, I would have to do things the long way, and have to do them manually. The world would be a much harder place to live in without the hope of a better tomorrow. And ultimately, that is what science gives me,
hope.
Are there any negative impacts that science has had? What are they and why?
With the many great advances science has brought us, there have also been the bad and the ugly. Some things I would consider the darker parts of science are guns, bombs, missiles, nuclear weapons and biochemical warfare - leading to weapons of mass destruction. Each of these have been developed and maintained by the scientific community, and each of these is meant to kill other humans. You cannot get much more ominous types of science than this. But with that said, science has done more great than harm to humanity, and perhaps one day science will help us overcome our greatest enemy, ourselves.
Do you believe that you could survive without science? Why or why not?
I believe I could actually survive without science, however would I want to be alive is the real question. Just a little history on myself, I grew up on a 19 acre farm in Westville, Florida, where many of daily activities were driven by manual labor, and not automated or governed by science. Living without all the science we have today could be possible, but my life would be shorter, harder, less fulfilling, and I believe - less interesting. So yes I could survive without modern science, but I would not like it one bit.
How has this course impacted the way you view science?
I have always considered myself a man of science, but through this course I got to understand why. I got to expand upon the scientific method, learn how to observe the small and the very far. I also got to study types of clean energy and how they could be incorporated into a city. Our academic trek through one course unit led us through the study of storms and weather patterns, and their impact both locally and globally. It was one great discussion after another where I got to actually see science in action. Some other really interesting topics included ecosystems, biological systems, and just how important the planet really is. All the while, I learned that it is each of our responsibility to maintain and to be concerned about the health of our planet. If we learn of companies abusing their industrial privileges, it is a moral imperative to do anything we can to educate those around us. One of the most interesting subjects we covered was cystic fibrosis and mutagens. We studied the exact science behind what it meant to have this genetic defect and to be a carrier. Very interesting indeed! All in all, I would say this class was successful at conveying, not just the science itself, but why science is important. Science will give us a better tomorrow, a brighter future. Science will make us stronger, faster, and smarter. It will be science that allows us to explore the deepest oceans on our planet. And some of the most exciting science will allow us to leave our planet Earth and explore parts of the unknown universe. What would the future be like without science?
References:
Trefil, James, & Hazen, Robert M. (2010). The Sciences An Integrated Approach. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
n2davinciandbeyond.typepad.com (n.d.). VITRUVIAN MAN. Retrieved on 03/06/2012, from http://n2davinciandbeyond.typepad.com/photos/vitruvian_man/ (Cover page).
front porch light is not on. "That is interesting", I think to myself, "I wonder what it could be?" I begin to gather other information. I notice that there are lights on in my neighbor 's house as well as a light being on in my own house in the kitchen. This tells me that there is not a power outage in my neighborhood. I open my front door and flip the interior light switch on and off; still the light does not come on. I begin to form a hypothesis that the reason the light will not come on is because the light bulb is blown. I make my way to the lit kitchen, open a drawer that has extra light bulbs, and grab a new bulb. I head back out to the front porch now. At this time, I am going to test my hypothesis by swapping out the supposedly blown bulb with the brand new bulb. I change the bulb, and one flick of the interior light switch, and viola, the porch light comes on. I now analyze the bulb in my hand, and sure enough, there is a black looking burn spot towards the top of the bulb. After reviewing all the information that allowed me to determine that the bulb was blown, I conclude that my hypothesis of the bulb being blown was accurate. This was great example of the scientific method in practice.
WHY I CANNOT LIVE WITH/WITHOUT SCIENCE
Describe a typical day in your life from the time you wake up, until the time you go to bed. Describe how science impacts you and your routine throughout the day.
A typical day in the life of Eddie is: I wake up with an alarm clock. I make a small breakfast in the kitchen. I iron my clothes for work, and then drive to work in my car. When I get to work, I pretty much work on a computer all day. Then I come home, cook a nice dinner in the kitchen, and then relax in front of the television. If we were to look at every single item from morning to evening, science is involved every time. I wake-up using an electric alarm clock. The alarm clock has digital circuits in it, powered by electricity. Both of which are monumental scientific achievements. I cook breakfast in my kitchen using a microwave or toaster oven. Two amazing appliances created directly from the innovation of science. Even something as simple as my iron, when ironing my clothes, is an amazing product that has a heating element in it and is powered by electricity. The next science related item is my car, my automobile, my transport vehicle. The automobile has been a revolutionary product of science, allowing humans to travel further and do more. When I get to work, I develop software on a computer. The computer is driven by some of the most amazing science ever. There are electrical components, integrated circuits, electro-magnetic hard drives, as well as a software delivery system that interacts with me. The entire computer is a product of science, and we all have benefited greatly from its computational power. After a long day at work, I come home and use my electric oven and other kitchen appliances to whip up dinner. The oven is yet another great invention from the scientific community. Once dinner has been made, I get to enjoy one of my most favorite household appliances, and that is my television. The television is by far one of sciences ' greatest achievements. It has changed the way we deliver entertainment, information, and even learn. All of these wonderful products have been directly influenced by the endeavors of the scientific community.
How has science improved your quality of life and why?
Science has improved my quality of life by making every single thing I do just a bit easier.
From my car, saving me from having to walk long distances, to my microwave that allows me to prepare food quickly, science has made my life easier. I am able to have an indoor job working on a computer because of science. I also get to enjoy year-round air-conditioning and heat. At any given time, I can use a phone to call someone thousands of miles of away, and speak to them just as if they were standing right next to me. Science has given me machinery to automate things, electricity to power all my electrical products, as well as better medicine, and a more evolved understanding of myself and the world I live in. If science did not exist, I would have to do things the long way, and have to do them manually. The world would be a much harder place to live in without the hope of a better tomorrow. And ultimately, that is what science gives me,
hope.
Are there any negative impacts that science has had? What are they and why?
With the many great advances science has brought us, there have also been the bad and the ugly. Some things I would consider the darker parts of science are guns, bombs, missiles, nuclear weapons and biochemical warfare - leading to weapons of mass destruction. Each of these have been developed and maintained by the scientific community, and each of these is meant to kill other humans. You cannot get much more ominous types of science than this. But with that said, science has done more great than harm to humanity, and perhaps one day science will help us overcome our greatest enemy, ourselves.
Do you believe that you could survive without science? Why or why not?
I believe I could actually survive without science, however would I want to be alive is the real question. Just a little history on myself, I grew up on a 19 acre farm in Westville, Florida, where many of daily activities were driven by manual labor, and not automated or governed by science. Living without all the science we have today could be possible, but my life would be shorter, harder, less fulfilling, and I believe - less interesting. So yes I could survive without modern science, but I would not like it one bit.
How has this course impacted the way you view science?
I have always considered myself a man of science, but through this course I got to understand why. I got to expand upon the scientific method, learn how to observe the small and the very far. I also got to study types of clean energy and how they could be incorporated into a city. Our academic trek through one course unit led us through the study of storms and weather patterns, and their impact both locally and globally. It was one great discussion after another where I got to actually see science in action. Some other really interesting topics included ecosystems, biological systems, and just how important the planet really is. All the while, I learned that it is each of our responsibility to maintain and to be concerned about the health of our planet. If we learn of companies abusing their industrial privileges, it is a moral imperative to do anything we can to educate those around us. One of the most interesting subjects we covered was cystic fibrosis and mutagens. We studied the exact science behind what it meant to have this genetic defect and to be a carrier. Very interesting indeed! All in all, I would say this class was successful at conveying, not just the science itself, but why science is important. Science will give us a better tomorrow, a brighter future. Science will make us stronger, faster, and smarter. It will be science that allows us to explore the deepest oceans on our planet. And some of the most exciting science will allow us to leave our planet Earth and explore parts of the unknown universe. What would the future be like without science?
References:
Trefil, James, & Hazen, Robert M. (2010). The Sciences An Integrated Approach. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
n2davinciandbeyond.typepad.com (n.d.). VITRUVIAN MAN. Retrieved on 03/06/2012, from http://n2davinciandbeyond.typepad.com/photos/vitruvian_man/ (Cover page).